What do you do in an environment where everyone needs help, but you have limited resources?

This has been my struggle lately as I have been working and getting to know people in the North Miami area. North Miami in of itself is an economically impoverished area with a lot of beautiful things to offer. According to Wikipedia stats:

The median income for a household in the city was $29,778, and the median income for a family was $31,760. Males had a median income of $25,388 versus $20,712 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,581. About 20.7% of families and 23.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.5% of those under age 18 and 17.2% of those age 65 or over.

To make things more complicated, yet exciting the city is intensely diverse ethnically. Look at these figures:

The racial makeup of the city is 34.81% White (18.1% were Non-Hispanic White,)^[9] 54.89% African American or Black (with a large majority being of Caribbean ancestry,) 0.32% Native American, 1.92% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 3.16% from other races, and 4.85% from two or more races. 23.16% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

This Oasis Church North Miami campus, truly stands at the crossroads of a diverse economic and cultural intersection as the the surrounding communities like Miami Shores, Aventura, and North Miami Beach add on to the complexity of needs. For example the village of Miami Shores has a higher standard of living according to census figures:

The median income for a household in the village was $56,306, and the median income for a family was $64,963. Males had a median income of $42,373 versus $35,530 for females. The per capita income for the village was $26,134. About 6.9% of families and 8.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.2% of those under age 18 and 7.6% of those age 65 or over.


We are still wondering how the people of these surrounding communities will respond to driving into a more impoverished neighborhood, while still feeling connected to their middle and upper middle class neighbors? Do we need to launch diversity of culturally relevant church plants, or focus on an integrated community that learns to "understand" and "celebrate" the "other".

Since the infancy of the church there has always been a struggle for the wealthy to worship with the poor and vice versa. The Apostle James (the half the brother of Jesus) had to deal with this problem in the Jewish Christian congregations of the 1st Century. Look at what he wrote:

James 2:1-9
2:1 My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong? 8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.


One thing you can expect at Oasis Church is an awareness of the cultural and class differences of South Florida. We don't act naive about the real tensions this creates. But, as a pastor I believe local churches who claim to be "multi-cultural" need to have an intentional approach about developing and having indigenous leadership that reflects and represents the unique cultural, gender and class needs of the area. The same way the Apostle dealt with the Grecian Widow problem in Acts 6. All this while retaining an emphasis on the Worship of Christ our Lord, Biblical Learning, Prayer, Fellowship, Evangelism, and Community Service!

Why should any of this matter for Christians in the North Miami area?

Because it mattered to Jesus our Lord! He saw peoples need for desperate spiritual & practical  help. He cared enough to make his future leaders uncomfortable with issues of race, gender and class (Acts 10)! He understood the difficulty of cultural and economic diversity, but He didn't fall into the trap of the secularist who claims we all should fin for ourselves, or the racist religious Jews of his time who avoided "Gentile Dogs" (i.e. Parable of Good Samaritan). Rather, He asked His disciples to repent of such sinful attitudes and engage the Harvest while praying boldly for others to STAND UP AND SHEPHERD the sheep out of an action oriented compassion!


Matthew 9:35-38
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."



Will you pray and work with us in the North Miami area while stepping out of your cultural and economic bubbles?

Will you let others of different cultural and economical classes teach you how to love like Jesus did, by dying to yourself and living for the International MISSIONARY GOD, called JESUS?

As Christians we know that true joy and practical blessings flow into our lives as we put Jesus and His priorities first. That is the starting point!!!

Matthew 6:32-34
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Written by :

Jack Hakimian