That Neighborhood Church in North Toledo, Ohio, is marking fifteen years since its formal launch on 2 October 2010. The congregation serves Vistula, the oldest neighbourhood in the city, and traces its beginnings to 2008, when Reverend Pat Cannon, his wife Kelly and three other couples felt called to move into the area. Its mission was stated simply — to restore hope one relationship at a time — and the church has remained in the neighbourhood as a source of practical help and welcome. The account was published by the Christian and Missionary Alliance, the US denomination to which the church belongs.
The needs it works among are stark. In Lucas County more than 27,000 children live in poverty, and juvenile arrest rates are more than double the national average. In Vistula the median household income is around 16,600 dollars a year, and nearly 70 percent of households are led by single mothers. Families contend with unemployment, addiction, teenage pregnancy and educational struggles that have carried down through generations. Over fifteen years the church has built around those realities a free medical clinic, outreach to women working in the adult industry, empowerment housing, employment and life-skills programmes, and youth leadership work.
Its clearest expression is the 04 After-School Center. Children from kindergarten through fifth grade are welcomed each week by volunteers who offer homework help, tutoring in reading and maths, a Bible lesson and a warm meal three days a week through a partnership with Connecting Kids to Meals. The church sets out the numbers behind the work: nearly two-thirds of third-graders in the area are not proficient in maths; fewer than 27 percent of elementary pupils read at grade level; and research indicates that 74 percent of children who do not reach reading proficiency by third grade never fully catch up. Thursday evenings are given over to a children's church, where children are introduced to the Christian faith in what the report describes as a safe and consistent environment.
The report tells the story through individual children. Jackson, eight, has announced that he is going to work at the church one day. Dashawn, eleven, has moved between homes and schools at least eight times and once asked whether he could call the church his own. Domaneko, thirteen, has been part of the community since preschool; she lost her father to gun violence, and when someone recently encouraged her to try drugs she answered immediately that she does not do that. For the church, such moments are the measure of fifteen years of work in a neighbourhood that many others left behind.
Source: Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA USA) — https://cmalliance.org/restoring-hope-one-relationship-at-a-time/
