“I stood there holding my gun and felt special because I was part of something that took me seriously and I was not running from anyone anymore.”

These are the words of Ishmael Beah from his book A Long Way Gone, in which he tells his story from his days as a child soldier in the army of Sierra Leone, which he was manipulated into joining at the age of twelve. He was later freed from the army, underwent rehabilitation, and eventually found himself in New York City where he was given the chance to speak out against the practice of enlisting brainwashed children to fight wars (a practice that continues today, perhaps most notably in northern Uganda).

As you can imagine, the circumstances that lead to this tragedy are multi-faceted and complex. But this idea of belonging, of not running anymore, is one reason teenagers in American cities join gangs, for one thing. But I think it’s something we all can relate to in one way or another. Most of us, by God’s grace, will never join a gang in order to be part of something that takes us seriously, part of something in which we matter. But that desire is in each of us, and I believe it’s God-given. We’re made to belong. We’re created in the imago Dei, crafted for relationality.

So, as inside out people, we reflect on the church. Do the Ishmael Beahs in our lives (assuming they are in fact in our lives) find the church to be a community worth belonging to, a community that takes them seriously? Is this story we’re telling - the story of Christ and his Kingdom - compelling enough? Why do so many of those looking for belonging, for purpose, need to turn to gangs and militias to find stories they can belong to? Is this story of the Kingdom really Good News for a twelve-year-old brainwashed killing machine? If not, is it really the Good News?