New Opportunities

Centennial Christian School in Terrace recently participated in the KAIROS Blanket Exercise.  The BC First Peoples Grade 11/12 class wrote letters to their friends afterwards reflecting on their experiences.  Consider yourself a friend and read these three thoughtful reflections.

People are a little shocked when we tell them that we are “Missionaries” who don’t start any programs.  As servants of Christ we come beside individuals and see what their dreams are for their community. We work together on how we can support them.  

I had a friend in my twenties that had a knack for getting himself arrested. As a rule-follower, child of immigrants and an immigrant, getting arrested is something I try to avoid. The only run-ins I had with the law was getting speeding tickets; and that was painful enough. For him, he wore that fact with pride. 

A question for you: Do you value having the right opinion over doing right by your neighbours?  Or, to use the language of the ancient Hebrew prophets, do you value being right over being righteous – that is, being in right relationship with others?  

I recently went to see the film Bones of Crows with three other members of my Hearts Exchanged group. I made sure to put a stash of tissues in my purse - I expected to get quite emotional based on what I had seen in the trailer for the film. I didn’t use any of those tissues. Not because the film avoided hard stories but because the characters were strong and resilient and the painful truths were not manipulated into some kind of gratuitous sentimentality.

It was a happy, ordinary morning. 

As I readied the kids for school, the sun was shining and I was smiling: a good friend and I were meeting for coffee at a newly opened café that looked really nice. It had taken a month for us to align our schedules to make this visit happen.

My friend arrived at the café first—and this was when things went awry. On entering, she discovered the doorway was not only tight but also had a tiny step of about two inches. 

Building organizational capacity for local church and community partners is a central part of what World Renew does. But in 2013, one situation where community capacity development interventions were taking place, the grassroots systems and structure grew stronger than the body that should have taken lead on change making. Why? The attitude, visioning and worldview held by the grassroots leadership around stewardship was questionable.

As I write this, I am en route to the Holy Land … A place that I hold deep in my heart and that is sacred to many believers around the world. The land is holy and has such rich history and theological significance. But the “holy land” can not be understood apart from the contemporary geopolitics between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. And today, the realities on the ground continue to escalate with some of the worst violence we’ve seen in years.

When you became a deacon, did you know what you signed up for? Most new deacons hear the Deacon’s mandate read at their ordination and then sit at their first meeting thinking – what now? My job at Diaconal Ministries is to help deacons understand their calling and discover ways to work out their leadership role. The Deacon’s mandate can be broken into 4 ministry areas: Stewardship, Benevolence, Justice and Community.