Transformational in the City Part 1

The last core value that we are going to mention is: RCC seeks to be transformational in the small city in which we gather.

The needs of a city like Reading can seem overwhelming. Many churches with the best of intentions and true servant's hearts get quickly drained and burned-out just by trying to help the block where their church building is located.

RCC does not believe that we are called to be reactionary in the city but rather responsive. Jesus told those He sent to preach the gospel (primarily through meeting needs - Matthew 10:7-8) to be wise as snakes and innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16). Our desire is to study and know the city and communities that we exist in. To think intelligently and with much prayer, decide where we can together put our efforts that will help the city most.

In this post, I am going to skim over a few of the "nuts & bolts" of what we are planning to do. In the following posts, I will lay out some of the Biblical ground work of why we seek to be transformational.

Reading is a city that is at the lowest wealth per capita in the nation. Minorities move into the city attracted by cheap rent and hoping to find a job. Many have difficulty finding employment however, and instead find their rent increasing quickly, forcing them to move into another neighborhood in the city. This prevents most from taking pride and ownership of the city. Reading really belongs to no one in particular and in some ways, it seems that fewer and fewer people right outside its city limits care at all about its future.

To address this issue, RCC seeks to partner with other churches, non-profit groups, businesses and philanthropists, to purchase and remodel homes that we can then turn around and practically give away to select people that have proven to be good and caring citizens of the city. We also seek to and are working on attaining empty lots within particular neighborhoods and turn them into community gardens in which interested residents can grow and maintain their own produce as well as have a place of solace and rest to visit. The hope is that these two initiatives will slowly begin to make a difference in how some neighborhoods view their city.

Other plans include blessing and helping public school teachers, maintaining parks, and eventually open a city cafe in which 100% of the profits will go to various non-profit groups that are making a difference in the city.

More in part 2...