METRO
San Diego's United Methodist Urban Ministry

In San Diego County, there are neighborhoods where 32% of the families live below the poverty line. Let's think for a moment about the youth in these families. What does this generation see around them? gang activity, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, single parents, physical and sexual abuse, unemployment, dead end jobs. How would you turn out if you were raised in such an environment?

Metro wants to give these kids a fighting chance. A chance to finish school, get a decent job, and break the cycle of poverty.

So what is Metro? It's a social service and community development organization started in 1966 by a United Methodist Church to help downtown's homeless population. Now located in southeastern San Diego, programs focus mainly on 12 to 24 year-olds from poor Hispanic and African-American families. They reach young people through several programs funded by grants and individual donations. Whether mentoring a middle school child or helping a teenaged ex-offender start his or her life over, Metro is dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty in San Diego's neediest communities.

TIJUANA ORPHANAGE
Jorge &Carmen Gonzalez

“Dejad a los Niños venire a mi, y no se los impidais porque de los tales es el Reino de Dios” (Marcos 10:14)

“Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:14)

“God called me, and I saw people in need - kids in the streets, some on drugs or sexually abused. I need to help kids so they don't have the same life as their mother. I can't help everybody. I can do a little.” -- Carmen González

A few years ago, Carmen and Jorge González began taking homeless children into their Tijuana home. Their own children were grown. Carmen worked cleaning houses in San Diego and Jorge was a Pentecostal lay minister in Tijuana. Soon their home became too small and they made a down payment on a piece of land a few miles southeast of the Otay Mesa border crossing. Today the orphanage has many buildings, housing over 100 children from infants to age 17. On site teachers provide instruction at the preschool through elementary levels. In 2003 they began sending a few children to a Christian middle school and this year they boast two high school and one university student! The orphanage receives no money from the Mexican government and Carmen is too busy to clean houses anymore. But help and money materialize when needed. God provides.

St. Paul's supports the orphanage through donations of clothing, toys, sundries, and money. In 2003, the church members donated $4500 to enable Carmen and Jorge to buy an adjacent piece of land to build a new kitchen, dining room, and family room.
 

Visit on Oct. 14, 2004

New Entra Casa
 

In 1972, a group of United Methodist Women in San Diego County saw the need of women ex-offenders for a safe place to come while trying to turn their life around. They responded to that need by opening New Entra Casa. There are currently two houses in San Diego where women can receive individual counseling, help with completing educational goals, job application skills, reunification with their children and families all wrapped in an atmosphere of God’s love. Here is an excerpt from Taylor, a young woman who benefited from New Entra Casa.

"I am twenty one years old and I have grown up in Coronado my whole life with a wonderful family. I am really grateful for the program I am in because it saved my life. Jesus loved me so much that He put me here. I have traded my life of drugs and crimes for one where I am doing what is in God’s plan for me. I actually have a job that I have had for more than a few months. I have been through five programs and never lasted more than a week. But God has worked miracles in my life through New Entra Casa – This is truly God’s house!!!"

To learn more about this wondeful ministry, visit their website at www.newentracasa.org.

Kids today swim in a swift current.  They are facing the normal rapids of adolescence and the current of a culture that sometimes moves too fast and threatens to pull them under.  But kids can find a safe haven in Young Life.
 
The five C's of Young Life
Club - Young Life Club and Wyldlife Club are weekly meetings within a community that are open to any kid who wants to attend.  Young Life clubs are for high schoolers, and Wyldlife clubs are for middle schoolers.  Approximately 100,000 attend club each week to sing, laugh, play games and hear a leader share great news about God's love in terms they can understand.  In Coronado, St. Paul's church sponsors Young Life and Wyldlife clubs that meet in the church's Wesley House. Check out meeting times on the Activities page, under Youth Groups.
Camp - Young Life owns and operates 25 premier properties across the country where more than 80,000 kids spend a weekend during the school year or a week each summer hiking, boating, biking, swimming, horseback riding, climbing through ropes courses and speeding around go-cart tracks.  In addition, they get to hangout with friends and leaders from home, have club every night and take a closer look at how much God loves them.
Campaigners - Kids often meet in small groups with a leader during the week to discuss their ideas  and questions about faith and begin exploring the Bible, Current times and locations of Coronado meetings are listed under Bible Studies on the Activities page.
Contact Work - Young Life is not a facility-based ministry - it doesn't ask kids to come to them.  leaders go to the kids wherever they may be.  It's a simple principle modeled by Christ. Contact work is about hanging out with kids, building relationships and earning the trust and friendship of teenagers.
Church - Young Life is not officially connected to any particular church, but believes church is a very important part of nurturing a relationship with Christ.  Our staff and leaders are committed followers of Jesus Christ and come from many denominations, and they encourage kids to become involved in the churches that are most familiar to their families.

A project of Samaritan’s Purse that demonstrates God’s love to needy children through gift-filled shoe boxes, which are delivered to millions of boys and girls throughout the world who may have never received  a Christmas present.  In 2004 seven million shoe boxes were distributed. 205 of those were collected and filled by our church.   Volunteers are needed in November through mid-December to collect, pack and wrap boxes donated by our congregation.  Coordinated in our church by Pam Saunders,  look for more information in a church bulletin announcement.  Give Pam a call at 437-1570 to help out with this exciting ministry.   
The Senders
 
 

The Receivers.