FROM OUR VISION TEAM ARCHIVES: Pastor Todd began 2019, his first full year at Mt. Olive, trying to get a clearer VISION from our past to help guide us into the future. He said we were looking for a NICHE NEED in our South Dallas Neighborhood that Mount Olive might help fill.
Mount Olive is a predominantly African American congregation with a rich history and FIVE important ASSETS:
An Activist History since the 1960’s as a GOOD NEIGHBOR Congregation … Our Assets have always been leveraged to help us hear and meet expressed Community Needs. Martin Luther King’s representatives and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) found a home in our midst … even in those days when there were few places they could find welcoming friends.
A COMMON GROUND Basement … where for 50 Years, in a city torn by distrust between races, people who have grown up with very different backgrounds have still found ways to Work Together. This is also the Basement where the first African American Lutheran worshippers in our building were sent after being asked to leave the sanctuary. Undeterred, their experience led to the founding of Mt. Olive as a congregation boldly welcoming African American Lutherans. A few short years later, Mt. Olive purchased the very building where it’s first members had been so rudely dismissed.
The oldest FOOD PANTRY in DALLAS… where over a dozen Companion Congregations have partnered throughout the years to help people experiencing Food Insecurity.
A predominantly Black Congregation within a predominantly White Institution (ELCA) and Synod (NTNL), that worked hard … to maintain a constructive and supportive MUTUAL RELATIONSHIP with the larger church
A CORE of Powerful and Resilient Leaders … who have used Music, Poetry, and the Arts to teach the powerful biblical lessons of Jesus and helped build individual identities that are willing to follow the difficult path of Jesus, even when others may encourage an easier and less demanding road.
As challenging as the last 30 years may have been for our congregation, the times have been even harder for our Fair Park Neighborhood. This area was once a thriving economic center and a choice location to build some of the finest homes in Dallas. Not so any more.
But. If somebody wanted to find a prime location to help link our neighbors, especially those struggling with mental health challenges and housing insecurity, Mt. Olive is perfectly situated:
Students attend school every day at Madison High School, right across the street.
Substance Abuse treatment is available two doors down.
Martin Luther King Community Center, one of the largest of its kind in the state, is a block away.
Two blocks away, our sister congregation, Warren United Methodist Church, shares a parking lot with the center.
A new Community Health Care Facility is being planned three blocks away.
There are thirty small worshipping communities within a mile of our doors, most of them about our size, some even smaller.
Within a two mile radius of the spot where Martin Luther King Blvd. crosses Malcolm X, are multiple schools and large service facilities like
CitySquare (a center for multiple services in our community)
Austin Street Center (a shelter for the homeless)
St. Philip School and Community Center
Dallas Bethlehem Center, among others.
A Food Pantry operates in each of these facilities (as well as the MLK Center and other nearby churches).
Each interfaces with individuals facing mental health challenges and housing insecurity.
In fact, we regularly hear stories about officials in neighboring communities, from as far as 40 miles away, dropping off transient individuals from fairly rural communities into our neighborhood streets in the early morning hours. Because, theoretically, better mental health services are available here. But rarely is a roadmap to those services provided to that individual. Or really, anyone.
Finding needed resources is usually an intensely lonely job. And very few people have the knowledge, even if they could find the time to help.
All too often, what an individual in need … needs the most is …
... a Companion who can walk with them the next few steps in the journey.
Housing or hunger needs may lead to a request for immediate cash. Addictions, disabilities or health concerns may make clear communication difficult. In desperate times, hygiene is rarely a top priority.
And very few people have the knowledge, even if they could find the time to help.
This is why Volunteer Companions are needed. Dozens of them. Even hundreds of them. Are so desperately needed.
Professionals are needed too. Professionals gifted in many areas like housing, nutrition, health, mental health, transportation, finance, are desperately needed. But professionals tend to work with tightly regimented schedules and set appointment times. And many of those appointments are not available this week. Or this month. Or all too often even next month.
This is why Trained Volunteer Companions are needed so desperately. Dozens of them. Even hundreds of them. To obtain the knowledge. And set aside the time. To help.
One of us. Or even 40 of us would quickly become overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the need. So we dozens, even hundreds of loving, caring, compassionate people willing to learn and share good information. Willing to learn to set helpful boundaries that can not only respond truthfully and compassionately to an urgent, need based request for money. But also help transform that transaction into a more helpful, longer term relationship.
Where the primary message is: I care.
And the only promise is: I will walk with you on these next few steps.
What dozens, even hundreds of Trained Volunteer Companions eventually become is a NETWORK. People connectedto other people. People sharing information with other people. People sharing hope with other people.
And Mt. Olive is perfectly situated to be the Nexus for a Movement like this.
For a MOVEMENT is what is needed.
Not a program. A movement is indeed needed. In South Dallas. In Dallas. In all of DFW. Isn’t it?
A Companionship Movement is needed.
And even better.
It is entirely possible.
Isn't it?
I mean. Isn't this what the CHURCH is for?
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