Blog Action Day is October 15. This year the topic is water.
I don't know if a bunch of people blogging about global water issues really makes any difference, but perhaps it will educate some who will make a difference. This year more and more blogs of note are getting involved (including the White House, apparently).
I read somewhere that more people have cell phones than access to clean water. Who decides that kind of thing? I don't know what kind of severe estimation goes into that analysis, but nevertheless, I believe it's probably true.
When I was in Mokattam, a slum of Cairo, Egypt, it seemed like more families had satellite dishes for their TVs than they had food to fill their dishes.
Showing posts with label missions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label missions. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
a divided nation
Check out these startling visualizations of the racial make-up of two cities I love:
HT: MattMarsh
Detroit, MI
Rochester, NY
To match his map, Red is White, Blue is Black, Green is Asian, Orange is Hispanic, Gray is Other, and each dot is 25 people. Data from Census 2000.
HT: MattMarsh
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
When Helping Hurts
Preface
I've just started reading When Helping Hurts by Corbett & Fikkert. It's the book that much of my pastor's recent sermon series "The Gospel, Politics, and the Poor" was based on.
This is a book that I want to take notes on as I read, so I'm going to try to post something from each chapter, whether it's just a quote or a thought. They also have questions at the beginning and end of each chapter, which I may or may not post my answers to here.
The Preface:
This is a book that I want to take notes on as I read, so I'm going to try to post something from each chapter, whether it's just a quote or a thought. They also have questions at the beginning and end of each chapter, which I may or may not post my answers to here.
The Preface:
If you are a North American Christian, the reality of our society's vast wealth presents you with an enormous responsibility, for throughout the Scriptures God's people are commanded to show compassion to the poor.I was just reminded at small group on Sunday night that "to whom much is given, much is required."
...each of us is responsible to participate at some level in helping our congregation to be everything Scripture calls it to be, including fulfilling its biblical mandate to care for the poor.I feel that responsibility, and it seems to me that God has called me to be one who helps others in the Church "wake up" to it.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Practical Ways the Suburban Church Needs the Urban Church
Alternate Titles:
On church and neighborhood (Part 2) [See Part 1]
Jamaica, in further further review [See review and further review]
How can Darliston Baptist Church in Jamaica help its North American partner, Northridge Church? How could my Detroit hood church New St. Peters help a potential suburban partner from the metro Detroit area? How could a church from the city of Rochester help Northridge?
Often its clear how help can be passed one way in those partnerships. One church is far wealthier than the other, and usually far better resourced in many ways.
What practical ways can the under-resourced church (URC) help the over-resourced church (ORC)?
I give away one of the answers by using the word "over-resourced." In partnership the URC serves the ORC by providing an opportunity to be generous in a connected, relational way. Whenever Christ talked about serving the poor, it was always in the context of being with them, or relationship. I'm also reminded of Paul's praise for the Philippians (Phil 4:10-20, particularly v.17).
The URC had been among the poor and knows how to serve its neighbors effectively. It is easy for the ORC to be tempted to view themselves as reaching down from on high to lift up the weak. The URC can teach humility by leading the ORC into service and outreach in their community in ways that are culturally relevant and effective for them. The last century of missions has proved the damage of outsiders coming into a community and trying to do things their own way.
The URC can teach the ORC a deeper understanding of the gospel. In many ways I believe the poor know the truth of the gospel better than we do. It's hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. We don't really know what it means to trust God only, and have nothing else to depend on (no money, no social network, no government). Even if we consider the Jamaicans, of whom the majority are not suffering in dire poverty, their lives are much more simple and close to the land than ours, and I believe we have something to learn from them that sheds light on the gospel, particularly in issues of justice for the poor and oppressed (Luke 4:16-21; 6:20-31).
And finally (and dearest to my heart), both churches help each other battle racism. Rasicm (not overt, individual malice but systemic and structural oppression of minority ethnic groups) is in the air we breathe in America. When Northridge sends teams to Jamaica, they can help us breathe air that is a little different for a time. And cooperation between churches of primarily different colors in the same geography can lead to overcoming ignorance and anger. Here's a poem I wrote last summer that describes some of my thoughts about race.
