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As bold as it
may sound, New City wants to eliminate poverty and its horrible consequences
from the lives of the people to whom it ministers. As the church preaches the truths that help
people change their value systems and the poor come to faith, it gives them
hope so that they can become productive people.
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The church must
also help create strategies to move people toward economic progress, if it is
to make an impact in its community.
One strategy for that is the creation of a development organization
that specializes in attacking the systemic issues that hold people back. The two areas then that need change are in
a persons personal value system (and this the local church can do) and the
systemic context in which a poor believer is found. Some of the systemic areas that need
changing are illiteracy (so we have tutoring programs and scholarship
programs), unemployment and underemployment (so we have a Jobs Partnership
program), the lack of labor intensive entry jobs ( so we have a lawn care
company), and inadequate job mentoring (which should have come from good
parenting but both the lawn care and housing companies provide that).
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New City and Hope for Chattanooga bring
in teams of young people during the summer to help us in urban ministry. They give us the additional man power to
repair, paint, and renovate homes. We
train them in cross cultural and urban ministry skills. These teams also help us in evangelism of
children inner city neighborhoods.
Internships for college students are available.
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