Our Neighborhood
Did You Know…..
Did you know that one block from Sojourn there is a father who beats his child?
Did you know that last week a man on Mary Street took his own life with a shotgun? He was a recluse and all alone. We will never know what could have been if someone knocked on his door with a friendly smile and a living hope.
Did you know that 15 homes had their gas cut off in Shelby Park on the first of May?
Did you know that within blocks from the church there are elderly people who have not seen their families in years, that don’t know how they are going to pay their bills and they are scared? Did you know that people are evicted in our neighborhoods because they can’t pay their big winter heating and summer cooling bills?
Did you know that there is a lady dying from cancer a couple of blocks from the 930? Because their former church has abandoned them in this time of need, she and her husband are rejecting God’s church entirely. Her husband believes that her cancer is God’s punishment. Who will be an ambassador of Christ to this hurting family?
Did you know that a few blocks away there is a single parent family with several children, one of them disabled, who has no means of transportation, formal education, and is struggling to provide financially for the family. Work is often hard to come by and when work is available, the children are left at home alone. Who will help this family? Who is providing male Christian role models for these children?
Did you know that there is a family, whose house is very close to Sojourn, who pays their landlord almost twice as much for rent than if they were to own the same house?
Did you know that many of the marginalized in our neighborhood, because they do not have transportation, purchase their groceries at one of the many liquor stores – paying exuberant prices for bread, milk and eggs – all while being confronted with their greatest addiction/sin of alcoholism?
Did you know there’s a lady on Vine Street, on a fixed income, who is being fined by the metro government because she cannot cut down a tree that has died in her yard?
Did you know we met a man, while passing out fliers, who cried and wept about his need for a Christian community to help him combat his alcoholism? Who has knocked on his door since?
Did you know that there is a young lady across the street who is an inspiring artist? Who is helping her to develop her talents for God’s glory?
Did you know that there are prostitutes and drug dealers walking the same streets with children and teenagers in Smoketown and Shelby Park? Did you know that there are groups of juveniles on St Catherine and Vine streets that purportedly repeatedly commit acts of petty theft and crime? Who will mentor these boys? What do you think is going to happen to them if no one does?
Did you know that the neighborhood association literally wept when they heard that we would bring an Art in the Park event to Shelby Park?
Did you know we have a couple in our neighborhood, currently living on Social Security Disability, suffering from alcoholism, who have been assisted by our benevolence program? Do you know they now attend every service we offer and are hearing the gospel because they have seen it in action? Who will help them take the next step towards obtaining marketable job skills and financial independence?
Did you know there are many houses in the Shelby Park community that would be condemned by the city if they were inspected by the Inspections Licenses and
Permits division of the metro government? Did you know that absentee landlords do not maintain their rental houses so our neighborhoods are turning into slums?
Did you know that God has used Sojourn ministries to effectively grow the size of our neighborhood association from 70 to 150? Did you know that the former 4th district alderman, now a member of the association, has said that Sojourn is a literal Godsend to this community? And our current councilman said “Sojourn Church is the cornerstone for many great initiatives currently underway in the Fourth District.” Are you living up to the reputation that this neighborhood and city has for you?
Is your heart inclined by these stories? Does this create in you a holy anger or anxiety? Do these needs disturb you? Let us turn to Christ and be Christ to the suffering and lost. Take a few minutes in silence to pray for these things. How can you help?