2011 PNME Grant Recipient Reports

 

Calvary Presbytery Church of Berkeley

Youth Summer Mission Project 2011

A little background of our church and our youth... Calvary is a diverse church with a unique ministry blending English and Mandarin speaking communities in one united church. Almost all of our Chinese speaking members where born outside of the US. Because of our parents high expectations for their children to perform academically we have found it hard to get the youth involved in Christian service. We are so pleased that we had 5 youth participate in our work project this year. Of the five youth three of the youth were born in China, their families speak 4 different Chinese dialects, they range in age from 13 – 22 and they all speak fluent Mandarin.

Goals for our work project... Give our youth a chance to catch a vision for being agents of change in their community and world as they follow in the steps of Jesus. Our plan was to have the older youth of our church to join with youth from Trinity Presbyterian Church in West Sacramento for a long weekend of doing hands-on mission in that community.

What we did... Visited the Dixon Immigration Center where Church volunteers run a Friday night program for kids-fun-day

Met over breakfast with young people and their adult leaders for fellowship and discussion about Christian Service in the community as well as what it is like to grow up in an immigrant family.

Spent a day installing solar curtains in five homes in local trailer parks. We did this in teams made up of members from both youth groups.

Attended worship at Williams Memorial Church, a large African American Church, on Sunday morning and a Hispanic Church Sunday evening.

Assisted in serving lunch and handing out clothes to about 100 homeless folks who are encamped on the American River just across from Sacramento Old Town.

They helped in running a “kids-fun-day” at an impoverished trailer park. They helped serve a meal to the families, play with the kids, did face-painting, sang, told bible stories and just made friends, showing them some “Jesus Love” as our Mentor called it.

Spent an afternoon being tourists in Old Town Sacramento, building community within our youth group and our new young African friend, visited the historical Train Museum. For a different perspective than most groups would see we realized that the ancestors of one of our youth born in the Chinese Provence of Toisaan helped build our railroads.

A youthful evaluation... The youth from the trip made a report during worship at Calvary after the trip. Their reflections on the work project where energetic and insightful.

They loved being together. With the age range of the group the older youth really took care of the younger kids and served as role models. Living together in the house that was shared with us for the weekend they had a chance to be together 24/7. During our time together there was lots of laughter and even some tears. There was lots of learning not just about Christian Service but about growing up and facing the issues that face Asian youth growing up in the U.S today.

They gained new perspectives. They integrated quickly with the youth from Trinity Presbyterian Church. In planned conversation and casual conversations during the workday they discovered the differences and similarities of growing up in immigrant families. They shared the values that their parents pass on to them and the frustrations of being in families that don't always share the values that other “American” families have. They loved the experience of worshiping in an African American Church with its energy and hospitality and blended in well with the Spanish language service that was translated into English much like the style of worship in their home church which is in English and Mandarin. They teamed up for working with the Trinity youth easily and began making plans for our next project together at our closing refection time. They learned about how the Church Volunteer Network (CVN) is working with those in need in Sacramento and West Sacramento. They spent time with the Executive Director of CVN learning about their work with the homeless and those in-need. One youth shared how different it was to be told how to befriend a homeless person rather than avoid them as they had been instructed by their parents.

They discovered...

Shared smiles of those whom they broke bread with in the church and at the riverside.

New friends who share a love of God and a love for “the-other”.

The friendship of an African American young man who just wanted to spend time with them.

A vision of what they can do together in serving the needs of those in their community.

Plans for the future. As we reflected on our weekend work project the Calvary youth decided it would be good to invite their new work partner to the East Bay to work with those in need in their community. They are already planning a weekend trip in the Spring of 2012 and are planning on returning to West Sac next Labor Day for their next project. They loved the trip but before they had even finished their first day of work decided that the adults had underestimated the work that they can do and are determined to do more work on the next project.

