Crossne
t
work
Journal
June 2, 2008
Page 20
Isaac B. Voss, MPH
2001 South Vermont,
Los Angeles 90007
E-mail:
ivoss@worldimpact.org
Abiding In the Vine: A
Missiological Study on the Foundations
and Practices of the World Impact Los
Angeles Health Ministry
Most of America’s urban poor live in a state of perpetual crisis. The
immediate and urgent issues tyrannically dictate the agenda of the day. I
picture a single African-American mother who struggles with keeping her
two grade-school sons safe at the local public school and paying the
overdue rent. Or I think of a 55 year-old Hispanic man without health
insurance who struggles to cover the cost of therapy for his prostate cancer
and still be the “breadwinner” for his family. I also consider the situation of a
young couple who both work full-time to cover the bills. They recently
returned home from their two-hour commute to discover their teenage son
doing drugs, at which point he also informed them that he had joined a local
gang. These are the stories of the urban oppressed.
As I have lived among the urban poor for the past six years, I have
seen how easy it is to become conformed to this crisis-oriented culture, to
