Urban Neighbours of Hope

A few years back I was chatting to an Anglican minister who worked near Mt Druitt. We were at a conference that was presenting models of training and church growth. While the minister liked the models, he didn't think any of them would be appropriate to his context. The major difficulty, he said, was that Christianity made people move out of the area. A local would become a christian, and as their lives changed, they became more middle class. Education became important to them. They started caring more for their families, and the wellbeing of their families, and so just at the point where an Anglican minister may want to train them to serve in the church, they moved away to a nicer suburb. 'I can't blame them' he said. 'It isn't all that great a place to live'. A pipe dream that many have had, and some even spoken about, is trying to convince wealthier christians to move from the east and north into these areas. For the most part this hasn't happened, partly due to the distance people would have to travel back into the city to work there. Partly because it is difficult to convince churches that they should advise their parishoners to be downwardly mobile AND leave.

But praise God, there are beautiful people who are willing to be all things to all people (even the poor!).

One such group of people is Urban Neighbors of Hope.

While UNOH has a range of different activities and levels of commitment, at the heart of it are the workers. The workers of this missional group commit to living on the poverty line to reach those on the poverty line. They open their homes to their neighbors in areas where bars over the windows are a must have.

Pray for their gospel work in Thailand, Melbourne and Mt Druitt