‘Change not only their lives but ours’ CBF field personnel live and minister among diverse urban community in Virginia
I
n Danville, Va., where CBF field personnel Jessica and Joshua Hearne live and work, 24 percent of the population lives at or below the poverty line. The city has a double-digit unemployment rate and its murder rate reaches four times the national average in a given year. Forty percent of the children in Danville fall below the poverty line and drugs, especially crack cocaine, permeate the
CBF photos
In Danville, Va., 40 percent of children live below the national poverty line.
14
|
fellowship!
February/March 2013
urban landscape. But where the tide of poverty rushes in, the Grace and Main Fellowship, led in part by the Hearnes, stands firm, rooted in a radical vision of Christ’s community in Danville. Working primarily with the homeless and near-homeless in downtown Danville and the Northside, Grace and Main builds relationships in an effort to not only relieve the negative effects of poverty but to grow a beloved community of servanthood among
all socio-economic levels. “Poverty comes in a lot of different disguises,” Joshua said, “and not just in a lack of access to material resources. Just about everybody we encounter is poor in some way, whether that poverty is social, emotional, spiritual or material. The truth is, we have strengths and weaknesses, and we are best able to follow Jesus when we do it as part of a community that covers over our weaknesses and benefits from our strengths.”