Rewarding Reading in Family and Community Ministries Journal

The Summer 2008 issue of the Family and Community Ministries journal focuses on how people of faith are nurturing the most vulnerable children. You can read several of the articles online, including an excerpt from Hope for Children in Poverty:


What Does the Bible Say about Hope for Children in Poverty?
By Ronald J. Sider and Heidi Unruh

An astounding 210 verses in the New International Version of the Bible use the words "poor" or "oppressed." If our churches featured this theme with the same prevalence and passion as Scripture, how might God use the church to bring new hope to children in poverty?
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'We're Losing Them in the Nursery'
By Susan Cowley

After 12 years of ministry in one deep pocket of multi-generational urban poverty, we'd attended more teenagers' funerals than high school graduations. It was running three to one – gravesides to grads. We simply knew that the Lord had not brought us here to watch these children become drug dealers or mothers by the age of 14, go to prison, and die young. A call was forming as God dreamed into us what could be.
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'Why Do You Care?'
By Michael Kelly

Last winter I sat down with three of the most energizing and dynamic ministerial leaders I've ever met. The conversation took place on Chicago's West Side, a large African-American region of Chicago that has been battered by many years of neglect, poverty and family breakdown. This conversation came about because the group was interested in sharing their ideas for creating caring church communities for young people. I wanted to show how three ministers from a variety of Christian faith traditions could come together to begin healing the youth and families of their communities.
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Living and Teaching the Fruits of the Spirit
By M. LeAnn Gardner

Truth or Consequences, NM has 15,000 residents, 80% of which are considered to be living in poverty or "at risk" of living in poverty. Truth or Consequences' (TorC) Full Gospel Tabernacle opened its doors to the community in 1979 providing a place of worship and community outreach. In 1996, a young, enthusiastic Rebecca Dow arrived in TorC to facilitate a training event for the church nursery staff at Full Gospel. When she saw the need of the community during that training weekend in 1996, she felt called to return to her childhood home to start a child care center.
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If you have come across a good article or resource on ministry with children in poverty, please share the link!