Hope City - Kansas City, Missouri

                                             The front of the Hope City building

                                                Part of the cafeteria at Hope City

I don't want to go too in-depth in regards to Hope City. You can find general information about the outreach at their website here. For those who want a brief synopsis, it's an outreach dedicated to the poverty-stricken, the homeless, and those addicted to substances in inner-city Kansas City, Missouri. They provide lunch seven days a week and dinners on Monday and Friday nights. There are facilities where people can take showers and wash their clothes. There are programs to help children stay off of the streets. Finally, there is a prayer room that functions as a ministry center for worship and corporate prayer. They have worship and prayer there from eight in the morning until ten at night and anyone can attend. Sadly, I was unable to take a picture of the prayer room, but it had a modern rustic feel.

As far as my own experiences went, Hope City felt like a great place to attend if you were experiencing poverty, as far as general services like food and showers were concerned. It seemed to lack the welcoming community feel of Home PDX in Portland, though. Several times I walked back and forth between the cafeteria and the prayer/worship room and I saw many people just sitting alone at tables, sipping coffee. Perhaps it was their choice to be alone, perhaps not. Nevertheless, after seeing the homeless engaged on a personal level at Home PDX, Hope City felt removed. They place a strong emphasis on prayer and worship, and rightfully so to an extent. For the most part, though, it seemed there was a strong divide between the poverty-stricken outside the prayer/worship room and those who weren't experiencing poverty within the worship room. There's no worship at Home PDX, per say, but the act of fellowship between those experiencing poverty certainly felt like a pleasing act of worship towards the Lord. To be fair, Hope City is a much larger outreach with varying programs, and since I only attended on a Friday night, I can't say if the atmosphere feels different throughout the week. Also, from the way Ken Loyd, the leader of Home PDX, explained, it took years before Home PDX began to foster that sense of love and community that, to me, felt effortless. For Hope City to cultivate consistent community, whether worshiping or otherwise, may just be a matter of time.

While I didn't attend Hope City to chronicle children, they did impress me with their children's ministry. Simply by looking at the smiles on the children's faces, I could tell the helpers were blessing the kids and making an impact on their lives. One pre-teen girl stopped and asked me to take her picture. I didn't get her name, but her joy and enthusiasm made me smile.

I met with a helper at Hope City named Ezekiel who isn't currently experiencing poverty, but grew up in absolute mental, spiritual, and economic poverty. His story is a testament to those who may feel there is no way out of their current dark conditions. That should be posted tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.

Thanks again for reading! I feel like this blog, and by proxy, the book that will result from it, is only part of a larger concept that the Lord wants to fulfill. I'm not sure about all the details yet, but exciting things are coming from this endeavor. More soon.