Reaching Social Orphans in Complex Urban Environments

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to lead a break out session at the OrphanCare Expo in Pittsburgh. The event gathers together many organizations and individuals from all over Western Pennsylvania to organize around the ways that the body of Christ can work together to reach orphans and at-risk children locally and globally. My break out session was entitled, "Reaching Social Orphans in Complex Urban Environments." We defined what it means to be a social orphan, we talked about the importance of Christians engaging in complex urban environments, and then we discussed some suggestions for what followers of Jesus can do to make a difference with these types of children locally and globally. These are some of my suggestions:

Be incarnational. Just like Jesus entered into our human context, modern followers of Jesus should go to where the kids are and spend time with them in their context building relationships. Ministry does not happen in antiseptic conditions. We need to go into neighborhoods, into schools, and into many different kinds of places in order to be able to connect with kids.

Build relationships, not programs. 90 percent of people living in cities come to Christ through relationships instead of programs. Relationships are crucial to reaching people in complex urban environments. Before anyone starts a program, they should have tons of relationships with the kids they are trying to serve.

Focus on developmental relationships instead of prescriptive relationships. We need to build assets in high risk youth instead of focusing on fixing their problems. Building developmental assets leads to resilience and empowerment.

Learn from the kids. Transformation goes both ways. Adults working with kids should be good listeners, willing to learn from the kids they are serving. This goes a long way toward effectiveness and contextualization.

Consider living in the city. Most of the world's population lives in cities, and followers of Jesus can be very effective at reaching kids when they live in the city. In my opinion, Christians should be running into the arms of the city instead of running away from the city.

Focus on transformation instead of transaction. Many organizations aimed at reaching social orphans and high risk youth start out with intentions of helping kids, but they end up fundraising and existing so that adults can hold on to their jobs. Organizations focused on transforming the lives of at-risk youth should eventually work themselves out of existence because they are so effective at empowering the young people where they are serving.

Build partnerships. Urban issues are complex, and Christians should work together to come up with complex solutions. No one church or one organization can possibly be effective at reaching at-risk kids alone. We must partner and creatively work together.

Be an advocate. Compassion is the low hanging fruit for evangelical Christians. We line up to give things to help people in need, but few of us do the hard work of focusing on why kids end up being social orphans in the first place. People like lawyers, politicians, and real estate developers can do great harm or great good depending on how much of an advocate they are for people who are impacted by their work. Christians should advocate for justice in addition to being compassionate.

Overcome the jungle mentality. Some people are called to go oversees to jungles to reach hurting children, but most of us have social orphans living right in our own cities in America. Go global, but let's not lose sight of the hurting young people in our own neighborhoods.

Overcome fear. I know many Christians in America who are afraid to get involved in helping kids in our cities because of fear. We are obsessed with safety in America. I believe that God is calling us to much more than complacency or being paralyzed by fear. Followers of Jesus can make a huge impact in the lives of many at-risk youth if we would simply take the first step to go beyond our comfort zones.