Alas, my fingers have been given the task of translating our many thoughts and events that have transpired over this past month. For those that prefer a quick summary (I understand), it goes as follows:
"God is good and up to something good, all the time! and we specifically experienced this these past weeks. Thanks for checking in."
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Now, for the rest of you (you know who you are :), you've been asking for the juice - details, plans, thoughts, what makes us tick, etc. And its a good thing you ask, because what God has put on our hearts may just splash onto yours in a contagious sort of way. (Disclaimer: Don't say I didn't warn you. Oh, it may not be love at first sight, but it may grow on you like it did ours.)
There is too much to share for one blog entry, so may this be the appetizer for the main course and dessert to come. Like any gourmet meal, its better if you are the one eating it than reading about it, but don't let that stop you from salavating and joining in in some way. There is always room for more.
After dropping off the kiddos at Aunty Buttaboo's (the affectionate name given for my sister Doralin), Harold and I made our 21 hour trek down to Nashville, Tennessee to attend a week of Global Leadership Forum and Summit 9, put on by CAFO (Christian Alliance for Orphans). I'll have to tell you sometime of our funny accommodations story! But that is for another blog entry, lol. To be honest, we were not exactly sure what to expect in Nashville, we just both knew deep down this is where we needed to be. Aside from the promising selection of sessions and guest speakers listed, for all we knew we were entering into some kind of event I could only imagine being like a homeschooling convention with idealist Christianese extremists that collected kids (we didn't know! and don't be offended homeschoolers - your conventions are probably better than what flashes through my mind. I digress.). What awaited us in Nashville was anything but wierd. The words inspiring, redemptive, Spirit lead, transparency and humility come to mind.
First off, CAFO did an extremely good job in facilitating a fantastic and organized event. The first two days were spent with about 70 ordinary, friendly, humble but powerful God-seeking leaders from 25 different countries. The following days were spend with over 2,500 people at the Summit event. We came in as the two Canadians, but left as a brother and sister of a larger global family whom we continue to be in communication with.
(Members of the Global Leadership Forum)
Do you remember us telling you in our first blog entry about God speaking to us in Korea while attending an Orphan Sunday church service? Well, who knew that the Zambian pastor Billy sitting next to us started Orphan Sunday as his local response to God wanting him to mobilize his church. Like fire starting from an ember, it then spread throughout other African countries and around the world. It took us going to Korea for us to catch that Zambian flame and bring it back to Canada with us. The world is so small. And who knew that what God had previously been impressing on our hearts, like the word "movement" which had no context for our Canadian experience, would be the main topic of our Global Leadership forum. We did not even know what God exactly meant by that, as it was not talked about in our circles regarding caring for vulnerable children, yet here we were being instructed very practically on our next steps, like they were eavesdropping in our conversations with God. We were inspired by stories of our new friends around the tables who are already involved in this powerful movement in other unassuming places around the world. It became quite evident that this "movement" went beyond the care of orphans in crisis (which remains our unifying mandate) but it has become the revival of the worldwide Church in seeking the heart of Abba Father.
(Pastor Billy from Zambia)
Huh? Does this orphan care movement still sound foreign to you? Well, if you are reading it from a Canadian context like ours, it did to us as well even heading into Nashville. We did not know that what God had specifically put on our hearts was something that God already has been sweeping across nations in a powerful way in recent years. Canada, with the exceptions of pockets here and there, has yet to jump on board. This is not to say that its not gaining momentum, as we are discovering others across Canada who God is touching regarding this as well.
But caring for orphans is not a new phenomenon for the Christian church. It is an age-old mandate, an ancient practice seen throughout history. So why all this talk about movement? Is it a fad? The old mandate reinvented as a tactic to guilt believers into a cause? Is it an over-inflated heroic patronizing attempt of the Church to rescue the little orphaned damsels and princes in distress? Those are good questions. I wouldn't have written them if I did not also ask them myself. Yet in my quest for answers, in Scripture, in prayer, in my interactions with leaders around the world, in seeking to be informed and educated in the global orphan crisis, I cannot deny that God is awakening a sleepy consumer Church into outward action. This doesn't mean the Church has all the answer to the orphan crisis, but it's beautiful to see the global church on their knees seeking God for the answers and working together as a body and reaching out to governments, families, orphans, and organizations to humbly navigate the crisis together. Sounds like salt and light to me.
It seems to me, in my own Canadian experience of being church, we have conformed to the culture around us and allocated the crisis of vulnerable children for the government to deal with. I love how I can walk into any hospital and get care without a dime in my pocket, but do I love it so much that I forget to dress the wounds of my neighbour? Go to the hospital, I say, rather than give of my own bandaids or in critical situations, take them to the doctor and be with them. A foster care situation gone from bad to worse in a homicide? We may wag our fingers and say bad government. An adoption failed and child returned to the system? We may point our fingers to the family and say poor parenting or bad kid. A mother has her children apprehended? We may judge her for her addictions or boyfriend's control. Millions of children across the globe without parents? We may soothe our sorrow by flipping the channel, debating politics, pointing out our version of the root problem. But have any of these situations gripped the Canadian church into action? Not in the short-term photo-opp mission project sort of way, but in a way that sees that struggling parent as our neighbour, the global statistics of unparented children as our future children, the governments foster care crisis as an invitation for the church to get involved in raising the next generation with love, etc. All this to say, this global movement already in momentum, is not an invitation to indulge in guilt numbing projects or causes, but to taste and see that the Lord is good. He is doing great redemptive things through ordinary people who are awakened to the heart of God.
Before thinking of an orphan care movement as the newest Church's rescue operation, perhaps we must humbly recognize that we are the ones needing God's rescue from ourselves. From what I am observing in a global context, it seems like God is allowing the orphans also to minister to the churches; giving us opportunity to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Eph.3).
More to come, I promise: Including some more major adjustments in the Park family.
