OPINION - Heart for the Hood

Hi, my name is Shae. I’m the founder of Heart For the Hood - a youth work consultancy - helping people to reach their community for Jesus. I am also a youth worker, a part time coach and referee, and an avid Arsenal supporter.

ultimately I am a woman from east London, who was once broken, but because of my faith in Jesus my life has completely changed.

Some may call me an evangelist or a good youth worker, but ultimately I am a woman from east London, who was once broken, but because of my faith in Jesus my life has completely changed. I am no longer broken but healed, and I try to share my healing with people who are open to hearing it.

I have been a Christian for 19 years, and my faith is what inspires me to do the work I do, and to live the way I live.

‘Heart for the Hood’ started just as a saying to my friend to describe how I felt called to a certain people group – however over the years it has developed into a movement to help people evangelise to whoever they are called to.

I have to be honest, when I was asked to write this article I was very nervous - what can I share to encourage people? I have so many excuses not to do this, one being that I’m dyslexic. However, my journey into faith and the work I do now is a result of God calling me, and opening doors I could never imagine, and in the last 19 years I have had to trust in God and have faith even when I didn’t think it was possible.

I was born and raised in east London, to what I call a Semi-Christian family - this is a term I use to describe my upbringing. What I mean by this is that my grandmother is a strong praying Christian, who would always share Jesus with me, and my mum taught me key Christian principles such as prayer and reading the Bible. I loved being in church, with my mum or my family - it was a happy place. From a young age people gave words to my mum about me being “special and used by God”. I’m not sure if my mum understood it, and I certainly didn’t in my early years.

Drinking, smoking, and fighting were a few of the things I took part in because I thought they were normal.

By the time I entered secondary school, I’d stopped going to my grandmother’s church, as we’d moved further away. I soon became a product of my environment, which for me was an area in East London where we’d moved to. Drinking, smoking, and fighting were a few of the things I took part in because I thought they were normal.

I was a teenager in the early 2000s, and witnessed the birth of the grime music genre, which I loved. Grime is a UK based type of music, with a grimy sound. MCs all over London and the UK would describe what was happening in their lives at the time. I loved listening to this type of music because I heard what I saw in my everyday life - gang culture, people self-medicating on weed to block out their problems, people living in poverty wanting to make it out of the ‘hood’ (their community/area they lived in) to do better with themselves. This was my dream too - that one day I would do better than what was around me. But I didn’t know how to get out of the life I saw. I tried with education and doing well at school, but there were other pressing things that happened in life that distracted me, and because I saw these things, my belief in God also dwindled.

In Oct 2004, I was outside of my house and ended up getting into a fight. I was stabbed on the right hand side of my body. This was a life changing moment for me – not because of the injury but for two reasons - I vowed to myself I would never allow something like this to happen to me again, and God used this situation to call me to him.

I was stabbed on the right hand side of my body.

There was a Christian youth worker, who lived on my estate. She ran a local Christian youth club on Friday, where we would have a safe space to hang out with our friends and hear a 10 minute ‘God slot’. She met up with me just after I got stabbed, to see how I was doing, and I remember she shared the Gospel with me – letting me know that although things are happening around me, Jesus loves me and died on the cross for me.

As she was speaking, I couldn’t believe there was a loving God, who died for me because if God was real,I wouldn’t have been stabbed, my friend wouldn’t have died young, and my home life would look different.

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the thought of waking up early on a Sunday to sit with a bunch of old people sounded boring to me!

But at the end of the conversation she said these words to me “I am praying for you”, and for some reason those words stuck in my head. It made me question “Why is she praying? What should I do?”, it reminded me of my grandma and the prayers that my mum taught me such as the Lord’s prayer etc. However, as quickly as the thought popped into my head, at the same time the distractions around me took the thought away.

About a week afterwards, my youth worker asked me to meet up with her because “she had a word from God for me”. Me being intrigued, I went over to speak to her to hear what God had to say. She said, “God wants you to go on mission to America”. I said yes, not knowing what mission is, not because I wanted to go on mission, but because I wanted to go to America to buy sweets and trainers (what every teenager's dream was at the time)!

The youth worker said we needed to speak to my mum and that I had to eventually start going to church. I was ok with speaking to my mum, BUT to go church seemed crazy to me – the thought of waking up early on a Sunday to sit with a bunch of old people sounded boring to me! But eventually I started to go church, sitting at the back, and not really paying attention to the main part. But when we went to our youth session, I’d focus a little more. It was a nice environment to have people my age who lived in the same area as me but had a slightly different life. I also saw that they handle situations differently to me.

I realised that God loved me so much that he died for ME.

In preparation for the mission, we would have group Bible studies and prayer time, plus we would visit churches to raise money. In these sessions they would allow me to ask questions. I would sometimes find random scientific points to try to disprove God, however they would answer my questions and always pray for me “God show yourself to Shae”.

Six weeks before the mission, we did a church presentation, but this one was different because the youth pastor shared his testimony. For the first time I saw a Christian who could fully understand me and my mindset - it’s like he lived my life! And, at the end of his talk, he asked if anyone wanted to give their life to Jesus. I wanted to but I didn’t think I could so I didn’t put my hand up. As people responded to the Gospel, they sang the song ‘Here I am to worship’, and it got to the bridge, which goes “I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sins upon the cross”. As I sang that line, I felt like Jesus was standing in front of me, welcoming me to him. In my heart and mind I knew it was my sins that put him on the cross. I realised I was a sinner and I needed saving. I realised that God loved me so much that he died for ME. In tears I gave my heart to Jesus and chose to follow him.

I would love to say life got easier, but the choice to follow Jesus comes at a cost, I had to learn to die to self.

I went on mission to America six weeks later, and in an odd way I feel like God calling me to do mission was God showing me what he called me for. Ephesians 2 v 10 says, “For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

I never thought I would have been here, but when God calls you to something he will equip you.

However, to do all what God has called me to do, to live this life for him is a long journey that I’m just beginning.

I don’t have enough words to explain all the key moments in my life, but I would say I had to learn to say yes to God. I am reading the Bible and trying to gain an understanding of what God is saying. I am having to say no to some of the things that I loved, to help me get to know Jesus more.

As a result of this, God has changed the direction of my life, giving me opportunities to serve at my local church, lead evangelism and run an amazing conference for teenagers aged 10-19. I never thought I would have been here, but when God calls you to something he will equip you.

So to anyone who may be asking questions about faith, I would say - try praying a simple prayer, “God, if you’re real, show yourself to me”.