The skyscrapers in downtown Chicago send a message—something big is going on here. Out where Ogden Avenue meets Cermak and Pulaski, the skyscrapers are just decorations on the horizon. But there’s something important going on there too.
Lawndale Community Church is an unimposing one story building on Ogden Avenue. Working through Lawndale’s Christian Community Development Association, the church’s staff and volunteers have helped build 200 new homes for the neighborhood in the last ten years. But beyond that Lawndale’s ministry is transforming lives in the surrounding community.
This summer, InterVarsity’s Chicago Urban Project returned to Lawndale. For seven weeks, ten Northwestern University InterVarsity students are working with children in The Garden, the church’s summer school camp. Students are also working at a mobile healthcare clinic operated by the Christian Community Development Association. And they’re attending Lawndale worship services, including The House, a hip hop church.
Here’s what two InterVarsity students wrote about their experiences, as shared by project director Sandra Van Opstal in a prayer letter:
Amidst the broken glass and the vacant lots there is a beauty here that surpasses anything I have experienced before. This beauty comes from the genuine and raw power of God manifested in his obedient servants. Lawndale is full of servants willing to be real with God and thus be a blessing to others. Because of my six weeks here I know that I will never be the same and I praise my God for that.
I had never considered issues of racial injustice and inequality as spiritually relevant. Over the years, God has continually been showing me that there is no part of this life that is irrelevant to Him; there is no part of the human experience that He does not care about. God’s heart for all kinds of people in all kinds of situations is a lot bigger than I thought, and it is my duty and privilege as a Christian to demonstrate His love to the world in everything I do.
In the past year InterVarsity sponsored 52 urban projects involving over 1200 students, according to National Urban Project Coordinator Randy White. The projects vary from week-long plunges to summer-long internships. Tampa, Florida, has the distinctive of operating a year-long urban project. InterVarsity students live together in three houses. They commit to working with a particular ministry, while maintaining their commitment to InterVarsity and their studies.
One night this summer about 100 people gathered at New Song Community Church in Harlem to celebrate the New York City Urban Project. A short program followed a meal of soul food and music provided by teenagers from New Song’s Community Learning Center. New Song’s Community Director Tamara Cooper-Oliver said InterVarsity students serving through NYCUP were critical to the success of their outreach. “We couldn’t run the teen program at New Song without these students,” she said.
Cornell University junior Simeon Law said that serving in NYCUP at New Song Community Learning Center has expanded his view of God and helped him to understand the role each of us has in restoration, reconciliation and redemption. Urban Project Director Tiffany Houck-Loomis described how two other urban project students are using their business and social work majors to create a business plan for the Bowery Mission’s potential expansion to Coney Island.
Urban project alumna Jean-Marie Bradford shared how her 1993 summer experience with NYCUP shaped her life and vocational calling, leading her to become a resident in psychiatry at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. In the urban neighborhood of Washington Heights, Jean-Marie treats patients, who do not qualify for government assistance. She thanked NYCUP donors and partners Don and Lynn Kolowsky for their initial investment in 1992 which has ensured that the program remains intact. Don and Lynn were applauded by the gathering and presented a gift from NYCUP Director Tiffany Houck-Loomis.
Although InterVarsity establishes witnessing communities on college campuses across the country, the lives and communities that are impacted go far beyond the campus.
InterVarsity’s next National Urban Project Consultation will be held in Tampa, October 26-30.
Photos: Chicago Urban Project, top; New York City Urban Project, below.
