It may seem an overwhelming task to go to the
inner city to meet the needs of the poor and homeless
in our society. And so it is, in our own strength.
None of us has the resources or physical ability
to stem the flood of poverty’s need for food
and shelter and clothing—or the need to be
loved. It would crush us in a short period of time,
and we would go away defeated and exhausted from
the effort.
In 1957, a fledging ministry took over a rundown
rescue mission in San Jose, California. They took
God seriously when he said in the Bible in Matthew
25:34-40, “Come,
you blessed of My father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world: For I was
hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you
gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;
I was naked and you clothed Me: I was sick and you
visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me….
Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to
one of the least of these My brethren, you did it
to Me.”
After a modest beginning, CityTeam Ministries grew
to six cities national and nine city international
ministry to the poor and destitute of the world,
providing food and lodging, clothing and personal
care to the least of these. After much pray and seeking
of God’s
will for the ministry’s future, a rescue mission
was established in 1989 in downtown Chester, Pennsylvania,
and a growing volunteer army of individuals, churches,
businesses, civic organizations, and schools banded
together to work with the small staff to help lift
the burdens of the less fortunate in the Delaware
Valley.
In the beginning of the Chester ministry, a once-a-week
feeding program was started, using handmade benches
and plywood sheets on wooden horses as tables. The
food was cooked at a local church and transported
to the derelict building at 7th & Sproul Streets
that the ministry had acquired for a song. Several
hundred hungry people were fed that way yearly. Next
came renovations to the first floor that created
a kitchen and dining hall, offices and chapel. Several
years later a homeless shelter was opened on the
newly renovated second floor. Along with this came
a drug and alcohol recovery program for men.
As the years have rolled by, other ministries were
born. A Mother & Baby Program, started modestly
on the front porch of a volunteer to provide good used
clothing, diapers and formula outgrew its space and
moved into the main facility. An Adult Clothes Closet
was begun as well as select furniture collected to
offer to victims of house fires or homeless families
trying to establish a residence. As foodstuffs were
donated, an Emergency Food Box Ministry started to
help those who struggled to make it through the month
on meager incomes. Backpacks filled with school supplies
were offered to at-risk children to begin the school
year right. Christmas toys were collected to give to
children who often did without. Now, after fifteen
years of ministry to the least of these, many thousands
of needy people come through CityTeam’s doors
yearly to receive the things they need to survive.
CityTeam understands that the inability to secure
a good education and a decent job is often the reason for
the downward cycle of poverty. After much research for
educational materials suited to our target population,
Compass Academy opened its doors in January 2005. Computer
based and geared to the needs of the individual, CityTeam
began training adult learners in our Recovery Program in
basic skills missed in the educational process to help
them secure livable wages. Women clients from the Mother
& Baby Program were added in June 2006 and residents from
the neighborhood will be added in the near future. As people
in the community receive much needed educational skills and
locate solid employment, we believe that the neighborhoods
and communities that they live in will begin to revive.
Our vision has never dimmed in the effort to reach
the least of these. We strive to see Jesus in every
face that we minister to, and love and recognize
them as unique individuals, created in the image
of God. The job is overwhelming, and none of us
can do it alone. But together, we make an army of
God that can tear down the walls of neglect, poverty
and loneliness in city centers. Linked arm in arm,
in the spirit of brotherhood, we can make a difference
through God, who strengthens us.
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