King City in Monterey County California has experienced two violent crimes already this year. One resulted in death and the other in two children wounded in a cross fire between gangs in the Town Square.

Gang warfare and gang as a substitute family are growing cancers in American cities. Human beings were designed as social beings. We desire community.

Pam and I are in the process of building a new home where we desire to live out our service tenure in the Lord’s army. We choose a garden home in a community that provides both privacy and community. The privacy is accomplished by retaining a 50 foot wide forest between the backyards of the homes with walking trails. The community is accomplished with pools, parks and regular activities such as concerts, races, Saturday fresh markets, etc.

An examination of gang life reveals good family core values with a sinister twist. Young people from broken families, illiterate parents, and decayed educational institutions find community in gangs. These gangs provide protection, support and a firm structure for life. But gangs are evil. They prey on the rest of society and the wreak havoc on normalcy.

There are two approaches to combating gangs and gang warfare. The most common way is to “throw money at the problem” by bolstering the fire power of the police. This is the option announced by King City and other Monterey County communities recently.

According to Tracy Velazquez (Wrong Way to fight Gang Crime, washingtonpost.com cited 3/6/10) this method is the most common and the least effective. But, it is the politically beneficial method. Politicians get public credit for doing something about the problem. This method entails enforced restrictions on youth and funding for more and better police action. Los Angeles adopted this method with the product being the intensification of gang activity.

The second method is what I call communification. It puts people on the street building community with the troubled families and youth. New York City has been the leader in utilizing this approach. According to Velazquez, New York gang crime has fallen to historic lows.

My readers may remember a young Pentecostal pastor of the 1950-1960’s, David Wilkerson developed his ministry in New York City. Wilkerson and his organization, Teen Challenge USA, put people on the streets building relationships and utilized community structure, Bible based discipleship programs to extricate youth from drugs and gangs..

Here is a modern example of how Gospel work cannot only transform individual lives, but also community policy (obviously I am referring to the people on the street and the one-on-one concept). Yes, this approach cost money and the political payoff is negligible. But, the implementation of policy and strategies that are consistent with God’s creation yields desired benefits.

The church must take the lead in communification and “occupy till he comes” demonstrating to our world that dealing with life in accordance with God’s design is the most effective way to address the problems of any society.