29 March, 2024

Learning to Share Hope

Features

by | 6 July, 2008 | 0 comments

By Tom Moen

Think for a minute about hope as a continuum. To the left is hopelessness (having no expectation of success) and to the right is a hope that is on the brink of fulfillment. Where do you place yourself?

Most of us reading this are probably to the right of center. We may sense a little hopelessness at the gas pump, or as it relates to job security or paying for a college education. But when was the last time you needed to hold out hope that you would have enough food to survive another day? When did you last hope that you””or a child””would actually live into your teens, 20s, or 30s without contracting and dying from HIV/AIDS? Or hope for medical treatment, an education, or living with no violence/gangs?

Millions of people live way to the left””near hopelessness””on this continuum. So, here”s the question””do we have a heart to care?

Those steeped in hopelessness can become complacent. They can lose their dignity, seek handouts, and forget who they are in Christ. Those (like us) who see what appears to be the hopelessness of their situations can become apathetic, indifferent, and numb to the magnitude of the problem. Our biggest challenge becomes helping our congregations understand that everyone can do something, and that any action is better than no action.

Joining God

At Mountain Christian Church, we live by this slogan: “Find out what God is doing in the world, and then join him in it.” We found some wonderful people through Christian Missionary Fellowship who were doing some wonderful things in the Mathare Valley in Nairobi, Kenya, and proceeded to find ways to partner with them.

About a year and a half ago we began talking with CMF about a reproducible way we could make a difference in the “hope continuum” of the families that live in the Mathare Valley. Through our discussions, the Hope Partnership was born. This partnership opened doors for those to whom “God has added abundantly” here in the United States to be able to provide basic needs of nutrition, medical care, and Christian education for many children and families in the Mathare Valley.

This is a child-sponsorship program that today boasts 2,000-plus children sponsored by various churches in the U.S. Both the number of children sponsored and the churches getting involved are growing.

Offering Hope

Meanwhile, we have tried to extend hope in several ways.

“¢ At Mountain we serve refreshments on a weekly basis to guests and members alike. During our Global Impact series last year, someone asked how much we spend weekly for these refreshments. From this, “No Donut Sunday” was born.

By foregoing these refreshments once a month we have sponsored 12 children. We have each child”s sponsorship card framed in our café and celebrate his/her life each No Donut Sunday!

“¢ We, along with other U.S. churches, raised funds for Operation Christmas, a way to provide basic food staples for families in Mathare. Big plastic tubs were filled with rice, flour, corn meal, salt, sugar, soda, etc. to bless more than 1,000 families. The cost was $20 each for food for about a week.

At the Christmas celebration where the baskets were distributed, 18 people gave their lives to Christ!

“¢ Traveling to Kenya to engage one”s senses firsthand has been a dramatic way to help our people join in the mission. CMF has helped facilitate several trips for our kingdom workers to go and love on the saints there.

“¢ We collected and washed socks to put on children”s feet. We collected school supplies to put pencils in their hands. We collected dollars to buy desks for their classrooms.

“¢ We built a shack in our church commons to show our congregation how millions of people live.

“¢ We created a 14-day prayer “catalog” for a daily touch throughout the Global Impact series.

“¢ At elder retreats and staff meetings we repeatedly asked God, “How we can get involved?”

Learning to Care

So how can you engage with this pandemic? Let me share a few of the questions we asked ourselves early on.

Why are we engaging our church in global needs issues? What are we trying to accomplish? How do we intend to accomplish them? Why have these methods of engagement been chosen? When do we plan to do these things?

These questions can help you start a framework that will lead you on an extraordinary journey of engagement on a global level.

One of our African brothers prayed the following prayer on behalf of our October 2007 mission team. “May God add to you abundantly and give you a heart to care.”

Remember””God has added to you abundantly; now ask him to give you a heart to care!




Making an Impact

As we thought about involving our congregation with the worldwide HIV/AIDS crisis, Mountain Christian Church planned a “Global Impact” series. It was designed to take us on a passage through head, heart, and hands. We had goals for each step of the journey.

Head. We will strive to acquire a greater understanding of the global situation, and particularly we will increase our personal and collective awareness of the severity of the results of poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Specifically, we want to overcome ignorance, misunderstanding, indifference, and fear. We want our people to see past common myths about this crisis, and understand options for combating it. We want people to think differently about what is happening “there” and how we can live differently “here.”

Heart. We will have Christlike feelings of compassion and concern about the issues and people who are hurting. We will overcome callousness and complacency (exhibited by phrases such as “we”re OK,” “I”m happy,” “it”s not our problem”), and hopelessness and fatalism (“we have nothing to offer,” “it”s too big,” “we can”t touch the problems”).

Hands. We will become involved in tangible, hands-on ways that make a difference. Our goal is that every person who worships at Mountain will become personally involved in responding to this great humanitarian crisis. We will overcome indifference, inaction, disinterest, and busyness. We want our people to become part of God”s solution for the aching and brokenness of others.






A Prayer for Those Confronting This Crisis

Father in Heaven, we repent from having done too little. Stir us to action. First, we commit to coming to you on our knees, asking forgiveness, seeking guidance and vision. Then we will rise to our feet to take action to become involved with compassion and interaction. Please fill our hearts with the dream that is in your heart. Burden us with the dream to see your beautiful creation restored, to see your kingdom come on earth, as it is in Heaven””to see children and families who are now hurting, hungry, and lost, become whole, filled, and saved. Fill us with your dream and longing of having a people for you made up of people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. May your passions become our passions, dear God and Father. Please deliver us from small and petty dreams of security and fortune and personal ambition. Give us a passion to see you worshiped in all the nations of the earth.

In the name of Jesus our Lord, Amen.




Tom Moen joined the staff of Mountain Christian Church as the global outreach pastor in September 2006 after serving 11 years with his family as missionaries to Brazil with Christian Missionary Fellowship. This article is adapted from a workshop he presented at the Indianapolis AIDS conference.

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Features

Follow Us