To me this is a crucial issue for Northridge in particular. Looking at the location of the church (see the map below) and considering the demographics of the attendees, we have a problem. Perhaps it is youthful idealism, but I believe Paul when he writes that Christ has destroyed the barrier between people of different ethnicities, and has made the two one (Eph. 2:11-22). And though racial reconciliation it is a very difficult issue, the challenge makes it no less our responsibility.
On church and neighborhood (Part 2) [See Part 1]
Jamaica, in further further review [See review and further review]
How can Darliston Baptist Church in Jamaica help its North American partner, Northridge Church? How could my Detroit hood church New St. Peters help a potential suburban partner from the metro Detroit area? How could a church from the city of Rochester help Northridge?
Often its clear how help can be passed one way in those partnerships. One church is far wealthier than the other, and usually far better resourced in many ways.
What practical ways can the under-resourced church (URC) help the over-resourced church (ORC)?
I give away one of the answers by using the word "over-resourced." In partnership the URC serves the ORC by providing an opportunity to be generous in a connected, relational way. Whenever Christ talked about serving the poor, it was always in the context of being with them, or relationship. I'm also reminded of Paul's praise for the Philippians (Phil 4:10-20, particularly v.17).
The URC had been among the poor and knows how to serve its neighbors effectively. It is easy for the ORC to be tempted to view themselves as reaching down from on high to lift up the weak. The URC can teach humility by leading the ORC into service and outreach in their community in ways that are culturally relevant and effective for them. The last century of missions has proved the damage of outsiders coming into a community and trying to do things their own way.
The URC can teach the ORC a deeper understanding of the gospel. In many ways I believe the poor know the truth of the gospel better than we do. It's hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. We don't really know what it means to trust God only, and have nothing else to depend on (no money, no social network, no government). Even if we consider the Jamaicans, of whom the majority are not suffering in dire poverty, their lives are much more simple and close to the land than ours, and I believe we have something to learn from them that sheds light on the gospel, particularly in issues of justice for the poor and oppressed (Luke 4:16-21; 6:20-31).
And finally (and dearest to my heart), both churches help each other battle racism. Rasicm (not overt, individual malice but systemic and structural oppression of minority ethnic groups) is in the air we breathe in America. When Northridge sends teams to Jamaica, they can help us breathe air that is a little different for a time. And cooperation between churches of primarily different colors in the same geography can lead to overcoming ignorance and anger. Here's a poem I wrote last summer that describes some of my thoughts about race.
To me this is a crucial issue for Northridge in particular. Looking at the location of the church (see the map below) and considering the demographics of the attendees, we have a problem. Perhaps it is youthful idealism, but I believe Paul when he writes that Christ has destroyed the barrier between people of different ethnicities, and has made the two one (Eph. 2:11-22). And though racial reconciliation it is a very difficult issue, the challenge makes it no less our responsibility.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
On church and neighborhood (Part 1)
In looking for a place to live I came upon the 2000 census data for 14621, the zip code that we are moving into, and where our church is. Out of curiosity, I compared several of the statistics that stuck out to me to the same census data for Irondequoit, our neighbors on the north side of the church.
Sorry the table isn't in the greatest format. But you get the picture.
| 14621 | 14617 (Irondequoit) | |
| vacant housing units | 13.40% | 3.00% |
| renter-occupied housing units | 68.20% | 13.00% |
| high school graduates over 25 | 60.90% | 89.50% |
| college grads (bachelors or higher) | 8.00% | 37.30% |
| people with disability status | 30.80% | 13.60% |
| Median household income in 1999$, compared to $41,999 nationally | $22,107 | $53,929 |
| individuals below US poverty line | 31.80% | 3.00% |
Sorry the table isn't in the greatest format. But you get the picture.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Jamaica, in further review
Partnership.
Partnership is one of the words that characterized this trip for me. I mentioned in my last post about Jamaica working on some construction projects with one of our Jamaica brothers. We were a team. Partners.
