Wrapping up our three-part year-end series by connecting YFC ministry to God’s common and special grace (Written by Executive Director Haddon Anderson).
Part 3
I’m from Rockford and have lived here for most of my life. For most with roots in Rockford, we’re familiar with often negative takes on the city.
Concerns about crime. Concerns about poverty. Concerns about the school system.
While healthy growth has occurred in various areas, there’s still a long way to go to overcome unique social and economic issues. There are at least parts of the city that are considered less desirable.
There are parallels to the biblical book of Jonah, when he’s called to go to Nineveh but goes the opposite direction because of a host of concerns about the city. Even once he goes, his heart remains hardened.
Yet God’s heart for the city is filled with compassion, “And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left–and also many animals?” (Jonah 4:11).
I wonder if God looks at our city with similar eyes. Specifically, I wonder how His heart breaks for local youth, many of whom are marginalized or are victims of abuse, violence, or bullying.
What might he say to us modern day believers about youth who are lost and hurting in our own community? My sense is His compassion would call us to action, towards demonstrating His common and special grace (see previous features) in our city.
““And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left–and also many animals?””
Our new City Life Center is well positioned to reach a population that might cause one to run the other direction. Youth are coming from a variety of backgrounds and challenges, many of whom are disconnected from a local church or a godly adult mentor. We regularly navigate an assortment of behavioral and mental health issues, but we do so knowing God’s fatherly love for His children.
Since opening in September, we’ve welcomed over 250+ youth into the City Life Center, and we celebrate that they are now finding leaders offering hope and most importantly the gospel to them. God’s common and special grace in action.
As I think about Rockford, I’m thankful for the ways the mission of YFC calls us towards God’s compassion. Our loving God pursues us all when we’re lost and wandering, like sheep without a shepherd. Praise God for those of us who have found our true Shepherd, our Savior, our Lord.
May this same love compel us forward. May we respond not like Jonah, who struggled to soften towards those different from him. May we rather learn from God’s tenderness to the broken, the lost, the unreached.
May we embrace a vision to embody God’s common and special grace.
