My husband hit a milestone birthday this year. (I won’t tell you how old he is, but here’s a hint: it rhymes with “warty.”)
A few months before his birthday, I had given a speech at my local Toastmasters club called “My Kids Are Like Duct Tape.” He said that his only birthday wish was for me to record that speech on video.
Here’s the result. Happy birthday to my husband, the kind of guy who puts orphan advocacy at the top of his birthday list. What a guy!
My friends at Live58 asked me some great questions about church partnerships in global missions. Here are highlights from the interview.
I first discovered the beauty and vast scope of God’s world through short-term mission trips. For me, interacting with another culture on an overseas trip to the Philippines with my youth group was a critical moment not only in my own discipleship, but more specifically in shaping my life purpose toward holistic development.
Of course, thinking about my early travels in hindsight has given me a different perspective on why I went, what was accomplished, and whether I could have done some things differently.
I have realized that I got more out of the short-term team experience than I contributed, and not in the cheesy way that most of us first say it when we return from a trip (“I blessed them, but I’m really the one who’s blessed!”). Yes, I had benefited, but possibly at the expense of those whom I thought I was serving. My team required a lot of time and focus from our hosts, who were already overwhelmed with their ministry responsibilities. But I’m not sure that we furthered their ministry goals at all.
In When Helping Hurts, my friends Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert liken the relationship between Western visitors and majority world communities to a dance between an elephant and a mouse. I’ll let you guess which partner is the elephant.
Given my early missteps with short-term missions, you might be surprised to hear that I believe in them. Working at Food for the Hungry, where we stick to the best, most sustainable development practices, I’ve watched dozens of communities benefit (yes, truly benefit) from teams who have visited from the U.S. We measure this success not by the enthusiasm of the American team members, but by the transformation that our local, indigenous staff gauge on the field level. Over and over, we are seeing that our short-term missions inspire hope in the community, encourage the local church, and help to move forward the development goals that community members have set for themselves.
But success on mission trips doesn’t just happen. We’ve identified a critical mix of elements necessary for short-term teams. They include community-initiated projects, working alongside community members (everyone contributes!), rigorous screening and training of team members, and a long-term, sustainability-focused program that is much broader than the team’s visit. (There are other important factors, too. Check out the Standards of Excellence in Short-term Mission.)
Today on the Food for the Hungry blog, I wrote about the physical projects that short-term teams work on. One big criticism I’ve heard of short-term missions has been that just the cost of the team getting to the field location could pay for bigger and better projects in needy communities. Today’s post is an attempt to show why such thinking doesn’t consider the whole picture. Check it out on the FH website.
There’s so much to say about short-term missions and how to optimize their benefit. I’d like to write more about this topic. Specifically, what would you like to hear more about? Let me know in the comments or via the contact form.
Happy New Year! Over the holidays I wrote on the Food for the Hungry blog about two churches that I visited in December. Both churches were sharing child sponsorship with their congregations for the first time.
One Church is a newly planted church in Chandler, Arizona. The reason I’m so impressed with One Church is their decision to partner with world missions early. Rather than waiting until they have grown to a certain point or purchased their own building, they are starting with a heart to share God’s love among the world’s most vulnerable people. Read the rest of what I wrote about One Church on the Food for the Hungry blog.
Antioch Church in Bend, Oregon wins the award for the coldest place I’ve ever visited. The December weekend that I visited was abnormally cold for them too, so I wasn’t the only one complaining!
During the Antioch Church service, members from their recent mission trip to Ethiopia shared about their trip. One quote that really stuck with me came from my new friend Alia, who had wanted to travel to Africa for 20 years. When she finally went, she found herself beautifully broken.
“Jesus taught that He was always present,” she said, “not only with the poor but in the poor.”
Sponsoring a child makes everything more personal. This truth hit home for me when Typhoon Haiyan struck, because my sponsored child lives in the Philippines. I wrote about Mariecris, her fate, and how she’s impacting my family on the Food for the Hungry blog.
I’m blogging today over at Food for the Hungry about back-to-school season. We take it for granted in the United States that our kids will go to school, but in developing countries, it’s not as easy.
From my experience, I’ve seen five barriers that keep kids from attending school in poor places. To ensure that they get an education, we have to address all five of the barriers.
Check out my list on Food for the Hungry’s blog, and let me know if I’ve missed anything.
Today I’m posting over at FH about the Philippines. Here’s an excerpt.
In Camarines Norte (“cah-mah-REEN-es NOR-tay), over half of the population lives below the poverty line. Children are vulnerable to chronic hunger. They go to school in classrooms that are bursting at the seams, sometimes with class sizes of 60 children or more. It’s common for children to drop out of school at a young age to help provide for their families.
But there’s good news. God has not forgotten the people of Camarines Norte. He has given them tremendous potential! Community leaders are eager to learn and are open to new ideas—particularly so they can improve the lives of their children. Several local churches are actively present and serving. Your church can come alongside these local churches and leaders to change the future for the community.
Please check out the rest of this post on the Food for the Hungry blog!
Yes, it’s July and I’m talking about Christmas.
No, I don’t approve of Christmas displays at Costco and Target in July.
But YES, I am talking about Christmas because your pastors are talking about Christmas, and that means this is the time for them to hear about Hope Tree!
Here’s an excerpt from today’s blog over at Food for the Hungry.
When your church members sponsor children through your Hope Tree, they’ll enter into relationships with children living in poverty. They’ll know that their support is giving God’s hope to children. And they’ll each receive updates on their child’s progress. They can write to their sponsored children and even visit them!
By placing a Hope Tree in your lobby or sanctuary, you’re providing all of this interaction to your church. As one of your church’s pastors, you don’t have to chase down reports or wonder how the funds are being used. Food for the Hungry takes care of the details.
Please read more on the FH website, and ask your pastor about hosting a Hope Tree!
I am always thinking about how to raise my children to be good global citizens even though they are growing up in one of the most hedonistic cultures in today’s world. I haven’t figured it out by any stretch of the imagination, but today on the FH blog I shared three ways that I’m working on it.
The three practices:
Curious? Check out my post on the FH blog.
Today I’m posting at Food for the Hungry. Hope you’ll check it out.
When my co-workers found Mayra, she was 10 years old. She was living with her parents and her five younger siblings.
If you were to visit Mayra’s home in the neighborhood of Horno Ckasa, Bolivia, you’d first notice the door. We don’t think much about doors where I live in suburban America. We take for granted that we have sturdy front doors with latches and locks. But in a rough neighborhood in Bolivia, Mayra’s door is a danger. It’s made of wood so old that it’s deteriorating, a reminder of the vulnerability that Mayra and her family face every day.
Read more here.