The primary purpose of the trip was to determine whether we should attempt to create a partnership between churches, between Northridge Church in Rochester, NY, USA and Darliston Baptist Church in Darliston, Westmoreland, Jamaica.
For us, and for the pastor of Darliston Baptist, partnership doesn't just mean that we come and do things for them. Partnership means we help them do what they see their community needs, and they help us.
It was exciting for me to hear people from Northridge speaking with this language. Here in Detroit, the guys and I have been discussing how talented many of the people at New St. Peters are... but how much our church and our people are held back in ministry by lack of resources and training. As we prayed, God moved us to the idea of partnership. Our church has a lot to offer to a predominately white suburban church somewhere in the metro Detroit area, and they certainly have a lot to offer us. [I plan on writing a future post about some of the specific ways the suburban church in American needs the city church, and vice-versa.] I believe that God is already preparing a pastor or church leader in a predominately white suburban church in Detroit to find New St. Peters and partner with us in ministry. And as a house we have been praying toward that end.
Then I went to Jamaica with Northridge, and I heard the partnership dialogue from the perspective of the suburban church.
In Jamaica, partnership looks like Zach fixing computers and installing some donated ones in three schools around Darliston--but not just doing it himself. He took a woman from the church who is interested in computers, and taught her as much as possible in three days of computer work. Now, if the schools run into a problem with their computers, she might be able to help. That's one aspect of partnership. We come alongside Darliston Baptist Church to further their ministry in their town. And they help us.
Jamaica is not a place of desperate poverty and apparent need. Most people are not starving. They have clean water and good health care. They don't need us as much as man other villages in nearby nations where basic necessities are lacking. So why should we go to Jamaica at all? I'm convinced that we need them. This is the first project of its kind that Northridge is undertaking. And Jamaica is a really easy place to take people who are not adventurous and have little cross-cultural experience. Sending them to a slum in Cairo would be disastrous. In Pastor Thompson at Darliston Baptist we have a comrade who really gets the idea of partnership and desires it as much as we do. And so as a first step into short-term missions projects, Jamaica is a good place for our church.
I hope that five years from now we are sending teams to other places with more desperate needs.
For now, God is sending Belinda and I to 14621, and we long to connect our church to its neighborhood [which is also another post]. Toward that end, the doors of partnership are open. If we can partner with a church in Jamaica, why not a church across the street?
Partnership is one of the words that characterized this trip for me. I mentioned in my last post about Jamaica working on some construction projects with one of our Jamaica brothers. We were a team. Partners.
The primary purpose of the trip was to determine whether we should attempt to create a partnership between churches, between Northridge Church in Rochester, NY, USA and Darliston Baptist Church in Darliston, Westmoreland, Jamaica.
For us, and for the pastor of Darliston Baptist, partnership doesn't just mean that we come and do things for them. Partnership means we help them do what they see their community needs, and they help us.
It was exciting for me to hear people from Northridge speaking with this language. Here in Detroit, the guys and I have been discussing how talented many of the people at New St. Peters are... but how much our church and our people are held back in ministry by lack of resources and training. As we prayed, God moved us to the idea of partnership. Our church has a lot to offer to a predominately white suburban church somewhere in the metro Detroit area, and they certainly have a lot to offer us. [I plan on writing a future post about some of the specific ways the suburban church in American needs the city church, and vice-versa.] I believe that God is already preparing a pastor or church leader in a predominately white suburban church in Detroit to find New St. Peters and partner with us in ministry. And as a house we have been praying toward that end.
Then I went to Jamaica with Northridge, and I heard the partnership dialogue from the perspective of the suburban church.
In Jamaica, partnership looks like Zach fixing computers and installing some donated ones in three schools around Darliston--but not just doing it himself. He took a woman from the church who is interested in computers, and taught her as much as possible in three days of computer work. Now, if the schools run into a problem with their computers, she might be able to help. That's one aspect of partnership. We come alongside Darliston Baptist Church to further their ministry in their town. And they help us.
