The New School Choice Agenda
For years, the vision remained dormant. Then a number of prerequisites fell together. Avula and Wijesooriya joined a residency program at the Medical College of Virginia in downtown Richmond. Illian, a private wealth manager who works from home, had enough job flexibility to move to Richmond. That same year, Widmer received the call to become a pastor in a Richmond church. By that time, each man had married a woman who shared the vision for planting roots deep in an urban community.
But they didn't want to set up shop in just any poor area.
"We wanted to be invited into the neighborhood, and we wanted to go to a place where God was already at work," says Mary Kay Avula. When they visited Church Hill, they met with local Christians. Among them, providentially, was Don Coleman, a local pastor. After they had talked, Coleman "claimed us as an answer to his prayer," says Avula. "He sensed that the Spirit was calling us long before we did."
When another Christian, Selena Ruffin, invited the couples to move to her street, three of the four families became her immediate neighbors. The Widmers moved in a few blocks away—all in Church Hill. They soon connected with Angie and Percy Strickland, another Christian couple who had arrived in Church Hill three years prior, setting up Church Hill Activities and Tutoring (CHAT).
Church Hill sits, literally, atop a hill overlooking Richmond's downtown. Once home to Richmond's upper class, it still features a number of historic churches. But the demographics have radically changed. It now hosts a majority African American population, and most residents live at or near the poverty line.
The UVA families quickly built relationships with their neighbors: The Wijesooriyas took in a young unmarried couple expecting their first child, and the Widmers housed two high-school boys when their mother needed temporary support. But the uva families soon realized the move would not come without costs. Catherine Illian, a petite woman with curly brown hair, recalls a time when she heard shouting and scuffling outside her door. "I was ready to call the police when I looked outside and saw that it was just a group of men socializing and talking very loudly …. I am still learning the difference between loud friendly banter and something more aggressive."
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Ram Prakash
great
Erica Hunt
Our 3 daughters attend a public school in the urban neighborhood we moved into 10 years ago. Our eldest is finishing up 6th grade this spring. They have always been very much in the cultural minority. The friendships, experiences and yes, the challenges, have enriched our family's faith and allowed the girls to experience the Kingdom in a unique way. We talk about being salt and light...about hope. We spend a lot of time praying for peace in the homes and hearts of classmates. I believe families need to make the best choice for them, but I wonder how many Christians might be influenced by fear in this decision process. Our girls are healthy in every way - they are not suffering emotionally or spiritually from their school environment. We very much believe the diversity and broadened view has actually strengthened them in some exciting ways. God is good, all the time, everywhere!
Corey Widmer
In response to Ted Hewlett's comment: "Children are to nurture, not for sending into potentially harmful situations as deputy missionaries." The nurturing of our children does not exclude mission; indeed, the gospel necessities it. If while nurturing my child I do not give her a sense of her new call in Christ to participate as a citizen in his sometimes dangerous Kingdom, into what worldview am I nurturing her? If we are seeking to model our parenting on God's own perfect role as parent, then consider that God the Father sent his own Son into a"potentially harmful situation as a deputy missionary."
Annie Kirkby
There may be an unforseen educational benefit for these families. At least for the family in California, their children will have a huge advantage when seeking admission at the University of California, which places a premium on "Excellence in the Local Context". My high-school senior son was turned down at all 4 of the UC campuses he applied to this year, and I'm sort of wishing we had sent him to a different kind of high school.
Pia Hugo
I've been a public HS teacher here in L.A. for 15 years. My 3 kids all went to public schools in the area and are highly intelligent and educated (my youngest is currently studying at Cornell U. on a scholarship) while loving God with all their hearts, souls, minds and spirits. Over the years, they've learned what to embrace, reject, and keep pondering on--based on what they've been taught--and they are, what I like to call, Christian critical thinkers. I also work with the local youth pastors in my area, bringing unsaved and saved kids regularly to their churches, while mentoring them at school as the Christian Club adviser. While my administrators remain quite hostile to Christian activities being conducted on campus, the other Christian teachers and I have found ways to work around them. If not for parents, teachers and pastors who believe in supporting their local public schools--like the ones in this article--so many more students in my area would be utterly lost and hopeless.
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