Detroit Summer Mission
Detroit, home of the Detroit Tigers, Pistons and Redwings. “The Motor City”, “The Comeback City,” and most recently according to it’s current leadership, “The City for Everyone”. A city of robust history, art, and influence over the state of Michigan, yet a city with an unemployment rate double the national average, and a graduation rate of 16% lower than the state average. This is the city whose streets we walked each day during Detroit Summer Mission.
This past June and July, 25 students and staff came together for 5 weeks, doing campus evangelism at Wayne State University and compassion ministry through our Cru Inner City partnerships. During our time, we trusted the Lord together to cultivate culturally competent disciple-makers that balance proclamation and demonstration of the gospel, as they connect people to Jesus Christ in the city of Detroit, on campus, and beyond.
In the midst of the daily grind, sorrow, and pain, the Lord is faithfully working through ministries and churches long committed to the city. We had the blessing to come alongside them this summer to reinvigorate their efforts to reconcile people to Jesus Christ and instill dignity, worth and value in the hearts of people on the margins of our society. It was a joy and privilege and a challenge and heartbreak to enter into the reality of Detroiters everyday lives.
Highlights from Detroit Summer Mission
Weekly Volunteering:
At Westside Christian Academy, our students and staff were leaders at a day camp for young kids. The kids that attend the camp benefit from more than the activities and programming. Without the snacks and meals provided during the camp, many children would have nothing to eat. Caeleb, a DSM student, remarked, “I had a kid right at 9am telling me he was hungry. He hadn’t had anything to eat for breakfast before coming. It broke my heart, but I’m glad we can feed him as part of the program.”
At Central Detroit Christian’s Community Development Corporation, we participated in a variety of projects. CDC has helped people start a number of businesses, tears down abandoned homes, puts on free programming for parents and kids, and has a community garden. This summer we helped them move to their newly renovated facility, set up their office space and furniture, landscape their grounds and tend their community garden for a new season of planting.
Special Project Saturday
Our first Saturday, we helped Mack Ave Community Church with their 3-on-3 basketball tournament, an outreach where around 40 young men heard the gospel preached, played ball, and connected with the church community. Our second Saturday we partnered withElevate Detroit’s “CommuiniD BBQ”, sharing a meal with the homeless and low-income families living in the Cass Corridor. During our final Saturday service opportunity, we helped to clean up the yard of a widow from the church we attended all summer and saved her from being fined by the city.
Kara Riley, one of the staff women I trained on DSM, summed up our experience well:“We spent 5 weeks in Detroit. It was an incredibly blessed time of pouring into students from around the country, working with inner city kids, helping at Central Detroit Christian, talking about spiritual things at Wayne State, we learned about God’s heart for the city, and engaged in deep discussions about race. I am forever changed because of DSM 2017.”