Jamaica is not a place of desperate poverty and apparent need. Most people are not starving. They have clean water and good health care. They don't need us as much as man other villages in nearby nations where basic necessities are lacking. So why should we go to Jamaica at all? I'm convinced that we need them. This is the first project of its kind that Northridge is undertaking. And Jamaica is a really easy place to take people who are not adventurous and have little cross-cultural experience. Sending them to a slum in Cairo would be disastrous. In Pastor Thompson at Darliston Baptist we have a comrade who really gets the idea of partnership and desires it as much as we do. And so as a first step into short-term missions projects, Jamaica is a good place for our church.
I hope that five years from now we are sending teams to other places with more desperate needs.
For now, God is sending Belinda and I to 14621, and we long to connect our church to its neighborhood [which is also another post]. Toward that end, the doors of partnership are open. If we can partner with a church in Jamaica, why not a church across the street?
Monday, April 26, 2010
Jamaica, in review
Our team of 8 adults and 2 babies (4 and 6 months) returned to the USA on Friday. It had been six days of new experiences, of learning, planning, thinking, building, dreaming, and fun.
I'm not sure how much I will blog about the trip over the next weeks, (for there are many stories to share) but here's a taste.
One of the great things that I experienced in the last two weeks was seeing God actively working at drawing people to himself in three very different places. I left (and have now returned to) Detroit, where God is working through the ministries of New St. Peters to bring several people back to himself from the streets.
In Rochester, the opening of a new church building has brought hundreds of new people. Over this trimester, 41 different new people have attended our "Starting Point" class, for people who are seeking God and may or may not know him as King and Savior.
In Darliston, Jamaica, they have had a dozen baptisms in January and Febuary, and many first-time professions of faith.
One of the Jamaicans that I spent many hours working with as we built a couple walls and hung doors together just recently gave Christ his life. He's about my age, a welder by trade. After an accident which left his legs badly burned he was in the hospital. Pastor visited him, and when he was released he came to church. The next week he came back, and decided to follow Jesus. Now he's struggling in the midst of an economic downturn to support his family. He had planned to go deep into the hills this season with many of his friends to plant marijuana. It's the most lucrative cash crop they can grow. But now he has a moral dilemma. How can he do the right thing and still provide? His only answer is to simply trust in God.
Praise be to the God of Jamaica, of Detroit, of Rochester. He is One, and his mighty hand is at work all across our globe. I am thankful for a small glimpse.
I'm not sure how much I will blog about the trip over the next weeks, (for there are many stories to share) but here's a taste.
One of the great things that I experienced in the last two weeks was seeing God actively working at drawing people to himself in three very different places. I left (and have now returned to) Detroit, where God is working through the ministries of New St. Peters to bring several people back to himself from the streets.
In Rochester, the opening of a new church building has brought hundreds of new people. Over this trimester, 41 different new people have attended our "Starting Point" class, for people who are seeking God and may or may not know him as King and Savior.
In Darliston, Jamaica, they have had a dozen baptisms in January and Febuary, and many first-time professions of faith.
One of the Jamaicans that I spent many hours working with as we built a couple walls and hung doors together just recently gave Christ his life. He's about my age, a welder by trade. After an accident which left his legs badly burned he was in the hospital. Pastor visited him, and when he was released he came to church. The next week he came back, and decided to follow Jesus. Now he's struggling in the midst of an economic downturn to support his family. He had planned to go deep into the hills this season with many of his friends to plant marijuana. It's the most lucrative cash crop they can grow. But now he has a moral dilemma. How can he do the right thing and still provide? His only answer is to simply trust in God.
Praise be to the God of Jamaica, of Detroit, of Rochester. He is One, and his mighty hand is at work all across our globe. I am thankful for a small glimpse.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Jehova Jireh
God provides.
Yesterday I wrote about my trip to Jamaica next week.
Today, I went to work, and the things that my boss had planned for me to do didn't work out, so at about 10am he told me I could go home. It was raining, but I checked the forecast and it said it would clear up by noon. So I decided to wait.
Because I only found out about going to Jamaica about a month ago, I haven't been able to do much fund raising. And weddings are expensive.
Yesterday, I found out that one of the teachers at the school had gone to Jamaica with her church over spring break last week through an organization called Jamaica Link. I don't know much about them, but I've heard good things.
