Our Ministry
What are Peter and Liz doing these days?
We are very excited to be part of the InnerCHANGE team in the East End of London! We’re beginning to make connections with families and teenagers in the very diverse neighborhood of Tower Hamlets.
The vision for the InnerCHANGE team in London is to be good neighbors, peacemakers, and advocates for the community. We hope to do this first and foremost with youth.
There are people from all over the world in Tower Hamlets: over a third are from Bangladesh, along with Eastern Europeans, Africans (particularly Somalis), and white British East Enders who have watched their borough transform. Second and third generation immigrant youth are often caught between cultures and worlds. In school, they speak English and live within a Western culture and mindset; at home, they speak their native language and are under the guidance of their parents’ strong cultural ties. This cultural clash creates conflict and sometimes pushes them to a street life, which has its own influences.
As part of InnerCHANGE, we are called to be workers of the Kingdom—but instead of staying within the walls of the church, we are called to take the church out into the community. Over the next several years, we’re looking forward to finding ways we can be
- good neighbors to families and mentors to youth
- peacemakers with those who are quick to place blame and anger
- and advocates for youth searching for their identity amid opposing cultural influences.
We have big dreams for our passions for photography, theater, and martial arts—we hope they’ll be key pathways to building relationships and exploring issues of identity, faith, and peace with teens.
Read more about InnerCHANGE, the organization we’re joining, or Tower Hamlets, the neighborhood we’ll be working in!
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 1 trackback }