fellowship north speaks

a place to talk about what's going on at FN

January 19, 2012 • 12:26 pm 0

remember [give more]?

In December, as part of the Advent Conspiracy, we decided to give the entire offering from one Sunday (December 18) to 3 mission opportunities. The offering that Sunday was $54,944.99! We were excited to be able to share the money in these ways:

Kids Across America Camp Scholarships: $5,250 – which will send 30+ kids to camp

Love & Hope Orphanage in Orissa, India: $16,695 (see letter below)

Castle Bluff Lodge Back Porch: $16,050

If you are a math-type person, you might have noticed that there is still almost $17,000 left – extra! The missions committee will decide where to give that money the next time they meet. How wonderful is that? Thank you for giving more this past Christmas season to these missions!

______________________________

Also, we recently received a couple of letters from people involved with the Love & Hope Orphanage; we thought you would enjoy reading them too. The first is from a woman helping to organize the building efforts, and the second is from a man working directly with the construction.

Dear Fellowship North Friends,

Annie [Manis - she and her husband Walt are missionaries that FN supports] called me this morning to let me know about your generous offering for the children’s home in Orissa, India. I am so thrilled of this news and above all of your generosity as a church to stand with us in this project to give to these kids a shelter to grow safe and with protection. We have been exactly missing this amount of money and we are very very touched that God uses your church in Arkansas to bless and fulfill this need.

May the Lord make your church receive 100% blessings as they have given so generously to the poor and despised kids. May He fulfill all your needs as church and individuals as you have fulfilled the needs of these kids.

I have communicated this news also to Suneli who is the first hand of this project in India, who is my good friend, a godly woman with a big heart for these kids and for God’s Kingdom in India. She says me to say to your church, so many thanks for helping these kids.

The money will go for finishing the rest of the house work (6 bathrooms, sanitary work, windows, doors, protection wall, painting, shelves in each room and electricity connection and whatever other work needs to be done.) Right now, Suneli’s husband is in Orissa looking after these duties that the house work is finished properly and on time. He is very knowledgeable in construction work and has been a blessing to have him them since end of August 2011.

Many many thanks in the name of these kids and the Orissa team,
Alma Stoeckli

(the following email is from Suneli’s husband, Satyam, after receiving the news)

beloved in christ jesus,

i cried for joy. this is a great news. it takes out much pressure from
our building team. we were working day and night striving for quality
and to save every 10 rupees. but now we can afford to be a little
generous to the builder and his team and even to our team.

i still feel a great compassion and i pray regularly for the thousands
of kandamal children who are like lambs without a shepherd. May the
great shepherd have compassion for them too and send shepherds to take
care.

much love and regards. many heart felt thanks for Alma Chris and their
compassionate team!! May God fulfill all the pending needs of the
generous donors!

satyam

Filed under: advent conspiracy, Castle Bluff, give more, KAA, Love and Hope Orphanage, missions, spend less

January 19, 2012 • 3:30 am 0

Talk It Out: Alison Chino

My church hosts this class once or twice a year called Talk It Out. And I want to invite you to be a part of it.

It’s a class for anyone who wants to learn more about race issues inside and outside of the church.

The provided reading and listening material alone is worth the effort to participate in the class, but nothing can take the place of the unrehearsed, impromptu but guided discussions you will have face to face with someone who is different from you.

To say that hearing a brother or sister alongside whom I now worship tell a story from his or her own experience is eye-opening is to grossly understate the experience. It is heart opening. It is nothing short of life changing. It is the fuel we need in our souls to stay hard on the path of seeing the church become a reconciled body of Christ.

Each Talk It Out class is as different as the people who attend it. The memories you take from a simple gathering together with others for a meager four sessions are greatly varied but consistently meaningful.

For me, the moment I remember most vividly was learning that it is common practice today in some neighborhoods that if you are an African American trying to sell your home, you would be asked by a realtor to you hide all evidence that black people live in your house.

Really?

Put away your family photos. Take down art that might seem ethnic.

Really?

For some reason, it was this experience that stayed with me even longer than stories of growing up in segregated schools. I think the reason for this is that it happened just recently. In my lifetime, in the day I (we) live in, right now, people don’t want to buy a house because the race of the owner is different from their own. Because this story happened right across from me and I could not alleviate its pain or take it away, I was ultimately most moved by it. Even now as I remember her telling it, I feel the sting of how much I hated its truth. I cringe. It was something I wanted to look away from.

I did not know it at the time, but the part of Talk It Out that I needed was a tangible understanding that I don’t have to live with these kinds of common insults because I am white. I will not ever have to explain to my children that I’m taking their pictures down because someone won’t want to buy our house if they see them.

There is a name for this collection of concerns that I don’t carry with me every day of my life. This not having to think about race. It is called white privilege. I didn’t earn it and I can’t give it back, but it is as real as the chair I am sitting in.

Because I have it, I can look away. I can turn my head. I can choose to not listen to the stories. I can try to pretend that there is no such thing as racism in America.

But this mission, this most worthy journey of all people being reconciled in Christ Jesus, calls me to keep looking. To keep listening. To stop pretending.

________________________________________

Today’s post is by Alison Chino – she blogs here and twitters here. Married to Taido and mom to Cole, Mary Polly, Ben, and Simon, she loves cooking, reading, yoga, and travelling.

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