OUR VISION
While the number of Americans living below the poverty line continues to climb − to nearly 36 million people last year − poverty is particularly acute in cities like New York. Did you know that over 35 percent of the children living in New York City live in households earning less than $14,000 a year? When a modest one-bedroom apartment costs over $1,000 a month, one can only imagine how difficult it is for a parent to put food on the table and to provide for other basic needs. That is why, last year, one in five New Yorkers turned to a soup kitchen or a food pantry for a meal. It is no wonder, then, that our children struggle at school. In the neighborhoods Here’s Life Inner City serves, less than 60 percent of youth will graduate from high school.
In the past few years, through Anna’s nonprofit work and Matt’s volunteer experience, we have seen firsthand how desperately the local urban churches need others to come alongside them. These churches know firsthand the needs of the community but they desperately lack the resources to carry out the mission of helping the poor. Here’s Life comes alongside urban churches to provide hope to these communities. For more information on Here’s Life programs, click here.
Our vision is to mobilize the church to live out God’s heart for the poor and to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Our work is inspired also by the Great Commandment − to love your neighbor as yourself.
There are two key components to our ministry. The first is to minister through our work with Here’s Life; Matt through Tech Bridges and Anna through community development. The second is to live our lives amongst the poor and marginalized, in relationships that will help us to better understand their needs and to live in community with other believers in the inner-city who will challenge us to be more like Christ. This is why we are moving into an inner-city community - Crown Heights, Brooklyn - and have joined a church there that is focused on being a witness for Christ and an agent of spiritual renewal largely through practical acts of service and racial reconciliation.
Scripture is full of verses that urge believers to love and serve the poor and oppressed. In Deuteronomy 15:11, God says, “Therefore, I command you to be openhanded towards your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.” In Matthew 25:40, Christ says, “I tell you the truth. Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
We feel called by God to live out His heart for the poor in New York City. We believe that God wants us to be a part of His work of transforming individual lives, families, churches, and eventually entire communities in the inner city. For more information about the vision of Here’s Life, click here.