Community Restoration And The Churchनमूना

Transformed Thinking  

The mission of revitalizing and transforming communities begins with the individual along with the foundational truth—what a man thinks, he becomes. To put it another way, one’s behavior is controlled by one’s thoughts. If one’s thought life is changed, the person is changed. Changed individuals transform families, and transformed families restore communities.

I am living proof of this. Urban Baltimore has one of the lowest graduation rates in the country. I remember what it was like to try and learn at a school that was understaffed, had teachers who were overworked, lacked supplies and had little motivation to teach.

I remember not being able to see beyond my current reality. It wasn’t until my parents and my mentor opened my eyes to something better that the idea of college came to me. While my high school grades didn’t reflect that of a student with much of a future, I still went on the belief instilled in me, and I later graduated from college and with academic honors from seminary and was the first black to graduate with a doctoral degree from Dallas Theological Seminary. But that was because I had people in my life urging me to see beyond my own limited perspective. They saw something in me even when I could not, and I am a better man today because of it.

Individuals are changed and communities are transformed when people invest in others and help them look beyond what they currently see. As the church offers tangible social services, it gives people glimpses of what their lives and communities could be.

How can you invest in somebody else and help them to see a life beyond their current circumstances?

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