These days it is easy to convince ourselves that poverty is something that we only see in Third World countries or our inner cities here stateside.  Not true.

Last Friday while in Nashville, I did what I’d wanted to do for a long time which is to get off the expressway, drive deep into the country, and go see Tennessee via the back roads.  I drove quite a104house-ext1 ways into a very rural area and basically stayed on county roads.  Some of the little crossroads towns that I saw were probably cute little towns–in their day. Now you can see the effects of isolated rural poverty. It breaks my heart each time I see it. The rundown houses, the abandoned commercial buildings, cobbled together outbuildings, really brings tears to my eyes.  These are my brother and sister Americans and they are living so far under the radar that we don’t even know that they exist. It shouldn’t be this way!  Driving around those areas I just wanted to stop and sob.

I could feel the heartbreak and frustration of the people living there, especially those who know what it was once like when things there were thriving in their little town. There are no Walmart’s nearby or other big box stores to blame for this. It didn’t happen because the big corporations sucked all the money out the area and then callously left.  It happened for as many reasons as there are stars in the sky. It may be that a well-selling crop failed, or a business that supported the town burned down and was never rebuilt.  Perhaps the railroad could no longer economically justify the spur that kept the town alive. Debating the reason only takes up precious time and resources needed to help these people.

Isolated rural poverty can be found in pretty much every state and it just breaks my heart. (And if you don’t think that we have it in Wisconsin, hop in the car and I’ll take you for a ride.) Ever since I began serving in Appalachia with the Christian Appalachian Project, I’ve become aware of isolated rural poverty in the USA. It is the poverty that is rarely mentioned in public. You don’t see it written about in the news. The big Hollywood stars don’t hold fundraisers to fight it. Despicably, when I mention seeing it in southern states a lot of northern folks make derogatory comments about the people and call up old worthless stereotypes in order to keep the reality of poverty in rural America from bruising fragile, sensitive egos. It’s easy to be that way when most of us never get off the expressway to see it and hardly ever encounter the folks who have given up on the American dream ever happening to them.

Sadly, the church in the USA doesn’t seem to much care. I say that in spite of the fine work being done by the Christian Appalachian Project.  I say this because we need programs such as CAP all over this country in order to combat this rural poverty. (For heaven’s sake, don’t let the government know about this post! The last thing needed is for them to stick their nose in it and thereby make it worse!) The church in America should be the solution; but it seems as if the church in America has only two visions of poverty:  The poverty in the Third World and the poverty in our inner cities. The churches in America spend untold millions of dollars to send people to fight, and raise awareness of, poverty in the Third World. Good for them, and especially so if God has led them to do so.  But things such as health care, home construction, addiction recovery programs, domestic abuse counseling, educational programs, and more are needed in these little corners of America that have been left ignored by so many people.

I wish that I had taken some pictures of what I saw.  But at the time I felt that taking pictures would have seemed like shredding the last vestiges of dignity for these people.  I even thought of looking up one of the local pastors to see if there is some way that I could help.  But then what could I have done then and there except to offer kind words and a prayer of support?

All that I ask of you is this:  Ask your church if they have any missions programs that serve the rural poor in the USA.  (Don’t be surprised if they say “Huh?”) Look hard for a program somewhere that serves the isolated rural poor in your area, or any area of the country for that matter, and get involved.  I assure you that it is just as Christian to serve the poor in some isolated corner of this country as it is to fly halfway around the world to do it.  No, your youth wouldn’t think that it is exotic or exciting to go to, say, rural Missouri or Tennessee and help the folk there.  And they likely as not wouldn’t think that repairing a kitchen floor matches the joy of doing an evangelistic mime act in the town square of a dirt-hut village in the jungle.  But we aren’t being called for ourselves!  We are called to serve! It is just as evangelistic for a person to go in Christ’s name to install new plumbing in a run-down farmhouse as it is to sing songs in the town square. The churches in the USA, in respect to serving in their own corner of God’s creation, do a lousy job of it.