Pastor Karl's reflections. I am so pleased that we have planted a seed in our youth for responding to their faith with service to their community. This was our first work project but now our youth have a vision for future projects and are already thinking bigger about what they can do and how they can involved more of our youth and our church community in the projects. I am sure that we could not have planted this seed and vision without the generosity of the Pacific Network for Mission Education. Thanks so much, PNME, for your support and vision.

 

Pacific Frontier Fellowship Worker

Witness in Asia and Israel

Dear Members of PNME:

Thank you again for the 2011 grant you gifted to me and my work with Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship (PFF). Your grant was a huge help in supporting my visit earlier this year to Asia and Israel. As a new staff member with PFF, it is important for me to see first hand what God is doing in different parts of the world today. My position with PFF allows me to spend the bulk of my time educating Christians in America, and helping build bridges between our churches here and the work of God around the world. This trip was full of learning opportunities. Since my return, I’ve had a chance to share about my experiences in several different Bay Area and Seattle churches. I’ve preached, shared in home groups, led Sunday School classes, spoke at a women’s retreat and offered a night of prayer and worship for the nations. It has been a wonderful experience and I look forward to this on-going work.

For now, I want to share a few of the lessons I learned during my time in Asia and Israel: God is more interested in relationships than in statistics. I’ve been on a number of outreach trips in my life, and have witnessed many different approaches to sharing the love of Christ with those who don’t know Jesus. Sadly, many Western models of evangelism focus heavily on numbers – saving as many souls as possible during a “crusade,” but without much attention on discipleship and follow-up. On this trip, I encountered many Christians focused on building relationships, and settling down into communities for the long haul – engaging in acts of love and service as a way to model the love of God.

God loves all people and has a unique way of expressing that love in culturally relevant ways. I had the opportunity to share many meals and cups of tea with Muslim and Buddhist families – a great opportunity to learn about cultural practice and faith. The biggest question I returned home with was, “Lord, how would you choose to communicate your love to a Muslim person, or to a Buddhist person?”

The ways I have encountered God in my life are hugely influenced by my Western culture. It is the same for people of other cultural and religious backgrounds. How might we, as Christians, grow in our ability to see how God might uniquely speak to someone that is different than us?

God cares about the whole person. I was amazed to witness firsthand a Muslim woman’s blind eyes being completely healed as a small group of Christians prayed for her in Jesus’ name. I heard many more stories of God’s love being expressed through physical healing, something the workers I met in Asia are seeing on a regular basis these days. I also talked to a couple who helps coorddinate relief efforts for a community that was leveled by an earthquake over a year ago. They are putting hands and

Your commitment to mission education is a blessing to me and the work I am doing in churches on the West Coast.

Blessings and thanks in Christ.

 

John traveled to Viet Nam and Cambodia as Field Experience for Teaching Business Ethics

In partnership with the Institute of Corporate Responsibility (ICR) at George Washington University, my focus was to integrate spiritual and socially conscious principles in shaping investment policy in emerging markets, specifically around foreign aid, business development, and food policy. A segment of this learning process involves applying tools such as open space technology, training for transformation, and other community based methods to bridge the widening societal gap between the corporation and the community using an ethical leadership framework. In order to do this, I will first conduct research in (1) sustainable food policy for local businesses such as Founding Farmers and (2) conflict commodities connected to the upcoming 2012 Farm Bill that will affect US foreign trade and aid.

Report findings and lessons learned will be distributed at the next George Washington University Service Learning Symposium that connects stakeholders, local businesses, and local residents. These findings will also be utilized to shape policy and socially responsible investing decisions through firms like Calvert Investments. PNME will be an honorary guest at these events and reports will be distributed to their offices.

