At Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. C. Anne Davis, dean of the Carver School of Church Social Work, taught with her own type of parable: “When you see people floating down the river unable to get out, do you give them a hand out of the river or do you run around the bend and find out who is throwing them in? Well, of course, you do both!”

Traditionally, Baptist mission efforts have overwhelmingly focused on micro-missions, providing a hand out of the river. At the Andrew P. Stewart Center, an Alliance of Baptist mission partner, we took a different approach this summer: partnering with the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools® to work on a macro level to create permanent changes.
 
The center—located in Atlanta, two miles east of the capitol—has addressed the needs of children from working-poor families for 93 years. For more than 25 years we have provided free summer enrichment for the children in the Reynoldstown community. This year, we were proud to partner with the CDF to become a Freedom Schools Site and, across generational boundaries, help change people’s lives forever.
 
The Stewart Center’s site employed five students from Spelman and Morehouse colleges as Student Leader Interns and hosted five youth volunteer groups and one “seniors” group. “This is about the children,” became our mantra as we worked together to provide the best possible summer for 50 children ages 5-12.
 
CDF Freedom Schools’ award-winning curriculum’s theme was “I can make a difference: in my self, in my community, in my country, in my world with hope, education and action.”

Our “action” to “change our country” took place July 13 when the Stewart Center took 46 scholars, 15 youth volunteers and nine adults on MARTA (yikes!) to march on the capitol demanding health care for ALL children and pregnant women.
 
In the beginning, I thought the most exciting part for the scholars would be the actual march, but it wasn’t. What the children loved was discussing the problem of healthcare reform with their Student Leader Interns while making signs to carry in the protest.

With well-developed beliefs that all children should be treated fairly and justly, the scholars became very passionate about health care. They got it. Providing health care for all children is a justice issue. And, it is a macro-missions effort. We demanded that people around the bend stop throwing children in the river to drown.

Children can change the world. There is power in their passion and creativity. There is power in their fearlessness. You and I believe that one child did change the world. These children can too!