Urban Hope
is a church and training center in the heart of Kensington, a section of
Philadelphia nicknamed the "Badlands." For those people who live in the suburbs of Philadelphia, the word “Kensington”
is almost an obscene word – right up there with, well, never mind.
In the past six months or so that I have been
attending Urban Hope, I’ve had so many of my suburban myths about the area utterly
destroyed.
There is much that I would like to share with
you but allow me to start with what I have realized from a little girl I’ll
name “Dee.” Dee is five years old and
she has the same smile and outrageously cute giggle as the five year old girl
in Aston, Bryn Mawr, Concordville, Devon, Essington, Frazer, Glen Mills, Haverford, Intercourse, Jim Thorpe, Kennett Square, Lansdale, Marcus Hook, New Hope, Oxford, Paoli, Quarryville, Ridley, Shippensburg, Thornton, Unionville, Valley Forge, Wallingford, York and Zieglerville, PA.
The difference between Dee and the little
girls (and boys) in these 25 alphabetically listed towns and cities in
Pennsylvania is that she stands a much higher chance of never really understanding
the alphabet and growing up and into any one of many different unhealthy
lifestyles – if she survives at all that is…
Dee is fortunate, however, to live in the influence
of the eXtraordinary. Kingdom
Kids is one of the primary programs of Urban Hope. For the past 20 years or so (two weeks for
me), people from Urban Hope have been going door to door to gather the children
of the community and bring them to the church for a dynamic experience that
introduces them to the message of Christ.
As part of the “Grace Brethren” denomination
of churches, Urban Hope is probably not part of your denomination (Episcopal, Presbyterian,
Roman Catholic, United Methodist, etc…).
If the members of your denomination include human beings with two eyes,
a nose, mouth, chin and on occasion an outrageously cute giggle, then your
denomination’s membership is no different than that of Urban Hope. I invite you to bring representatives of your
church to Urban Hope sometime soon for the day, weekend or week to experience
the eXtraordinary blessings found only in the Badlands.
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