I recently met a new student at UNCG and was excited to hear that she had hooked up with a church in Glenwood that was starting a youth choir that would be open to neighborhood kids. Shortly after our initial discussion, she recruited volunteers to hand out flyers at InterVarsity. After IV, she asked me if I thought it was safe to go door to door. I assured her that it would be fine, and gave her a few pointers (i.e. avoid stray dogs, etc.). I asked her if they would provide transportation, as many of the parents either don't have cars or work various shifts, so might not always be able to drop off/pick up their kids.
That's when she shared something that broke my heart. The pastor had instructed the group of volunteers to go to the "nicer looking" houses in the neighborhood. He went on to justify this by saying that the church doesn't currently have the resources to help the members of the community that, prompted by their invitation to the kids, would flock to their door in need of assistance. While I understand their concern, I think it's a poor excuse that is ultimately cheating the kids who need extracurricular activities the most. The church can always refer people to organizations in the community who require referrals, or even just offer a friendly face to hear someone's story. I can't judge too harshly -- I'm sure the comment emerged from some underlying fear.
It just breaks my heart that a youth choir, with a mission of reaching the kids in the neighborhood, has plans to discriminate against those whose houses don't look "nice." I could get off on a whole other discussion about absentee landlords that leave tenants with nasty looking houses, adding yet another layer of injustice to both the families and the kids, but we'll save that for another day. For now, we'll just pray that God's heart for the Glenwood kids will be revealed to this church body in a completely unadulterated fashion.
