Christianity and The Gang Epidemic

In 2013, I was jumped into the Gangster Disciple Nation by my older brother in Alabama. I remember vividly the hard punches to my chest that left bruising and busted blood vessels along the center of my body. After my initiation, I quickly found myself longing to earn the respect of my affiliates. Over the years, I did a range of things like carrying a sawed off shotgun in my backpack, handling drugs for friends, and in the end, dropping out of school to pursue my sinful desires. During my time as an active GDN member, I was near the areas where high ranking gang members were murdered by family members, where the meth and crack epidemic was infecting every area of our children's lives, and where the police were just as corrupt as the Gang members.

This past year. my Brother and I renounced our affiliations with the GDN after the murder of a good friend. After abandoning my affiliations, I was led back to the Church and since then, have felt a calling to spread the Gospel to Gang Members and the incarcerated.

Over the years of being an active Gang member, I acquired multiple tattoos on my face, and covered most of my body with street art. Rejoining a church was no easy task. Every congregation I attended almost instantly rejected me and greeted me with nothing more than condensending salutations, even my Grandmother refused to take me with her to attend Mass at my childhood church. Believers who are foreign to the gang culture need to realize that Gang members long for the genuine acceptance of those around them. It isn't hard to see that Catholics and Protestants alike seem to overlook the lost souls in the urban and rural ghettos and it's this neglect that is condoning to the destruction of those we fail to consider our brothers and sisters.

The Devil is actively pursuing the destruction of our Brothers and Sisters in poor and gang-torn neighborhoods, this is a fact.

In Chicago alone in the past four years, there have been nearly 2,000 gang related murders.
In these war torn neighborhoods. children are crying out for the Gospel, and every second we stay silent and hidden in our parishes, we are allowing the enemy to destroy their souls. The Christian Church places high emphasis on spreading the gospel to other countries, and seemingly forgets about those who need the gospel within our borders, within our states, within our communities.

In my experience, many gang members feel no need to seek God because the ones who supposedly follow him fail to treat their people with love and affection. For many people, the ghetto is a scary place, the environment is uncomfortable, and the task of ministering out of our comfort zones is seemingly inconvenient.

When we take the time to examine our King's ministr, we notice that Christ accepted and reached out to the groups of people that the rest of society left out. When we take the time to examine the ministries overseas, we notice that believers risk their lives daily to study and spread the gospel.. even in the face of persecution.

I strongly believe that believers have the power and obligation to reach out to our at-risk youth. Am I saying all believers should dedicate their time to gang and prison ministry? No. What im saying is we can't afford to ignore the war the devil is waging on our communites any longer.

Pray for war torn Ghettos. Pray for Gang Members and At-Risk Youth. and most importantly - Go and Make Disciples!
Matthew 28:19 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit"