Inner cities aren't usually places noted for growth and progress. But in Milwaukee, urban blight is giving way to gospel light.

Less than a year ago, only a few Latter-day Saints lived in Milwaukee's inner city. Although the Milwaukee 1st Ward is just 10 miles away, it is practically inaccessible to those who don't own cars since there is no public transportation available. It seemed to many that the Church was a world away.The picture has now changed drastically. On Jan. 27, the Milwaukee City Branch was created, with some 220 people, mostly recent converts, attending. The branch has a mixture of cultures and races; many members are black; some are Hispanic and others are Hmong and Caucasian.

"The Milwaukee City Branch grew in response to the Church's media program," said Milwaukee Wisconsin Stake Pres. R. Don Oscarson, referring to two Church-produced movies "Labor of Love" and "What Is Real?" and Book of Mormon commercials aired on local television stations.

Pres. Philip Lee Fox of the Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission said his office received more than 2,000 telephone calls, mostly from inner city residents, in response to the programs. He called on Pres. Oscarson, requesting stake missionaries to assist full-time missionaries in making in-person contacts with the callers.

Many residents, upon meeting with missionaries, expressed an interest in attending Church meetings. Also, several less-active members living in the inner city area called and have since returned to Church activity.

Stake and mission leaders recognized a major problem: How could they provide transportation to meetings in the Milwaukee 1st Ward for so many investigators and newly reactivated members?

The problem was temporarily solved as members from throughout the stake were asked to drive investigators and members to and from Church meetings. As converts were baptized and the number of investigators increased, however, it soon became evident that transporting members and investigators was not a viable solution. The answer was to bring the Church to the people instead of the people to the Church.

Pres. Oscarson called Chris Hansen (now president of the Milwaukee City Branch) and his wife, Nancy, on special assignment to work with a small organization for inner city members. The first meeting in the inner city was held May 13, 1990.

The number of full-time missionaries assigned to serve in the inner city increased from two to 12. Additional stake missionaries were called to serve in the area. Membership rapidly climbed from an original 17 to 162 in just a few months.

"So many people came to Church each week that we didn't even have standing room," said Pres. Hansen. "Soon, we started meeting in a larger place, the Martin Luther King Community Center."

Mission, stake and branch leaders believe this facility also will soon be too small for their purposes.

"I wish we were baptizing in other areas like we're doing here," said Pres. Fox. "Our missionaries are well accepted in the inner city. We have baptisms scheduled just about every week."

Pres. Oscarson said the retention rate for activity is about average. "We called stake missionaries to work on special assignments with new and reactivated members, to fellowship them and help them develop leadership skills, to help them assimilate the gospel teachings into their lives," he said.

"I've been thinking about the large number of young men and women and couples from the stake who have served missions. They have been sent to all corners of the world, taking the gospel to those interested. In some instances, they have taught people in very humble circumstances.

"As we looked at the population within our own stake's boundaries, we saw individuals who needed the gospel in their lives just as much as people in other lands need it. We saw people who needed the gospel to give them hope, to give them direction. I felt that we had an opportunity to serve that part of our population.

"These are wonderful people to whom the gospel can mean so much. When we talk about solving the problems of the inner city, there's no better thing that could happen than to bring the gospel into the lives of those who have been prepared by the Spirit to accept it and to change their lives."

Until the Milwaukee City Branch was organized in January, the Milwaukee 1st Ward, under Bishop Duane L. Bishop, had jurisdiction over Church activities in the inner city area.

"I've worked as a social worker [with the County Department of Social ServicesT for the past 18 years and have been in homes of inner city residents almost every day," said Bishop Bishop. "I know these people, their problems and what conditions they live in, but the technicalities and legalities of the job restrained me from talking about the gospel, the very thing that could help them most. I knew through the Spirit that this was the exact answer to their problems."

One day, as the bishop entered the ward meetinghouse, he was greeted by a former Social Services client, a woman in whose home he had placed a child as part of protective services. "She came up to me and asked me to baptize her," he said. "It is great to see at Church a lot of the people with whom I felt a kinship even before we had the gospel tie.

"They want something better and they have felt the impression that it is through Christ that they will find it. When they heard about the Church on television, or through their friends, they felt pricked in their hearts to investigate. When the missionaries taught them, they felt the Spirit again and wanted to be baptized. And many were.

"We see changes in people's lives after they accept the gospel. Self-esteem begins to return. Members from other wards have been called to work with them to help upgrade job skills, to improve or complete education, to find better employment."

Until the Milwaukee City Branch was organized, Nancy Hansen served as Relief Society coordinator. She is now a Relief Society teacher.

"I was born and raised in Salt Lake City," she said. "I never really had much experience with inner city areas, or even knew people who lived there. I was a little apprehensive about my calling at first, but I soon realized it's one of the choicest experiences of my life. I love these people and I feel their love in return.

"It's such a thrill to see so many people embrace the teachings of the gospel. They're new in the Church. They just want to bask in the fundamentals of the gospel. They are so anxious to learn everything.

"When Pres. Oscarson called us to serve in the inner city, he said Chris and I were going to be like pioneers. What we were doing had never been tried in Milwaukee before. Basically, we entered a different culture; it was almost like being with people of another land because they have managed to retain much of their own culture. It has been rewarding to gain a little understanding of how they feel, and to know we all can love the Lord the same way."

Sister Hansen spoke of the example members set for their neighbors in the inner city area. "The youth, for their youth conference activity, redid some homes in the inner city," she said. "A woman who lives across the street from one of the homes offered to let the volunteers come into her home for rest and refreshments. She joined the Church and is a very strong member."

Pres. Hansen said, "We're seeing progress day by day. We have ordained a number of brethren to the Aaronic Priesthood and to the Melchizedek Priesthood. Their activity is virtually 100 percent. Many members are preparing to go to the temple.

"There's a very close, loving, caring feeling that we're part of something special. Everybody is concerned about everybody else. Home teaching and visiting teaching are established and very successful. We're finding families beginning to have family home evening, family prayers and reading the scriptures together. Fathers are taking more active leadership roles in their homes."

Of the growth and progress being made in the Milwaukee City Branch, Pres. Fox, the mission president, said, "When I envision the young people in that branch in 10 years serving missions and their fathers serving in branch presidencies and bishoprics, a chill of excitement goes up my spine."