Urban Concern's Holistic Approach
Urban Concern strives to maintain quality, holistic programs integrated around healthy families and long-term leadership development. The strength of Urban Concern is the way our activities facilitate relationships that transform lives.
Mission
Urban Concern's mission is to empower individuals and families to be agents of positive change in South Linden and the world.
Vision for Leadership Development
What does leadership development look like among the poor? We believe that whoever wants to be a leader must be a servant. This consists of three aspects: spiritual mentoring, academic/vocational development and family/social development.
Spiritual mentoring provides the moral foundation for individuals to become positive role models in society. Communities also need strong families to provide the assets for children to grow into healthy and productive human beings. To break the cycle of poverty, individuals need access to academic and vocational training to provide for their families.
Approach to Charity
Whenever charity becomes an end in itself it creates dependency. As community developer Bob Lupton says, "Doing for others what they can do for themselves is charity at its worst." This needs-driven approach to charity results in:
- The giver benefiting more than the recipient.
- The recipient's dignity is not affirmed.
- Short-term change versus long-term development leading to transformation.
- It does not recognize a person's God-given assets.
Our approach to charity is to create conditions for people to develop and emerge on their own. In other words, our goal is to move people from betterment to development. The result of this approach to charity is:
- Gratitude rather than entitlement
- Dignity rather than a recipient of services
- Character development
- Mutuality and reciprocity, where everyone brings something to the table
How do we do this?
Community is where it all begins. Our purpose is to build deep personal relationships that lead to indigenous leadership.
We provide charity that fosters a God-given self dignity in the people we serve. Everyone in our church community is challenged to love God and their neighbor.
We believe gratitude and thanksgiving is the entry point for transformation among the poor and we communicate this to the people we serve.
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