Alumnus Anthony Johnson ('03) Loves His NeighborhoodAlumnus Anthony Johnson ('03) Loves His Neighborhood

Anthony Johnson knew he was called by God when he was 14 years old. As an eighth grader, he felt God stirring in his heart and leading him towards pastoral ministry.



“I knew God had called me when I spoke at chapels at Whitefield. I got involved there and I heard that call as a student,” said Johnson.



What he didn’t know was where God would take him. So he prayed for His direction.

He graduated from Whitefield and headed to Covenant College where he studied and also played forward on the college basketball team, even coming close to winning the conference championship.



“We played in a Princeton system when I was at Covenant College. Before my recruiting class came in, Covenant had only won two or three games. Given the history of our program, coming close to the championship was a big accomplishment.”



Anthony obtained a bachelor’s degree in biblical and theological studies with a minor in youth ministry He kept praying about his future. Where would God take him? What kind of community would he serve?



After getting his bachelor’s degree, Anthony obtained a Masters of Divinity at Covenant Theological Seminary with a concentration in Christian education. He prayed for God’s direction and wondered where he would land.



Where he landed was Chicago. For three years now, Johnson has been serving as the youth supervisor at Harambee Chicago Foundation.



“Harambee responds to God’s heart to care for the widows, orphans, immigrants, fatherless youth, and refugees in the Humboldt Park area and surrounding areas. We give 12-18 year olds in a neighborhood a purpose and impact them by building relationships with them.”



The vehicle for building these relationships is teaching a skill called tuck pointing. Tuck pointing is the removal of old mortar in between bricks and replacing it with new mortar. The ministry tuck points homes for low income homeowners for free. By serving these homeowners and teaching youth to do the actual work themselves, the youth gain work experience, build self-worth, and develop a love for their own community.



“The Humboldt Park area where we work is a low income neighborhood on the west side of Chicago,”

said Johnson. “It is half Puerto Rican and half African American. On the east side of our neighborhood gentrification is taking place and whites are moving in. The west side of Humboldt Park still deals with high crime, gang activity, unemployment, low-achieving schools, and drug activity. Yet, I love my neighborhood. ”



With the tension of change and struggles with these issues, the youth are often left with a sense of hopelessness and lack of direction.



“A lot of the youth in this neighborhood do not expect much from themselves,” said Johnson “People become apathetic. They stop caring and give up hope. A lot of people in the hood live with the attitude that ‘my life does not matter and other people’s lives do not matter. Therefore, it does not matter what you do or what I do.’”



Johnson is determined to provide hope in the midst of hopelessness.



“I wish more of our young men had dreams,” he said. “I think we need to witness God’s people moving and caring about communities like mine. When God’s people move into these neighborhoods and care about them as much as their own neighborhoods, then we will see movement and have hope of addressing these barriers.”



Another focus of Johnson’s ministry is to develop leaders among the youth within the community. Giving youth a vision of hope is a start, but providing them with the practical means to actual achieve their dreams is just as vital.



“We need to help them go to college, get jobs, and return to impact the community. So often we preach to our youth to get out of the hood and we need to preach to them to achieve and come back, not achieve and then run,” said Johnson.



Johnson believes that this kind of neighborhood transformation cannot take place in his neighborhood and others across the country without the help of the church…but engaging the church can sometimes be a challenge.



“The biggest barrier and the biggest hope is the church. The role of the church in Humboldt Park is to do the work of the kingdom. The kingdom involves preaching forgiveness of sins, working in humble circumstances, doing deeds of righteousness, and justice, and pursuing racial, ethnic, and socio-economic reconciliation,” said Johnson. “Unfortunately, we find ourselves looking for financial resources to continue working in our neighborhood. There are a lot of resources in the kingdom of God to care for the youth yet the church often uses them in a way that actually takes us away from the groups that God calls us to care about. “




Johnson believes that the church must overcome the “four-wall” ministry mentality, where congregants worship in their seats, pray for the less fortunate, and even donate so that “others” can go into difficult neighborhoods to reach the lost.



“We have focused a lot on personal salvation and missed that the gospel calls us to care for the most vulnerable in society through practical means. Personal salvation is a beautiful piece of the gospel, but not the only piece. We need God’s people to personally re-engage with the most vulnerable in society. The question I always ask is this: if Jesus spent his time amongst the vulnerable of society, why don’t we? “





Harambee Chicago Website



Harambee Chicago Facebook Page



Harambee YouTube Video