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Missouri
Churches Help Address Teen Suicide in South Dakota The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is engaging some of these communities through its rural poverty initiative, Together for Hope – which facilitates the engagement of local congregations and partners in 20 of the poorest counties in the United States. Two of these are Todd and Shannon counties, both mentioned in a recent New York Times article about rising suicide rates among reservation teens. For youth in the Great Plains, it’s a rate 10 times as high as the national average, the Times reported. "They just need hope and that’s what everyone you talk to there says," said Kathleen Kesner, who coordinates TFH work in four South Dakota counties along with her husband, Ray. "The kids have nothing to do in this little community. We want to give kids something to do besides just wander around." The Kesners have connected Fellowship partner churches with communities in South Dakota in need of encouragement and resources. "Kathleen and Ray spend extended periods of time with the local people, listening and learning," said TFH manager Tom Prevost. "They know that [the Fellowship’s] Christ-centered, local assets-based approach requires attention to encouraging other followers of Jesus who live in these poverty-ridden counties." Fellowship churches have helped build half a basketball court in the Cheyenne River reservation, with plans to finish this summer. In this small community called Bridger, a basketball court can provide youth with productive activity. In the Cherry Creek community, First Baptist Church of Hamilton, Mo., is engaging in a partnership with the local Boys and Girls Club. A similar partnership on the Crow Creek reservation is focused on building a playground. Leon Matthews, a local pastor on the Pine Ridge reservation and Fellowship partner, said some of the issues facing local youth include methamphetamine usage and broken homes. He attributes this systematic breakdown to the traumatic heritage of the American Indian, whom the U.S. government forced to move to reservations in the 1800s. Lack of jobs and entrepreneurial opportunity on reservations has made many American Indian families dependent upon federal support. "Systematically it’s hurt our community," Matthews said. "So our pledge is to be involved in the community and be a good role model and help develop stronger people. We try to instill in [the youth] good values and deposit a message of Christ." Among Matthews’ dreams for his community is to start a children’s home for orphans and an intentional Christian community for young adults, helping them mature to be strong church and community leaders. "We hope to lead them and help them to make better decisions," he said. "We have to begin a process of redeveloping the extended family, and as a church we provide an extended family."
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