City of Camden, N.J., A Crisis in Progress

21 January 2011

Urban blight is not an uncommon sight in Camden, N.J., where an estimated 20 percent of residents live below the poverty line.
                                                                                                                               Photo By Nic Justice

Some Residents Seek Spiritual Revival As “The Only Option.”

By Raymond Billy
ResonateNews.com

Christine Richards, sounded despondent as she spoke Tuesday from her hometown of Camden, N.J.

“It's just getting worse here,” she said.

The “it” Ms. Richards, 65, refered to is an oppressive social climate in Camden, whose state of affairs — rampant crime, chronic poverty and widespread drug addiction — is born out of a potent mix of self hatred, rejection and hopelessness, some residents say.

Opportunities are scarce to savor civic achievement in this southern New Jersey city, located five miles east of Philadelphia. Once topping a national survey of the country’s most violent cities, Camden recently received a rare positive dispatch that it had dipped below St. Louis on that list in November.

Welcome news that Camden has become slightly safer was tempered Tuesday when 167 of the city's 373 police officers turned in their badges — the consequence of layoffs undertaken by Camden to cut a $26 million budget deficit. Some residents say the city has only a loose grip on law and order.

Jarring though the layoffs may be — for reasons not the least of which being Camden's already abysmal .4 percent jobless rate — Camden's ability to fight crime is not chief among its residents' concerns. Preventive measures — the shaping and molding of productive, law-abiding citizens — are what the city desperately needs. But, grave challenges are undermining efforts to achieve cultural renewal in Camden.

PROBLEMS AND PERPETUATIONS

Richards said inept parenting among Camden residents is the genesis of the city's problems.

“I don't think children here are getting a sound moral foundation — they aren't being taught to value themselves and others,” she said. “It's hard to learn that ideal in the midstream of life.”

Having not learned the dignity of human life from an early age, many residents transfer their dysfunctions to their children, David King, who pastors Community Baptist Church in Camden, said.

 “There are so many generational curses on folks that are being passed down: gambling, bad stewardship, drug addiction — it's a shame,” King said. “I'm trying to preach the importance of presenting your body as a living sacrifice to Christ to get people restored in the Lord.”

King said his efforts are challenged by the pall of despair that seems never to abate in Camden.

“A lot of people are at peace with their weaknesses,” King said. “They have no hope of improving themselves or their lives.”

The city's residents are being reinforced in their negative self-perceptions, said Andy Joshua, children and youths ministry director in Camden for UrbanPromise, a Christian-based academic institution with campuses throughout North America. He said that having a Camden address often carries a stigma.

“I think kids from here are often portrayed as problems by people who don't even know them,” Joshua said. “We've taken kids on field trips outside of the city where people would ask 'Why did you come here?' when they found out the kids are from Camden; people will say things like 'Your presence here is a danger to our community.”

But, Joshua said that kind of negativity can be overcome by compassionate outreach to the children of Camden.

“It only takes a few people who believe in these kids to break down that barrier of cynicism,” he said.

CIVIC RESPONSE

King agreed that benevolence can help dissolve the psychological hindrances to self-actualization. He said the churches of Camden should be the purveyors of sympathy in the community, but they often have failed to be so.

“The churches are more on the business of ministry than the Gospel,” King said. “There are churches here that cost millions of dollars to build that have members who aren't being helped with their needs or being shown the love of Christ.”

King said that if Camden residents consistently saw the love of Christ being exemplified by Christians in the community, many of the cultural dysfunctions there would dissipate.

Harrison Davis, executive director of Fellowship House, a community center in Camden, agreed that the Gospel is the only solution for the city. But, he said churches there have done the best they can to outsource the message.

“Churches here are evangelizing and I believe that there are very few people in Camden who have not heard the Gospel,” he said. “But, just because someone hears the Gospel doesn't mean they will accept it.”

As for meeting the city's temporal needs, Davis said there is only so much that churches can do.

“I think our churches are helping as much as possible, but the church can't create jobs,” he said.

King said his church tries to help alleviate one of primary causes of unemployment in Camden — low education levels. He said Community Baptist Church offers programs to help residents with GED preparation. The church also has an after-school homework center. King said the church is also active in providing meals for residents in need.

But churches aren't the only vehicle for humanitarian outreach in Camden. Davis' organization offers after-school programs for children, food services and a substance abuse recovery program. UrbanPromise offers schooling, after-school programs, summer camps and job training for children. Biblical principals are the foundation of UrbanPromise's programs, Joshua said.

“We're equipping kids to reach their full potential in the Lord,” he said.

IS THERE HOPE?

Providing social services is noble. But, residents here who spoke to ResonateNews.com this week doubted that welfare programs, alone, will enliven the community. What Camden needs, they say, is a spiritual awakening.

“People here don't love themselves or Christ,” Richards said. “If you don't know Christ, you don't know what love is.”

Davis said that in his seven years with Fellowship House, he has seen many examples of what Christ's love can accomplish in people's lives. One of the most indelible examples, he said, is the success story of one the organization's volunteers who overcame substance abuse problems.

“This man would come to our chapel drunk and testify to the mercy of Christ,” Davis said. “I didn't know how to deal with the example he was setting for the other people coming to chapel. But, the Lord said to me 'as long as he's coming, we can win him.' Today, he's been drug and alcohol free for five years and the Lord has blessed and used him greatly. We serve a God who can do that.”

Joshua said spiritual restoration is the best solution to the pathologies that have beset Camden for such a long time.

“When it comes to all the hurt young people here have suffered and are suffering, Christ can bring healing,” Joshua said.