The Good News in Cleveland

Check out our recent feature on the Raking Coals podcast with CityView member, Josh Fawzy. We are excited about what God is teaching us through His work in Cleveland. https://www.e43collective.com/raking-coals/2019/5/22/019-urban-ministry-in-cleveland-with-caleb-and-julia-kudlo

"It can feel like we lose more battles than we win.” A mentor figure had asked about if the ministry is going well. I knew I was called to faithfulness and Spirit dependence, but this was an honest reflection. Rather than offering sympathy, the man wisely counseled me to never speak that way again. His wisdom proved transformative. Keeping score of wins and losses (i.e. dualism) is an oppressive cycle. The call to faithfulness and Spirit dependence can mature into a better framework. What framework? Christ-centered “radical inclusivity,” the realization that everything belongs within the sovereignty of Christ – even if I feel like it’s a loss from my perspective. [1]  Though we may get the occasional glimpse into what He is doing, scoring wins and losses is beyond our purview. O ur true scorecard is how well we love like He loves. [2] Changing the scorecard changes a church culture. Striving for nearsighted wins, individuals and ministries can undermine the eternal mission with...

It has been over a year since we moved into our home, and we are continually blown away by how God is moving among the teens in our neighborhood. Last summer was full of hours of basketball, talking, and relationship building. Today, many of these relationships have grown into ones of consistent mentoring and discipleship. Tuesday afternoons are set aside for weekly one-on-one or one-on-two discipleship appointments. These time slots have become almost completely maxed out. A few months ago, (I) Julia began meeting a young girl from our neighborhood who has been attending church faithfully since summer. In one of the first meetings, I asked her “what is sin?” to which she replied, “I have no idea who he is.” She was frustrated with herself for how little she understood. Since then, we have gotten to study together and talk through what sin is and how it affects our lives. We have talked about Jesus and the good news.  This past Tuesday, it was humbling to see how God has op...

Our teen girls are a challenge. Hardened by life so early in life, they have layers of walls making authentic relationships difficult and messy. Trust takes years of consistency and honesty to build. Some days I wrack my brain for hours thinking of how to be relevant and best connect; I constantly have to put my frustrations before God. He is the one working. He holds their futures. I must “simply” trust and be faithful. This is much easier said than done. Each week we go to Youth for Christ club with our teens. This exposes us all to other Jesus followers and it allows the leaders to connect with other teens outside of our ministry. The high school girls at club are especially challenging – some weeks I can barely get them to speak a word to me. It can be discouraging. A few weeks back, Youth for Christ hosted a Girls’ Retreat that we got to take part of. Twelve girls (five from CityView), and five leaders spent Friday into Saturday together. Going into the retreat, I had...

Friends and family, It’s been four and a half years since I came back to Cleveland and over one year since Julia and I got married. The ministry in Cleveland is a response to what Jesus did in the gospel, and our mission is to lead others to know this Jesus and respond in heart and life worship. We write to update you on what God is doing through CityView and how you might pray with us. Shoreway (W. 65 th ) Our relational youth ministry has been reformed this year. Most teens were met through Saturday park outreaches and do not have a church-attending parent. We’ve structured formal, one-on-one, discipleship meetings on Tuesdays; our leaders meet with several teens on a weekly basis. Thursday is our main gathering, and involves a hangout time, a meal, and a service. Caleb preaches twice a month at Shoreway and once a month downtown. Two of Shoreway’s greatest challenges come with the territory: rough behavior and getting transportation for 20-30 teens. Please pray for heart c...

A few weeks okay, the basketball hoop at our house fell over in a storm. We noticed it leaning, and brought it down to figure out what to buy to fix it up. The bracket holding the backboard up was busted - the hoop was too dangerous to use. This is not what you want to discover on a beautiful fall day with four teens at your house waiting to play basketball. We got on Craiglist hoping to find something that could work temporarily until we could find something good. God had a bigger plan in mind. We found an even better hoop than what had broke, blocks away for only $40. In less than an hour, we had purchased the hoop and got it up in time for Caleb and six guys to hoop in a torrential downpour. Be encouraged today that God knows what we need before we do. He is faithful.

As the weather cools, it becomes harder to connect with our neighbors on a regular basis because we all begin to stay indoors. Last weekend went by, the parks were empty, and no one knocked on the door; it was unsettlingly quiet. Late Sunday afternoon, Caleb and I went on a brief walk and ended up connecting with 10 neighborhood kids who then walked with us back home to have hot chocolate and dessert while playing Catch Phrase outside. These interactions are critical in our interpersonal relationship building. Pray that we have wisdom in knowing how to effectively build relationships throughout these cold months where the typical activities of playing basketball and hanging at the park are undesirable.