Message from our Executive Director
January 2004
First, those of us at City Gate express our hope that you were renewed by the miracle of love and joy during this Christmas season, and that hope and faith will illumine your journey in this New Year.
Second, we want to thank you for being a part of something new, called "City Gate." Whether you are a child or parent involved with our summer or after-school programs, a volunteer or student in our English classes, a member of an Urban Hands mission team, a financial contributor, a partner in one of our projects, or simply someone committed to finding practical ways of loving our neighbors in some way you have helped us fulfill a dream that God has given.
When people ask about City Gate, I find it hard to respond in only a few words. Essentially, City Gate is an urban ministry working primarily with children from under-served neighborhoods. But City Gate encompasses so much more. For instance, we provide English classes and a ministry of friendship with internationals in Northwest DC; we have an expanded ministry with a new management role at the Johenning Baptist Community Center (JBCC) in Southeast; and we work with dozens of missions groups from across the country that come here to participate in our Urban Hands ministry program.
Birthed in October 2000, City Gate is a new and innovative nonprofit rooted in a century of faithful and creative community ministry at Calvary Baptist in the heart of downtown Washington. Our vision is inspired by a Biblical vision of love and justice, which speaks powerfully to the needs of the 21st century. In the ancient world, the city gate was not simply a physical entrance but the center for community life where the poor were to receive justice, where strangers were to be welcomed, and widows and orphans were to be protected. The city gate was the kind of grassroots community institution that needs to be revived in our complex, modern world with its giant corporations and expansive bureaucracies.
Where today is the "gate" of opportunity and empowerment that will allow those on the margins of society to participate more fully in the benefits those in the mainstream often take for granted? And, of course, how do we let people know that this gate goes beyond human effort and circumstance; that what our heart seeks is not the gate into an abundance of things, but into an abundant life — that a gate is ultimately about grace and about God? This spiritual dimension only deepens our practical concerns for neighbors (the poor, the stranger, the widow or orphan) who are most vulnerable among us.
Our purpose is to answer these questions, not with words but by action. City Gate invites internationals into our community by offering friendship and English classes. It gives children from disadvantaged situations a fighting chance to discover and develop their God-given potential. It swings the gate both ways, for folks on society's margins to access the benefits of the mainstream, but also for volunteers and mission groups in the mainstream to step outside the gates of privilege to learn about life and love through serving others.
Please take a moment to read about our summer camps, mission groups, after-school and ESL programs, about volunteers, new staff and expanded ministry opportunities. 2003 was an amazing year for us, encouraging us to believe we can meet the challenges of 2004. We hope you will join us in this effort!
Lynn Bergfalk