Gangs of the Church!

Personal Update: I am currently in my "almost last year" at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, CA. It has been and continues to be a wonderful journey. I have personally gained some marvelous insights into the inner workings of human development and interaction, as well as, processed my own faith journey, seeing how the "faithfulness OF Christ" has allowed me to experience God's amazing grace in difficult times. Kelly and I have taken on new responsibilities and we share our daily lives with one another, whether at home, at school, or at work, each area of our life overlaps one another.
So, enough about me. Anyways, I am currently doing some research on the appeal to gang life in the U.S. It is funny how some people can not understand why gang life is appealing to youth in our country as well as other countries. The question that I have encountered is, "Why do people want to join gangs?" To merely say that it is a "breakdown" in effect of the nuclear family does not encapsulate the overall appeal of gangs. Gangs are formed by a bond which transcends what only families can offer. Gangs are outlets for people to be able to freely express their anger, conflict, and sense of abandonment which they have experienced at the hands of other human beings. The Church is called to be that outlet for the anger, conflict, and therefore the reconciliation of being abandoned by other human beings.
When I was a police officer, the community offered within the Police Department, although sometimes extremely unhealthy was still more appealing than the community offered in the church, because meeting once a week could not provide the basis for dialogue which I needed as a human being to survive. If someone asked me the question, "Sum up Christianity in one sentence", I would have to say (although I do not believe it is possible to sum it up in a sentence) that, "Jesus liberates our language in order to express everything which is in us, so that we can be at peace with ourselves, others, and God." Without this language we can never experience healing, freedom, and release from sin. Gangs offer a language to others which may only be understood by other gang members and although unhealthy is still appealing to someone to know that they have a "brother or sister", i.e. another gang member who will die for them. Until gang members understand that God himself took their anger, rage, and death upon himself, and manifested it in the body of Jesus, i.e. THE CHURCH, what appeal is for them to walk in a different lifestyle. This is not the job of individual Christians to display this to other, but the vocation of the Church.