Project Report As a result of my ever expanding schedule, I decided to realign my research with the Institute of Corporate Responsibility (ICR) to develop an Ethics in Action curriculum designed to offer MBA students a structure and framework for incorporating ethics into their education experience. I did learn significant cultural, political, and economic lessons with my trip to Vietnam and Cambodia as it relates to agriculture, however this was not as significant as the training I planned, developed, and delivered to the first year class of MBA’s at George Washington University (GWU). In addition, much of my summer internship experience at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation supported my longer term goals of financing agriculture projects overseas, however, the food policy issues seemed to take a back seat as more relevant needs surfaced this summer.

The Ethics in Action 5-day workshop I conducted the week of August 17, 2011 was a culmination of an entire year of frustration with my MBA experience. My decision to attend GWU was premised on the school’s shifting interest to incorporate business responsibility (otherwise known as business ethics) into the curriculum and the role that educational institutions ultimately play in shaping tomorrow’s business leaders (and as a direct response to corporate scandals, the financial crisis, and many socio-economic injustices). This aligns with my overall goals of integrating more socially conscious and spiritually geared decision making frameworks into the business model. Throughout my first year of the MBA, I was disheartened by the facilitation skills of professors, their limited passion for their work, the lack of a coordinated message around corporate responsibility and ethics, and the undeveloped mechanisms and structures to support the growth of responsible decision making at this level of our society/institution. My goal in designing the curriculum was to offer an introduction to business ethics through an open space1 dialog approach while also constructively responding to the ‘lack of’ by offering a potential solution. This workshop ultimately compliments the already established Certificate of Responsible Management and the Business Ethics class offering in the first module of the MBA curriculum. To more fully engage students in the business responsibility debate, a speaker series was established that aims to engage students in roundtable discussions, similar to the formats presented in my Ethics in Action workshop. This more comprehensive offering will then culminate in a class specific student pledge at the end of the 2-year program and it will be highlighted by the GW School of Business Dean2. The workshop itself was a collaborative effort between the ICR, the Net Impact3 chapter of GWU, and the MBA Programs Office4 at GWU.

As a result, the 5-day workshop exposed the entire population of incoming MBA’s to a number of business responsibility ideas and frameworks. The 120 students participated in activities such as Take a Stand, whereby students responded non-verbally to statements by physically positioning themselves on a Agree/Disagree spectrum within the auditorium. They then shared their positions and were given the opportunity to re-position themselves if their values, ideals, morals shifted as a result of the discussion. Other activities included Fishbowl dialogs which incorporated business responsibility issues pertinent to students. These dialogs allowed students to speak collegially, yet passionately, about the issue in a controlled setting, while also allowing the audience to participate if they agreed or disagreed with any statements made. A debate was also scheduled based on the topic: “the free market can regulate itself”. And finally, the workshop culminated in a consolidation of the class’s ideas for developing a pledge.

In all, the evaluations were mixed. The highlights of the workshop were the daily feedback discussion I had after each session. Anywhere from 20 to 30 students would encourage and offer support for this effort. They would also provide anecdotal reports suggesting that this was the missing avenue for their interests in business and social responsibility. In the ensuing weeks, I have coordinated with the ICR and MBA students to pursue the curriculum changes suggested in the workshop as well, students have reported more positive engagement with the MBA curriculum in general. A more significant result is that all the parties necessary to shape policy that incorporates business responsibility/ethics into the curriculum have signed on to the idea and are supporting it.

 

Lynne and son Trevor Counsel and Teach at Uganda's Children of the Nations School

Dear PNME Friends:

Hello! This is Trevor! Thank you so much for your generous support of my, and my mom Lynne's, August, 2011, mission trip to Africa! We seriously could not have done it without you! :)

Our travels to Uganda encountered some difficulties which almost kept us from getting there! A delay in Detroit due to thunderstorms nearly made us miss our flight in Amsterdam, but we made it with only minutes to spare! Finally, after flights which felt longer than they actually were, we were hit by the awesome fact that we were in Africa!

