Welcome to the blog for Hope for Children in Poverty!
This blog is for anyone who cares about creating a better future for children in poverty and their families. For those who have read the book Hope for Children in Poverty: Profiles and Possibilities, this blog offers an ongoing discussion on the issues surrounding child poverty in the U.S. and our response as followers of Jesus.
Four convictions animate this blog:
1. God loves children, passionately and eternally. Every one of them.
2. God entrusts adults with embodying this divine love to children, by ensuring their wholesome development in body, soul and spirit.
3. Love leads us to confront the shameful realities of child poverty, and to dream of a world that reflects God's good design for children.
4. We set our sights higher, and accomplish more, when we are connected than when we work alone.
With this in mind, we hope this blog can offer a vehicle to:
- raise awareness about issues surrounding child poverty in the U.S.
- share ideas for effective responses at the individual, congregational, community and national levels
- tell stories about ministries with children in poverty
- highlight helpful resources and organizations
- provide information about public policies that affect children in poverty and opportunities for advocacy
- offer a theological perspective on children, poverty, and the church's role
- appreciate the present blessings and future potential that children bring to our lives
- encourage and inspire one another to take action on behalf of children in poverty everywhere
Your comments, questions, stories and suggestions are welcome. In fact, your input is what will make this a meaningful forum. A dialogue is so much more engaging than a solo.
As a Christian, showing compassion and seeking justice for the poor is an integral part of my faith. Biblical references and themes will be a common motif in this blog. But the forum is certainly open to all perspectives, in harmony with our common desire to see children released from poverty and healed from all its damaging effects.
Crossing the Threshold of Hope
"If you are a dreamer, come in …" It seemed appropriate to title this introductory blog with a line from a poet who is a favorite among children, Shel Silverstein.
In this world of lost chances, there is a fine line between being a hopeless dreamer and a hopeful visionary. Poverty is a symptom and a cause of much that is on the hopeless side. It breaks down bodies, minds, spirits, relationships. It oppresses with a daily burden of stress, often exploding into violence and crime or imploding into depression and addiction. It obscures the bright stamp of God's image with a dim, grimy lie of worthlessness.
But we can't let these harsh realities stop us from crossing the line together to dream about and work toward the kingdom of God. After all, as Jesus said, it is children who show us the way to this kingdom (Matthew 18:1-4).
So let's envision a different reality – a world in which where every newborn is welcomed with the expectation of a long and prosperous life (Isaiah 65:20-23), where children have nothing to fear (Isaiah 11:6-9), and where the streets overflow with their laughter (Zechariah 8:5).
What do you dream for children in poverty?
What can we all do about it?
