Community Connectors and Roving Listeners

The church decided its call was to be good neighbors. And that we should listen and see people as the children of God --De'amon Harges, the original Roving Listener from Broadway United Methodist Church

This past spring, my friends Jon and Sunshine and I took a trip down to Chattanooga for spring break to see family and friends and spread the word about my internship as a Community Connector in the South Hills area of Grand Rapids. 

On the way down South, we realized we would be passing right through Indianapolis. Several people had told me that if I got a chance, I should go visit Broadway United Methodist Church in Indianapolis to meet De'amon Harges, the original Roving Listener. They told me that this guy was good at his job, and could teach me a thing or two. 

We rolled into Indianapolis and pulled up next to the massive, stone Methodist Church. It was a Saturday around lunch time and their parking lot was almost full. People were coming in and out of the doors. We had not written them that we were coming, but we decided to walk in and see what we could see. 

The doors were unlocked. The folks on the steps said hello, but did not take much notice of us. It didn't seem too unusual that we were there. We stepped into a stairwell of wood and stone, the walls covered in art. A sign to the left listed what to find on different floors: dance classes, music classes, art classes, small business start ups, and more. Sunshine is an artist and wanted to find the ceramic studio, so we went to look for it. We found a children's orchestra and talked to a dad about it and about the church. He told us we should go and find the building manager, Cathy Pilarski, to get our questions answered. 

We wandered past a few dance classes and into the sanctuary, almost always with people around who did not seem troubled at all to see three strangers wandering the church. We walked out past their commercial kitchen--where they allow people to start up small restaurants--before we ran into Cathy. 

Cathy was full of energy, and immediately sat us down in the office lobby and began sharing stories about the church, how she got involved, and Asset Based Community Development. Some of the young roving listeners they had hired came through the office, and she asked them to share a bit about their experiences. All this time, we were regularly interrupted as she answered questions about a funeral that was happening in just a few minutes. We didn't deserve it or demand it, but they gave us their full attention.

De'amon Harges was in a meeting with a group from the east coast who had come to learn about Asset Based Community Development, but he stepped out, saw us talking to Cathy, and invited us in to join them. He showed us a room covered with lists of names of people who had certain gifts: everyone in the neighborhood who was a healer, who liked to garden, who was passionate about social justice, who loved to cook, etc. He took us on a tour around the building and showed Sunshine the ceramic studio. He showed us pictures of neighbors posted throughout the hallways, taken at dinner parties organized around their shared interests.

Here are some of my favorite things he told us, quoted as I remember them:

"We try to live church throughout the week, and then come back to the building on Sundays to celebrate." 

"Whenever we give someone money or a grant to try out a new idea, we tell them, 'We expect you to fail at least three times.'" 

"We try to live as if the gospel story is real today."

Sunshine, Jon, and I came as strangers, were welcomed as friends, and left with an invitation to come back anytime. Before we finished our drive, we had a picnic at a playground outside the church to process all that had just happened.

A church that had almost been empty had come back to life. We had seen a place full of energy and hope, energized by a willingness to change and do things differently. By hiring De'amon and continuing to hire local youth as Roving Listeners to value the gifts of local people, they participated in a cultural shift towards creating an economy of image-bearers. 

We left with the question, how can we be good neighbors? How can we listen and see people as the children of God? 

Two months into this internship in South Hills, these questions remain. The internship consists of spending several hours each day walking the streets, talking to neighbors, and getting to know people. We are practicing seeing one another as De'amon says is so important in his Ted talk. We are hearing each other's experience of the neighborhood and hearing one another's ideas. People have big dreams of community meals, events, gardens, and centers. As we learn to see one another, who knows what we could do together? 

If you want to learn more about the story behind the transformation of Broadway United Methodist Church, check out this article below:

   

Death and resurrection of an urban church

Other photos by Peter "Sunshine" Cahill

Rock Pigeons and Peregrine Falcons

http://billofthebirds.blogspot.com/2011/03/peregrine-nation.html

Last week, I was walking around the neighborhood with a fellow who grew up on Thomas St. He was full of ideas and energy for making the neighborhood a better place, and we were dreaming about gardens and community centers and all sorts of things. He also knew that this area was once called the South Hills area which almost no one does now, especially after a recent google update removed the name from their maps.

Then we began talking about birds. This fellow likes to pay attention and naturally notices the birds of the area. He told me that when he was growing up, the South Hills area was full of large flocks of Rock Pigeons. Now we only see a few. After Grand Rapids started a Peregrine Falcon breeding program on the City Hall tower, numbers declined significantly.

Peregrine Falcons were introduced into Grand Rapids in the 1980s but only started nesting in the early 2000s. Students from Grand Rapids Community College have been keeping track of their sightings and keeping a blog about falcons nesting on the tower of the city courthouse.

It's incredible to me how human actions can transform the urban ecology. Of course, more study and fact checking would be needed to say that the presence of these falcons was the sole cause of the decline of the pigeon population. But we do have the power to make drastic changes, for better or worse. We need to be careful to take the time to understand how one part is related to another,  but we also have the opportunity take the small steps to establish more life, to invite more beauty.

To get regular updates on how local falcons are doing, check out this Grand Rapids Falcon Blog.

8/1/16 - 8/6/16

8-02-16

Birds:

Mourning Doves
House Sparrows
Blue Jays
Northern Cardinal
American Goldfinch
Rock Pigeon
Chimney Swifts
Europeans Starlings

8-03-16

Birds:

House Sparrows
European Starlings
Northern Cardinal
White Breasted Nuthatch
American Goldfinch
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Herring/Ring billed Gull

The Push: Gentrification in Grand Rapids

Gentrification is a major issue in Grand Rapids in general and in the South Hills area in particular. Over the past three years, demographics in the neighborhood have changed significantly, making gentrification an important theme of the contested identity of the South Hills area. Everyone says it and knows it: the neighborhood is changing.

To hear the latest about this subject in Grand Rapids, check out the documentary produced this summer by WGVU's show, Mutually Inclusive:

"The Push: Gentrification of Grand Rapids"