海角大神

DORCHESTER, MASS.
Young Nadeje and her tutor, Leah Beidler, are sitting around the kitchen table as they do every Monday night. Usually, the fifth-grader from this inner-city Boston neighborhood and the college graduate from Vermont do homework.

But tonight they鈥檙e buying iTunes, in a warmly lit room painted robin鈥檚-egg blue, with a framed collage of smiling neighborhood kids hanging overhead. You鈥檇 never guess this cozy apartment was once a decaying crack house where the walls were black with nicotine stains.

The house is, in fact, a world away from White River Junction, Vt., where Ms. Beidler, an early education major, grew up. But she moved in because she didn鈥檛 want to 鈥渏ust鈥� volunteer once a week through her church outreach program.

Instead, she and two other tutors 鈥� Kim Conrad from suburban Indiana, and Caitlin Turpel from a gated community in Florida 鈥� 鈥渢ook a leap of faith鈥� last summer and moved into this gritty part of Dorchester. Together with two male tutors upstairs, they helped turn the onetime drug den into a home for themselves and a 鈥渟anctuary鈥� for kids in the neighborhood. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 sharing in their triumphs and suffering鈥� as the Bible calls for, says Beidler.

Beidler is part of a new movement of young Evangelicals who are taking up residence in inner-city neighborhoods in a quest to help the poor. Called the New Monasticism, the crusade involves largely white Evangelicals who don鈥檛 care as much about 鈥渟ocial values鈥� like gay marriage and abortion as they do about 鈥渟ocial justice鈥� issues like racism and poverty.

None of them is trying to turn tenements into cloisters or throwing Bibles over neighbors鈥� fences. Instead, the New Monastics align themselves with what they see as a long line of nonconformist 海角大神s 鈥� the Benedictines and Franciscans, Dorothy Day and Jim Wallis 鈥� who moved to the margins of society to serve others better.

鈥淎 community that radiates the love of God ... is the church at its best,鈥� says Shane Claiborne, a Tennessean who has become the movement鈥檚 unofficial spokesman since cofounding a group home in Philadelphia in 1998.

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Some 100 group-style homes like the one here have sprung up across the country, up from just a handful a decade ago, says Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, who helped found one in Durham, N.C. As much as anything, these evangelical do-gooders want to reverse some of the socioeconomic effects and deep racial divides that came with white flight. They believe they can make a difference, if only on a few city blocks. Their faith at least compels them to try.

To New Monastics, being 鈥渂orn again鈥� doesn鈥檛 mean just spiritual renewal, but also being born into a broader 鈥渇amily鈥� that transcends blood, class, and race, in which everyone is his brother鈥檚 keeper, according to Mr. Claiborne, author of 鈥淭he Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical.鈥� The house members don鈥檛 proselytize, but they鈥檙e happy to read from the Bible with the kids if asked.

Each house operates differently. Rules vary from optional weekly dinners to mandatory multiyear commitments. Most participants have day jobs. Some groups raise money to support their social work. Others pool money. The 鈥渃ommunities,鈥� ranging in size from three to 300 people, take up causes from refugees to war to the environment.

In Dorchester, the team focuses on young people. They help with homework and try to broaden the kids鈥� horizons with hikes and trips to the aquarium. As they build a rapport with the teens, they become mentors, teaching good behavior and self-esteem. Though the tutors work in schools and nonprofits during the day, weeknights and weekends are devoted to the kids, who come by regularly to get help with math or science or just to hang out.

鈥淲e鈥檙e just trying to expose them to a much more positive environment,鈥� says Beidler. 鈥淎 lot of it is just opening the home and keeping the door open.鈥�

Already they鈥檙e seeing some improvement in grades and attitudes. Some of the tutors have become big brothers and big sisters to the kids, hugging, tossing them in the air, and, when necessary, telling them to settle down.

Garnering that trust took time. 鈥淎s is always the case when outsiders come into a place, there鈥檚 a natural rate of wariness,鈥� says Bobby Constantino, who moved into the house as a New Monastic in 2006 and started an organization that helps kids in the criminal justice system. 鈥淭hat mistrust slowly goes away,鈥� he adds, as people realize 鈥渨e want to help.鈥�

Many adults in the neighborhood have come to welcome Beidler and her fellow monastics.
鈥淭hese girls have been in every house in this community 鈥� they鈥檙e welcome in every house in this community,鈥� says Darnell Booker, an energetic woman who lives across the street and who looks after several neighborhood children. 鈥淭hese wonderful people [are] always doing something for the kids. Kids are hanging all over them.鈥�

David Hamilton, a single father of three, agrees. 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to have some people get involved in something they鈥檙e not responsible for,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t takes a lot of people to raise a child. The more the better.鈥�

That鈥檚 often how it works in tight-knit 鈥淒ot,鈥� as Dorchester is sometimes known, and the Evangelicals here have won their way in by sharing the responsibility. They also benefit from a connection formed years before they arrived, between 鈥淢a Siss,鈥� a neighborhood matriarch and the owner of the house they live in, and Aaron Graham, then a Harvard graduate student pastoring at a nearby church. In 2003, Ma handed Mr. Graham the keys to the house so he could fill it with 海角大神s committed to serving the community.

He鈥檚 since moved away, but seeing people like Mr. Constantino and Beidler take his place is 鈥渕y dream come true,鈥� says Ma, whose formal name is Idene Wilkerson.

Some neighbors feel more ambivalent about the newcomers, but appreciate what Ma has done. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e nice to me, and I鈥檓 nice to them,鈥� says Fatima Pimental, adding that Ma Siss is 鈥渧ery good.鈥�

The newcomers have their own perceptions to overcome. 鈥淵ou slowly begin to realize you鈥檙e going to end up learning way more than you鈥檙e actually going to teach,鈥� says Constantino. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an amazing, warm, welcoming community, and you鈥檙e like, 鈥楾his is not at all what I鈥檓 seeing in the newspapers. In the newspapers, I see shooting, drugs.鈥� 鈥�

Safety isn鈥檛 actually a big concern for the women: They learned quickly which streets to avoid after dark. Their biggest challenge is the emotional toll of listening to kids tell about drug abuse at home or their fathers in prison.

Dorchester is 鈥渢he most underprivileged place I鈥檝e lived in my life, but it鈥檚 also brought me the greatest joys,鈥� says Ms. Conrad. Her most rewarding part: 鈥淲hen they get that they鈥檙e loved, that God loves them. You can see it in their eyes.鈥�

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Turnover is a problem among the New Monastics, who often find the life of an urban shepherd too hard or simply decide to move on. The women here originally agreed to stay at least a year.

Several months in, Conrad wants to commit for a decade. Beidler may stay a couple of years or move back to Haiti, where she once worked with youths. Ms. Turpel has already left. Her friends say she felt burned out.

鈥淥bviously it鈥檇 be great if everyone could make a 10-year commitment,鈥� Turpel commented at one point during her time here. In most households, you can鈥檛 change 鈥�100 years of history,鈥� she added. But the effort here still showed 鈥渨hat a little love and dedication can do in one small community.鈥