NFL football star Reggie White has founded an interdenominational ministry devoted to confronting some of the most destructive social problems of our times. Believing that the gospel of Jesus Christ addresses and provides the power for overcoming every human problem, Reggie has opened chapters of the newly founded National Society of Nehemiah in several target cities, with plans to go nationwide. The interest generated by this new campaign has already sparked considerable national attention, from the streets of the inner cities to the highest levels of government. 

Reggie’s motivation for starting S.O.N. was the conviction that the church has been intrusted with all of the answers for the pressing problems of our times, and the power to do something about them. However, as he told a recent gathering at the prestigious Union League in uptown Philadelphia, “Many churches have become like players whose selfish attitudes disrupt the harmony of a team. Such players don’t just get benched—they get cut from the team! Our Coach is about to start cutting people from His team who don’t learn to work together.” 

S.O.N. has also caught the attention of President Clinton’s Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Henry Cisneros. While attending a planning meeting for S.O.N. being held in Mobile, Alabama, Cisneros confided, “I chose to serve as HUD secretary because this was the department on the front lines of community trouble in America. But it’s a large bureaucracy that frequently is unresponsive to communities. I have mayors who tell me, ‘This department is not just irreverent, it is an obstacle; it is an obstruction.”’ Cisneros and other government officials are now viewing the leadership of the local churches as essential for any true and lasting remedy to our social problems.

One of the major goals of S.O.N. is to help the church to properly interface with government and business. Understanding that the government also has a mandate and is ordained by God for our peace and protection, the failure of the church and the government to properly relate to each other has often been damaging to both, which causes a basic disruption in the social order. Many of the massive, and increasing, social problems in the United States can be attributed to this disruption.

The most desperate social problems that face most inner city communities are murder and violent crimes, illegal drugs, racial conflict, economic deprivation, and educational deprivation. All of these can be attributed to the basic lack of vision and hope in many communities. This is the result of continuing spiritual and racial conflict despite all of the government attempts to legislate harmony and fairness. A lack of vision and hope will always result in the deterioration of values, and even the most basic values such as the respect for life, continues to reach new lows in many cities. 

Reggie White has achieved what is probably the dream of every minority child—to succeed in either sports or music, which is still almost the only way out of their poverty unless they turn to dealing drugs. Even though Reggie has “made it,” which to most minority children means “out of the Ghetto,” he has maintained a devotion to find a way to substantially help those who are still trapped.

When Nehemiah came to Jerusalem, the inhabitants lived in constant fear because their city walls had been broken down leaving them unprotected. This is precisely the condition today in cities across the United States. Drugs are now openly sold on the streets. Children must sleep in bathtubs because of the fear of bullets coming through the walls. Many of the children of inner cites who gave themselves to education as a way out, after achieving the almost impossible goal of receiving a college degree while fighting the gauntlet of pressures and temptations from their neighborhoods, still end up unemployed or under-employed. Organized crime is doing more for many neighborhoods than the church. The Nation of Islam is providing them with more dignity.

Many church leaders are beginning to understand that racism is one of the ultimate issues confronting the church and the world at the end of this age. When the Lord was asked about the signs of the end, he replied by saying that, “Nation will rise against nation...” (Matthew 24:7) . In the original Greek this reads, “Ethnos shall rise against ethnos ...,” which specifically means ethnic conflict. Racism is one of the ultimate issues at the end of the age because it deals with some of the ultimate issues of the human heart—pride and fear. The Lord said that, “... the harvest is the end of the age...” (Matthew 13:39), because the harvest is the reaping of everything that has been sown, both good and evil. Racism is the fruit of both the pride and the fear of man, and it will come to full fruition at the end.

If the church is to be the “light of the world” in this time, we must address this issue of racism and provide the world with the answers. Presently even the church has been as impotent in addressing this issue as the world, with eleven o’clock Sunday morning remaining the most segregated hour of the week. Reggie and the leaders who are now signing on to be a part of The Society of Nehemiah all have a fundamental understanding that there can be no lasting correction of the any of our social problems without spiritual renewal. Even so, they understand that the spiritual solutions include very practical physical and financial help.

A year ago John Smith, the former Mayor of Pritchard, Alabama and an ergonomics expert, joined the team of S.O.N. John came with a genuine heart for the problems, coupled with vision and considerable experience in education, business and government. John may one day be considered a genius in the field of social sciences, but he is most of all a Christian devoted to seeing the gospel practically applied to human problems. John’s influence with S.O.N. quickly began to pay great dividends. He helped take Reggie’s vision and developed a clear and practical strategy which has begun to impress some of the top government, business and church leaders in the country.

One of Smith’s initial steps was to help form a community credit bank for effectively channeling financial resources to the point of need. However, his goal is not just to meet the financial need. His program requires that those who receive financial help also pass some brilliantly conceived courses to take that person from the place where they are needing help to where they a resource for helping others. As one advances from financial dependence on the government toward financial independence, they are required to take someone who was at their previous level and help them to advance.

After meeting with many government leaders of the local, state and federal levels, all of them have expressed the increasingly frustration of having poured billions of dollars into social programs, and not only fail to see any real change in the inner city problems, but see the problems grow at an alarming rate. As White said at the Union League meeting in Philadelphia, “The government has the resources but does not have the answers. The church has both the resources and the answers.” Now government leaders are beginning to concur, and are seriously seeking the “proper interface” between church and government which does not violate the constitutional separation. On both sides of the line, leaders are looking at the Society ofNehemiah as a “natural bridge” between them.

A summary of the basic goals of S.O.N. includes: l) mobilizing the churches within the community to unify in order to provide leadership in addressing the spiritual, social and economic problems, 2) recruit spiritual, governmental and economic leaders from the surrounding more prosperous communities to aid in the renewal of the target communities, 3) solicit the aid of artists and professionals in the fields of music, entertainment and sports to spread the vision and become practically involved, 4) Provide communication between and establish working alliances with other ministries and government services to work together in overcoming community problems, 5) establish local credit unions for funding economic development and fund educational and vocational training. 6) identify and invest in developing local citizens with leadership potential, and the vision to rebuild their community on the foundations of integrity, justice and equal opportunity, 7) Establish a local educational program that is able to help citizens at their point of need and raise them to the next level of education, and economic independence, 8) as a community advances, establish a second nearby community in need for the first community to begin to aid, 9) connect every individual who has advanced through the program of S.O.N. to someone that they can help.

No one in the Society ofNehemiah believes that it will provide all of the answers, or even most of them. However, like Nehemiah in the Scriptures, it can be a significant catalyst for joining together and motivating those who have each been called to rebuild a section of the wall of salvation around our cities. If you, your church, or your ministry, is interested in becoming a member of The Society of Nehemiah, or would like more information about it, please address your request to: S.O.N. C/OMorningStar Publications, 16000 Lancaster Hwy., Charlotte, NC. 28277-2061.

Rick Joyner serves on the Board of Directors of the National Society of Nehemiah and fully endorses its program.