When I landed in the Detroit airport, I was greeted by a smiling and determined Sharae McCreary. Barely 22, Sharae has already served as a deacon in her church, Nu-Vizion United Church of Christ in Toledo, Ohio. She is but one of many lay leaders who faithfully serve the Nu-Vizion community and thereby Toledo. Nu-Vizion UCC was also a placement site for two Summer Communities of Service volunteers, Cassandra Howe and Karen Lewis. Thanks to Will Stuart, Nu-Vizion pastor, I was invited to spend the weekend with the Nu-Vizion community to share the good news of the Alliance of Baptists and what it means for to be in partnership. Little did I know I was parachuting into what can only be called a mission field—embellished by homelessness, joblessness, crime, mental illness and an array of addictions. It is this mission field that the Nu-Vizion community embodies, embraces and serves.

If you’re not familiar with Toledo you might be surprised to learn:

•1 of every 4 people in Toledo now lives below the poverty line.

•The U.S census bureau ranks Toledo the 8^th most impoverished city with 24.7 percent of its residents living below the poverty line—nearly double the national poverty rate of 13.2 percent.

•Bus service for 1 in 5 high school students—approximately 5,000 students—was cancelled this year by the Toledo Public School system to shore up a budget deficit.

•Toledo is a national hub for the human trafficking industry.

• Of houses in the Nu-Vizion neighborhood, 35 percent are blighted/abandoned and 60 percent or more of rental properties are owned by out-of-state “slum lords.”

The Nu-Vizion community meets in a historically beautiful sanctuary space in one of the most depressed areas of Toledo. The building, owned by St. Vincent’s Hospital, was bestowed on Nu-Vizion when this courageous community first took root in the remnants of downtown Toledo almost seven years ago. Despite a flood that nearly consumed the basement—making the space unusable—and an excess of needed building repairs, the Nu-Vizion community has made the space their own. Where pews were once fastened to the floor, couches, coffee tables and recliners are carefully positioned for worship. Sunday’s offerings are collected in a locked wooden box to alleviate the possibility of someone walking off with the money; mission offerings designated for ministry outside of the congregation’s operating budget are collected in an old coffee can—the collecting of which makes a “joyful noise” because the majority of that offering is in the form of pocket change. Not that the main offering is much different.

Nu-Vizion’s doors are rarely closed with ministries running in some form or fashion five to six to days a week. An extensive clothing closet called the CHEEP store is housed in the upper balcony area. Downstairs in back of the sanctuary area, meals are served at least five times a week during the school year. In keeping with the Nu-Vizion ethic that “if the doors are open, there’s food,” these meals generally precede or follow worship, Bible study, resources-distribution ministries and the like. Coinciding with the “Summer Kids’ Program,” an extended VBS/Day Camp hybrid, children and their families also are provided lunch at least three days a week when school meals are not available.

And all are radically welcome at Nu-Vizion UCC, including men and women who may not have eaten, slept in a bed, or been acquainted with sobriety in days. Many come to Nu-Vizion for a meal or for a safe place to rest. According to Will, the wait for a space in a local shelter is three weeks and the demand for shelters has risen by 25-30 percent. The Nu-Vizion community not only tends to those who are homeless but is also comprised of homeless individuals such as the member who is a pianist and helps lead praise and worship on Sundays he is able to make it there.

During my visit, I attended Nu-Vizion’s quarterly board retreat and preached the Sunday “Grace Station” service. But more importantly, as I later discovered, I had the opportunity to spend some time with a core group of assorted racial/ethnic, economic, developmental and faith backgrounds who seem to hold it all together with Will and his family when the insanity of day-to-day ministry in a volatile urban setting has the power to just pull things apart. These folks include young women deacons like Sharae, who was a Summer Communities of Service volunteer at Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, Miss., and Jeannie, Annette and Tamica—gifted leaders at Nu-Vizion. And they include those who have been tossed aside most of their lives by a society that often chooses to ignore those in need of a single moment with a good Samaritan.

The Nu-Vizion community relentlessly practices “Love God. Love Your Neighbor.” They are filled with a deep-seated passion for ecumenism, partnership in mission, radical hospitality and social justice. So it is with sheer delight that I welcome Nu-Vizion UCC to the Alliance of Baptists family as they have chosen to become a congregational partner. But I must warn you, at a Q&A session on the Alliance following worship I was asked a very poignant question by one of the young people: “Will they [Alliance folks] accept us?”  Please join me in welcoming Nu-Vizion UCC to the Alliance by contacting the Nu-Vizion community:

PO Box 80145/Toledo OH 43608

NuVizionCF@sbcglobal.net

Join their “virtual” faith community online @ Facebook (search: “Nu-Vizion United Church of Christ”)

A new website is planned for early 2011 @ Nu-Vizion.org