Saved People Serve People--Rescuing orphans in Central African and around the world

As I scroll through the pictures posted by Pastor Tom Peters of VisionTrust on his recent visit to the Central African Republic. I was encouraged and reminded of God's love for the orphan, the widow, the least, and the last.  

My family sponsors Stephanie. And it scares me when I hear news reports of violence in Bangui, the capital city of the Central African Republic.  Civil unrest and alarming violence erupts in parts of the city.  Families are in danger. Children live in fear. And our family prays for Stephanie and her family.  May God protect and give courage to Stephanie and her family.  

Stephanie

Pastor Tom returned with a new photo of Stephanie for us.  She is growing up and appears peaceful amid reports of unrest in the city.  I praise God for Pastor Tom and VisionTrust as they seek to develop fully devoted followers of Christ by caring for orphans and neglected children around the world.  

Our sponsorship provides good meals, basic health care, access to Learning Centers where teachers can offer good education, and Bible teaching.  Children are given the opportunity to grow in their faith to keep trusting Jesus even amid fearful situations. 

You too can sponsor a child with VisionTrust.  You can also peruse sponsorship opportunities for orphaned children in the Central African Republic with VisionTrust.  

Integrated Ministries Grace Church supports

WHAT IS INTEGRATED MINISTRIES?

Integrated ministries is a description of ministries whereby The Church follows God's directive to share the Gospel in word and deed. Grace Church will share the work of Christ (the Gospel) and share the love of Christ (our good works) with every human being.

As the Commitment to Common Mission for Grace Brethren Churches states,

"We affirm that God has created human beings with physical, emotional and spiritual needs and that the Church expresses the compassion of Christ in proclaiming the Gospel while caring for various needs of mankind.

We call upon the Church to bless believers, strengthen churches and reach the lost by showing the works which reflect true faith (James 2:26)

• Assisting those in need,
• Promoting economic, family, and personal development,
• Encouraging the development of businesses with a missionary focus (Business As Mission)"

Grace Church supports the following Integrated Ministries: 

Water for Good

Water for Good, providing fresh water and community based resources for people and communities in the Central African Republic and beyond.

Asia's Hope

Asia’s Hope, providing comprehensive, family-style care for orphaned children at high risk of sexual and economic exploitation in Cambodia, Thailand, and India. 

GROW founder, Faa

GROW, rescuing children and youth at-risk for the sex trade in Thailand. 

VisionTrust

VisionTrust, developing orphaned and neglected children into mature Christians.



We praise God that we can support these integrated ministries to share the work of Christ (the Gospel) and to share the love of Christ (our good works) with these partnering organizations.  Please pray for the year-end appeals as they seek to do good in the years ahead.

Things I learn from our Outreach Staff recently

I got to lead our last two Outreach Staff meetings. I wanted to conduct them with a focus around three main sections: Vision, Team, & Skill.

Vision: I intended to rehearse the vision and values of our church with the team. I have heard that people lose vision in less than a month. So to rehearse our vision was part of this segment.

Wooster Grace Vision Statement "Developing everyone into fully-devoted followers of Christ"

Next, I challenged our team to ask the question everyday, "Is what I am doing developing everyone into fully-devoted followers of Christ?" I phrased the question differently and created a one-page reminder for each team member to post in their office or cubicle to help them keep the vision in front of them.

Today I asked how the reminder helped. I noted how it helped me from being too distracted. As a people-pleaser, I tend to say yes to everything. So, this reminder redirected me to refocus on the mission. I will need to say NO more. Another teammate shared how the reminder helped her clarify what she wanted to do. She used "filter-questions" to strain out her excuses and to discover what was the key issue and then to make a decision. A different teammate shared how ministry can be so overwhelming at times. We want to help others--that's why we are on the outreach team. Yet we must seek to keep a margin, even in ministry. Her gifts and talents clarified her to decide to add one more ministry project to her life because our vision is developing others. The printed reminder helped us stay on mission.

You can do the same. Insert your church's or ministries' mission statement in the question and place on postcard or page to keep you on-mission. "Ask, 'If what you are doing is advancing your mission statement?'"

Ministry can be extremely busy. I wonder how you stay on mission amid the chaos of ministry opportunities. Please share in the comments below how you stay on mission.  

One of the things that I want to do in the new year is to share what I am learning in ministry. I trust these posts will encourage you and help others who are in ministry also.