In a recent article, Mary Elberstadt blew my mind. She hit the nail right on the head. She started out by talking about the underlying themes in so much of today's popular music. It is riddled with misogyny, violence, suicide, ect. For me, the clearest example of this is Eminem's "Cleaning out my closet." These songs, so laden with harsh content must be popular for some reason. They are popular because they speak to the place of so many of today's youth. With one of every two marriages ending in divorce, it is no wonder that songs about broken homes have such resonance.
This got me thinking, I do not know of a single ministry whose stated goal is to work with the children of divorced or dysfunctional families. In certain urban areas, more than half of the youth are going to be from "non-Traditional" families. It is about time that we consider what that means for our ministry.
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the church I work at (holy Trinity evangelical Lutheran of East Pittsburgh) while we dont have a minisrty for children of single parents, we have shaped all of our childrens ministries for that since the children from single partents outnumber the children from whole families.
East Pittsburgh is a por urban congregation with a pastor (my best friend) who has a true passion for these kids (having had to bury to many of them) and has found and attracted people who have the same passion and goals. just thought I would let you know. there are some of us out here. but by in large far to few.
When I first began to go to this church and first began to get excited about this church something happened. it seemed that just up the street from the church was house that caught on fire and burned to the ground. Two of the kids who came to our church and who we had the pleasure of telling about Jesus and the even greater pleasure of watching them (the true witness) come to forgiveness and ask for jesus to live in their hearts. lived in that house. and in that house they died. The funeral was held at our church since no one in the family "had a church but these two kids" The mother also died in the blaze, her funeral was also at our church. it was only after the funerals that we found out more about the mother and what happened that day.
The mother was addictied to several drugs and that day she told her kids to go back to bed and they didnt have to go to school that day, this is known because some of the kids friends stopped at the house to meet them for school and she told them this. After this we have only the fire departments report but this is how it read. She took a can of gas and poured it on the floor from the kids bedroom door to the front door and around her feet, she then took a match and lit it. the house burned to the foundation in 15 min.
I know where those two boys are today. I know because we took the time to care. I know because we decided it was more important to tell them about jesus than anything else in this world. Every time I tell this tale or hear my pastor tell it I cry. I am a 6 foot 2 inch 300 pound gorilla and I cry like a child. but I dont cry for the children they are safe in a place I can only dream about and cant wait to join them. I weep for the mom that we didnt get a chance to reach.
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