In 2005, God turned Dr. Grassano’s heart to the suffering city of Detroit. Much has been written about Detroit: The poorest city in America. The highest misery index in America. Detroit owns every statistic on poverty, unemployment, foreclosures, high school dropout rates, infant mortality, and violent crime A Time Magazine Special Edition was titled “The Tragedy of Detroit.” A new book titled Detroit: An American Autopsy states, “Detroit is now America’s capital for unemployment, illiteracy, dropouts, and foreclosures … redemption is thin on the ground in this ghost of a city.”
Urban Harvest never saw Detroit in this way. We saw the opportunity for the church to rise and rewrite the history of this city. The official Seal of Detroit has inscribed in Latin the words, “We hope for better things. It will rise from the ashes.” We know that it is the Lord that brings beauty from ashes and we are working to bring lasting change to this city.
Urban Harvest Ministries established the Hope for the City initiative in Detroit. The Hope for the City strategy is empowering leaders, establishing prayer initiatives, implementing strategic methods of outreach, networking churches and businesses in the suburbs and inner city, and equipping of people for effective, relevant, life changing action among the urban poor.
The Hope for the City Network is witnessing the tangible results of these ministry methods first utilized in the South Bronx. The rebirth of hope in communities has been among the first fruit. Pastors and leaders have been empowered to pastor the streets around them, bringing the Good News to the doorsteps of people in a heart language the people can understand. Partnerships have been established between inner city and suburban churches and relevant methods of outreach have been established in communities around the city. Literally thousands of lives have been touched by the ministry of Hope for the City.