So, while I was waiting for the rain to stop, I joined her and several others in the teacher's lounge during their lunch. We got to talking about her trip to Jamaica, and then about mine.
Toward the end of the conversation, the music teacher (whom I know to be a Christian -- he got a masters degree in Biblical Studies or something like that) said to me, "Are you still taking donations for that trip? I meant to give something. Who do I make a check out to?"
Now, as far as I know, the only time I mentioned going to Jamaica at school had been the day before when Ms. Reeves and I discovered that she had gone and I was going. And I'd never asked for a donation. And my boss didn't have any work for me to do and sent me home at 10am, but I was still there at 11:30.
God provides.
Yesterday I wrote about my trip to Jamaica next week.
Today, I went to work, and the things that my boss had planned for me to do didn't work out, so at about 10am he told me I could go home. It was raining, but I checked the forecast and it said it would clear up by noon. So I decided to wait.
Because I only found out about going to Jamaica about a month ago, I haven't been able to do much fund raising. And weddings are expensive.
Yesterday, I found out that one of the teachers at the school had gone to Jamaica with her church over spring break last week through an organization called Jamaica Link. I don't know much about them, but I've heard good things.
So, while I was waiting for the rain to stop, I joined her and several others in the teacher's lounge during their lunch. We got to talking about her trip to Jamaica, and then about mine.
Toward the end of the conversation, the music teacher (whom I know to be a Christian -- he got a masters degree in Biblical Studies or something like that) said to me, "Are you still taking donations for that trip? I meant to give something. Who do I make a check out to?"
Now, as far as I know, the only time I mentioned going to Jamaica at school had been the day before when Ms. Reeves and I discovered that she had gone and I was going. And I'd never asked for a donation. And my boss didn't have any work for me to do and sent me home at 10am, but I was still there at 11:30.
God provides.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Jamaica!
If you missed it in my latest newsletter (I know most of you won't suffer through that much rambling ;) ), I'm going to Jamaica!
Logistics:
WHO: Team of 8 from Northridge Church.
WHAT: An exploratory short-term missions trip. The church is preparing to implement a short-term missions program which involves two trips each year (for the net 5-10 years) to an impoverished village somewhere in Central America in an attempt to practice Christian Community Development.
WHERE: Darliston, Jamaica. A mountain village of about 1600 south of Montigo Bay. We think this could be the place our church commits to partner with for the next several years. The key connection is Pastor Leroy. He's the i-can't-wait-to-meet-you leader of a local church.
WHEN: April 17-23
WHY: Mission statement: To humbly establish a long-term relationship with an impoverished community in order to alleviate the physical needs of the community, encourage spiritual growth of the local church and foster an attitude of service and evangelism at Northridge. The italics are for the part that Belinda and I are most excited about, as God has called us to primarily be missionaries to Rochester.
Please pray for the wisdom and unity of the team, and the development of vision for the ensuing projects. Belinda and I were asked (just last month) to join the project leadership team, which is why I'm suddenly heading to the Caribbean on this exploratory mission!
Logistics:
WHO: Team of 8 from Northridge Church.
WHAT: An exploratory short-term missions trip. The church is preparing to implement a short-term missions program which involves two trips each year (for the net 5-10 years) to an impoverished village somewhere in Central America in an attempt to practice Christian Community Development.
WHERE: Darliston, Jamaica. A mountain village of about 1600 south of Montigo Bay. We think this could be the place our church commits to partner with for the next several years. The key connection is Pastor Leroy. He's the i-can't-wait-to-meet-you leader of a local church.
WHEN: April 17-23
WHY: Mission statement: To humbly establish a long-term relationship with an impoverished community in order to alleviate the physical needs of the community, encourage spiritual growth of the local church and foster an attitude of service and evangelism at Northridge. The italics are for the part that Belinda and I are most excited about, as God has called us to primarily be missionaries to Rochester.
Please pray for the wisdom and unity of the team, and the development of vision for the ensuing projects. Belinda and I were asked (just last month) to join the project leadership team, which is why I'm suddenly heading to the Caribbean on this exploratory mission!
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