“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” John 14:2
Dear Caldwell,
Jesus’ words offer God’s promise for us in the “then and when” of the afterlife, but they can also guide and inspire us in the here and now.
On Sunday, I hope you will come to a conversation after worship about exactly how we can do that. As you know, affordable housing has long been a dream of ours, dating to even before we hosted a 50-bed women’s shelter for three years a while back.
Now, a committee of your friends is hard at work refining a new way that Caldwell can “prepare a place” for our neighbors in need – a dream of transforming the underused Price Educational Building into housing for several vulnerable populations.
We need your voice and wisdom! Please come to a congregational conversation in Belk Hall after worship Sunday hosted by the Home Committee, part of our “4H” initiative. Representatives of The Housing Partnership, with whom we will partner, will be there to answer questions and listen to your input.
The Committee and the Partnership will share what we know at this point – the non-profits we propose to work with, a rough idea of what the units will look like, how we will partner with others to finance the project and how we can come alongside our new neighbors as the hands and feet of Christ. A light lunch will be provided along with child care.
We see this as a model project for our city as it strives to address its deeply seeded challenges of poverty, low upward mobility and other injustices.
The author Bryan Stevenson says, “The opposite of poverty isn’t wealth. It is justice.”
Come and learn Sunday about how we are striving to live out those wise words, including how you can play a part.
In Christ,
John