H & D

Growing Up – Interview with Donovan Lloyd   Editor’s Note: Donovan and I have known each other for nearly two years now, first meeting shortly after I moved into the North Side of Wilmington, Delaware.  Our shared community - the small city he grew up in and the neighborhood I was new to - had recently seen an escalation in violent crime.  This interview came after a series of conversations on violence in our neighborhoods.    Donovan, we... Read More »

So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” – Initial report of the spies in Canaan, Num... Read More »

Oftentimes when peo­ple who know Philadelphia’s neigh­bor­hoods find out where I live, and that I walk or bike to work most days, they either look at me with con­cern for my san­ity or with admi­ra­tion for my brav­ery. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked “Is it safe there?” and I never know how to answer. Is it safe? No, not really. There have been sev­eral shoot­ings on the block or near the block where I... Read More »

When I was asked to write about how violence has shaped my community and impacted my life, I became overwhelmed as I thought back at all the heartache I’ve seen and been through. My husband, Ira,  and I live in an inner-city neighborhood in Washington, DC, and have a ministry called Park View Kids Zone (PVKZ). We have programs that work & serve many of the kids, youth, & young adults in our community. Our house is literally the “neighborhood house”. On an a... Read More »

As a parent of three small children I have come to cherish the quiet moments that come after we wrestle our three children into bed.  My wife and I can finally relax, talk, watch TV, and read without interruption.  Moving to the inner city and getting involved with teenagers and our neighbors lives has meant that this sacred time gets interrupted quite often.  Most nights there are knocks at the door for kids needing rides, neighbors with medical issues, kids wanting to ta... Read More »

For forty-some years now, the Church of the Saviour has been in Washington, D.C., and we now have health services in various places in the city. We also run housing ministries, job programs, programs for children. My own family has been here since 1976. This is where God has called us to invest our lives. Yet during that time, conditions in the city have gotten worse. There is more TB, more AIDS. More hospitals are being closed to the poor than ever before. There are fewer housing opt... Read More »