A New Path to Jesus for This Generation?

About ten years ago, David Kinneman came out with a book called Unchristian, which polled tens of thousands of Americans, and found that their primary perception of Christians was that they were hypocritical, judgmental, anti-gay, too political, old fashioned, and just trying to convert people.  NT Wright says that this comes from a version of Christianity that has wrongly separated spiritual growth from social and civic engagement.  Today’s college students have experienced a church that wants to save their souls without doing anything to save the world…they’ve witnessed an impotent gospel.

Yet Jesus himself said that we shall know a tree by its fruit.

The LA Urban Project is more than a place for Christian students to gain God’s heart for the poor, but a place for non-believers to have an authentic Christian experience that integrates faith into Christian activism that heals our world.  Students spent the fall turning the LAUP house into a tutoring center and community garden for South LA kids and families.  As a result, non-Christian students experienced the authentic gospel that has the power to bring both inward and outward change.

One of them wrote me this message after her weekend:

“It feels great to be part of something like LAUP, especially when I consider what my Friday night/Saturday would have consisted of had I been here, on campus.

…Besides that, it was also a really spiritual experience for me.  I think I mentioned that I have never considered myself a Christian or even a remotely religious or spiritual person, but I can’t stop thinking about Friday night’s discussion.  The idea that helping others could be a spiritual experience has never resonated with me until that moment…I have always been one of those people in the statistics you read us who stereotyped Christians as having a certain political agenda or have historically used Christianity as a means of imperial domination.  But, when we discussed Jesus as a leader of a grassroots movement, essentially, who was concerned with helping the poor and marginalized members of society, I was introduced to a more universal worldview of Christians.

…I definitely broke into tears on more than one occasion this weekend.  It was only two days but it definitely affected my entire worldview in terms of my own relationship to others and the way I think about my own spiritual purpose…It was really a transforming experience and I’m so happy I took part.  I will definitely try to visit soon and see how the garden is doing and work a little more on it!”

In your prayers and giving to the mission of LAUP, it is my personal belief that you are not only compelling students to remember the poor, but you are investing in the re-evangelization of America by restoring the gospel to its full power, not only to change lives, but to change everything.

It is my honor and joy to partner with you in so critical a mission.  Thank you.

From Dreams to Reality...to Revival

I want to inspire you as God has inspired me.

The LAUP House at the Start of Last Weekend

Last week I had the first chance to test out the new ideas that have been incubating in my soul through the past year of studying theology and learning from historic models of ministry.  In the fifth century, Saint Patrick of Ireland launched the most successful revival of Christian mission since the dawn of the Church by bringing the grace of God to communities, not just through words but through actions.  His monastic communities transformed all of Europe by allowing people to taste, see, and experience how God’s grace addressed their chief needs. 

Youth and college students clearing the yard

Last weekend, a dozen students from USC launched exactly that kind of community in South LA.  South LA has some of the worst schools in the nation.  Only one in five students in the area are proficient in English; only one of twenty-five are proficient in math.  South LA leads the county in childhood and adult obesity at 30% of the community.  This is to say nothing of violence, vandalism, and depression.  Kids need help in school.  Kids need to learn how to eat well.  Kids need not just the words of Jesus, but the presence of Jesus to change their chief needs:  the vision for the LAUP house is to be a presence of God’s grace in South LA through turning it into a tutoring center and community garden.

College students are perfectly suited to supplement the deficiencies of South LA education.  And the LAUP house has a plot of land that can be the literal seedbed of youth and families growing their own food, gaining a taste for vegetables, and changing the course of their health.  Last weekend was the first of six groups of students who will spend their fall weekends turning this vision into reality, while learning about God’s heart for the poor and building mentoring relationships with inner city kids.  Many of them return three days a week to keep investing in kids while pursuing their studies.

12-year-old Demaurae and Kelsy, Working together

College students know that their Christian faith is supposed to affect people’s character and spirituality.  But through the LAUP house, they are becoming a part of Christian faith actually transforming a poor community.  My hope is that, in the spirit of Saint Patrick, these experiences will plant a seed in hundreds of college students that would germinate into a revival of church planting and community transformation that reminds our nation the power of the gospel.

I post this vision because I want to invite you more deeply into this journey of hoping, praying, and participating in what God’s doing through LAUP.  We need those who are already praying and giving regularly to continue.  We need volunteers to help with work projects and offer skilled labor on the house such as plumbing and tiling.  And we need generous one-time donations to help us get the house looking and working as a house of God’s presence in a poor community should.  Please don’t hesitate to comment or ask questions about how you can do any of the above by emailing me at Scott_Hall@ivstaff.org.

The LAUP House After the First Weekend of Working Toward the Vision, with College Students and South LA Youth

Thank you for what you’ve already done, and I look forward to seeing more of what God will do through us, together!

Scott's Return and Greeting!

Hello LAUP Partners!

I'm BACK!  :)  I was too excited to write a message...so I recorded one.  Enjoy!

God is Digging a Deep Well

Hello to the LAUP faithful!

Jenny and I with ever-growing five-year-olds Lucy & Tyler

Greetings from Seattle, from the desk where I now spend so many hours reading, writing, praying, and dreaming of the future!  I felt led, tonight, to say hello and offer a quick update of all that’s been happening in me at the halfway mark of this academic sabbatical.

If normal life is God pouring jugs of water into my soul, and then inviting me to enjoy pouring them into students, this year he has a circle of caution tape around me because he’s initiated an operation of digging a 300-foot well inside me that feels like it contains a geyser!

In contrast to last quarter, where I was taking in 5000 pages of theology about God’s Kingdom and his invitation for us to be a part of his good news to the world, this winter is about me turning ideas into reality.  I’m studying under 30-year World Vision veteran Bryant Myers about how to effectively pursue Christian development among the world’s poor, and I’m spending the rest of my academic hours creating the next generation of curriculum to help students gain God’s heart for the poor, and to help InterVarsity more powerfully offer the good news of God to Los Angeles.

It’s almost as if I can literally feel God scooping my well deeper, week-by-week. 

The deeper I go in my studies and reflections, the more convinced I am of my vocation to be one who stands at the bridge between middle-class America and the world of the urban poor, inviting both into the wonderful treasures of community, love, and partnership that can only happen by God’s grace.

I am aware of what a gift I have received though this sabbatical, and I thank you for your encouragement, your giving, and your prayers.

I hope reading this note gives you as much joy and wonder at our God as writing it is giving me.  I look forward to sharing more with you about the fruit that comes from this sacred time.

Scott