There were so many things that were different from what I was used to in the U.S.. I quickly figured out that not many of the Americans who visit COTN (Children of the Nations) Uganda are teenage boys (usually women). So it kind of caught me by surprise when I was lifted up on Pastor Hardson's shoulders the minute I got off of the bus :)

On the way up to COTN in the van, Mom and I had a lot of fun looking at the signs on shops. For example the “Trust Jesus Saloon”, or the “Covered in the Blood of the Lamb Meat Takeaway”. (We learned later that a “saloon” is a hair salon…but if you have to trust Jesus when you are getting your hair done, well that’s a problem!)

Everywhere we went children would run towards our van yelling “muno bi”. It means “white person hello”! Essentially everyone in Uganda is friendly, welcoming, and genuine. It's a great place!

One of the things I got to do in Uganda was teach art to the children at the COTN school, supported by Bri and Danielle, who were on our team and helped immensely. We brought some art supplies along with us, and we taught a different grade each day. We drew with sharpies in P1 (equivalent to first grade); sharpies, glitter pens, and paints in P2 (that was chaotic); a personally colored paper cross and a plastic sun-catcher colored with sharpies in P3 and in P4; and foam photo frames for P5 (someone had donated a camera and photo printer that we brought). The awesome part about it all was how responsive and excited the kids were to do the crafts! One of the best memories from the trip was when we asked P5 class if they wanted to see the pictures we took of them, and they all stood up and started cheering and clapping! I'll never forget that.

At the end of our trip we got to take a boat ride up the Nile River to Murchison Falls which was really cool! We saw hippos, giraffes, antelope, a lion, water buffalo, crocodiles, and elephants! On Sunday morning we got to drive through the game park before we left for the airport. Mom & I rode on top of the van for most of the way which was great til we passed three large trucks which completely covered us in dust!

Now it’s Mom Lynne’s turn. As we drove onto the COTN Uganda property we were surrounded by the smiling faces of children who had cut branches from trees and were waving them to welcome us, then treated as honored guests as they sang and danced for us! COTN Uganda is truly a beacon on a hill there. 68 children live at the COTN Village full time, and another 200 “Village Partner” kids walk in from the surrounding community to attend school. The support of these kids takes enormous stress off of families who are feeding orphaned children. I so appreciated the COTN vision: “Raising Children Who Transform Nations.” We were blessed by the COTN staff and the many ways they serve their community.

Before we left for Uganda, our family “adopted” Elizabeth as a Village Partner Child. She lives in a family group with 19 other people. Her mother is mentally ill, and her father's whereabouts is unknown. Our $32 a month provides her school tuition, two school uniforms, two school meals a day, and medical attention as needed. Elizabeth has a smile that melts you, and I am grateful that supporting her keeps her in her family. There are 130 children who still need partners, so if you have any interest in sponsoring a Village Child, you can go onto COTN's web page at www.cotni.com and click on “Sponsor a Child”. Then click on Uganda to see the sweet faces of the Village children whom you can sponsor.

I knew going to COTN that there were kids with a lot of trauma, and that I would be working with counseling staff there. The first 30 COTN children were victims of an attack by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Barlonya where nearly 800 people died and many had lost their families. I was blessed to partner with Mama Rose and with Lucio in working with kids. God seemed to unfold the needs as the week went on. What is very apparent is that God holds the hearts of these suffering children very tenderly. HE had work to do and I got to be a part of it!

There were many highlights, but a couple included being able to watch Trevor teaching and doing art with the kids, dancing with the kids the last night there, sitting and reading with the kids listening so closely, and playing soccer with just the girls! I said goodbye to Trevor in Uganda and he traveled back to Seattle with the rest of the team, while I went on to Kenya (right next door) for a week. My visit with our World Vision child in Nairobi was very sweet. The poverty this family lives in is overwhelming, but we celebrate the impact World Vision has on this community!

So here we are back in the USA. Our hearts are full from the opportunity to be in Uganda with the children and staff of COTN. Again we would like to say a HUGE thank you for helping us to be the hands and feet of Jesus there.