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The Way Care Changes Us · Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community

• 0:01
  And after a few minutes, she still didn't come back. I was confused.
• 0:05
  And if I'm really being honest, I think I was a little frustrated. You know,
• 0:09
  you schedule a time to meet with somebody, whatever the occasion is. But
• 0:13
  in that moment, kind of had a nudge, like, what's going on in her
• 0:17
  world? She's really pregnant. Maybe what
• 0:21
  she went to get for food was the only thing that she'd be able to
• 0:23
  tolerate that day. And, like, that's what she needed maybe.
• 0:27
  There's so much that people are carrying and people are walking through
• 0:31
  that we don't see.
• 0:35
  Not every act of care feels natural. Sometimes it's
• 0:38
  uncomfortable, sometimes it's inconvenient, and
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  sometimes it doesn't go the way you expected at all. I'm
• 0:45
  Johan, producer of Neighbourly. Today, the roles are
• 0:49
  flipped. Shannon, who usually sits across the table
• 0:52
  listening to others asking the questions, steps into the
• 0:56
  story herself. And what she shares isn't just about
• 0:59
  meeting needs. It's what happens inside us when we begin
• 1:03
  to truly see people. Because care isn't just about
• 1:06
  delivering something. It's about learning to notice,
• 1:10
  to listen, to stay curious instead of jumping to
• 1:14
  conclusions. And along the way, Shannon invites us into
• 1:18
  real moments, real stories, stories that reveal
• 1:21
  how easy it is to lead with expectation and how powerful it is when
• 1:25
  we choose compassion. Instead, this conversation might
• 1:29
  just change the way you see people right in front of you. So let's
• 1:33
  join Shannon at the table. Shannon,
• 1:36
  welcome here. I'm looking forward to this conversation because,
• 1:40
  well, usually you're starting this conversation and I'm kind of behind the scenes making you
• 1:44
  sound good, but here I am. I get to ask you some questions. So
• 1:48
  how you doing? I'm good. I'm a little
• 1:52
  more nervous for this conversation, I guess, because usually I just get
• 1:56
  to hear other people share. But I'm excited.
• 2:00
  I'm looking forward to this one. I mean, for listeners who don't
• 2:03
  know, you're the regional manager for a CarePortal. So we talk a lot
• 2:07
  about CarePortal on this podcast and we share some of these
• 2:10
  stories, and this is an opportunity for you to share some of the
• 2:14
  stories because, well, you're always asking the questions, but
• 2:18
  you're kind of seeing it from a broader perspective all over the
• 2:21
  place. So this is great that you can share some careportal stories
• 2:25
  and not just meeting the needs, but also seeing the transformation
• 2:29
  in people and seeing the people that get to fulfill these needs and
• 2:33
  the brightness that comes into their eyes when they get to do that,
• 2:36
  that's probably a gift that you get to see. Oh, it's my favorite
• 2:40
  thing when I tell people about my job or they ask like, what do you
• 2:44
  do? I get so excited every time I talk about it because it
• 2:47
  really is such a unique point of view. I get to
• 2:51
  see needs come in from agencies that we're working
• 2:55
  with and see them share about the family who needs
• 2:58
  X, Y or Z so that they can be supported and stable and successful.
• 3:03
  And then have this network of churches that I'm in
• 3:06
  conversations with and in relationship with and helping
• 3:10
  empower them to respond to those needs and
• 3:14
  addressing some of those barriers with them, some of the fears they have.
• 3:18
  Oh, it's so cool. It's so cool to be at this point of getting to
• 3:22
  see both perspectives and the requests coming
• 3:25
  in and then the stories afterward, which are
• 3:29
  the best part, getting just to hear these connections that happen.
• 3:33
  It's a gift. It's really a gift that I get to do this.
• 3:37
  Do you want to go into a little bit more what you do with CarePortal
• 3:40
  just to explain it for those once again, like you can never
• 3:44
  over communicate is one of those things that I've hear in the
• 3:48
  church world. What exactly is CarePortal and what's your role
• 3:52
  there? Yeah, so CarePortal, it's a connecting
• 3:55
  technology. It is not a ministry in and of itself. It's
• 3:59
  a tool that can be used. In a nutshell, it's a request
• 4:03
  and response loop. So a child serving, family serving
• 4:07
  agency, organization, nonprofit of some kind,
• 4:10
  that's working with families on the ground, they can
• 4:14
  submit real needs for a specific family into this
• 4:17
  system, into this portal. And it's app based, so you
• 4:21
  can go on your phone and you can see these needs that are
• 4:25
  getting entered. And it's based on geography. So when
• 4:29
  a request is submitted, there's a little pinpoint on a
• 4:33
  map of the general area of where that family lives.
• 4:36
  Not the specifics, of course, for privacy and safety, but then
• 4:40
  churches that are nearby to that family that I've connected with, that
• 4:44
  I've trained and shown them how to use the portal,
• 4:48
  they then have the opportunity to go and meet that family
• 4:52
  and not only do they get to provide maybe the tangible
• 4:55
  items that that family needs, but more importantly, it's about that
• 4:59
  relational connection that they get to have with somebody that
• 5:03
  is potentially right in their neighborhood, really hidden in
• 5:07
  plain sight. And now they know about that family, now they can
• 5:10
  go help meet a practical need, but also build
• 5:14
  a meaningful connection with that family. Now this is mostly an
• 5:18
  audio only podcast, but I don't know if this is going to be a clip
• 5:21
  or not, but you guys should see how Shannon's face lights up when she
• 5:25
  talks about this stuff. She's honestly very excited. So for those
• 5:28
  churches or leaders that are listening and don't have CarePortal, you
• 5:32
  really should get Shannon in front of you and see that face light up. So
• 5:36
  that being said, like, as you've gone through this process, as you've
• 5:40
  seen people fulfill needs, you've probably fulfilled some needs
• 5:43
  yourself and delivered stuff. What has changed in how you actually see
• 5:47
  people? Oh, everything.
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  There's so much. I think what it really
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  comes down to, and we've talked about this, I feel like on every
• 5:58
  episode this season, which just shows how important it is,
• 6:02
  is that people have a desire to be seen.
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  And at the core, I think that really
• 6:10
  points to our creator, our heavenly Father, that we're
• 6:14
  made in the image of God. And so we're made for connection, we're
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  made for relationship. That's how we're wired. And
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  so when I see churches responding
• 6:25
  to these practical needs or when I've been able to do that myself,
• 6:30
  yes, that makes a difference. The practical needs matter because
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  sometimes that means it's preventing
• 6:37
  separation from their family or just helping gain
• 6:40
  stability and that's impactful. But
• 6:44
  when a family, when a person feels seen
• 6:48
  and feels like there's somebody that's in their corner,
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  that can really change everything. It's
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  shown me how we're just people. Like, it's this human to
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  human connection. That person might have a need, but
• 7:03
  I can think back in my own life where I had needs that might
• 7:07
  look similar or might look different. And yet at the end of the day, I
• 7:10
  was needing to feel seen and loved and cared for and like there were
• 7:14
  people in my corner. And so as I've gotten to experience
• 7:17
  that firsthand, what I'm trying to communicate,
• 7:21
  Johan, is that like how we're all just human
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  and I don't know how to communicate that any other way but that we're
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  not that different from each other. We're really not. And it's so easy in this
• 7:32
  world to get caught up in that. And you
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  spend any time scrolling on social media and you're inundated with just like
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  all this trauma and all this news and so, and
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  so and, and da, da, da, da. And yet at the end of the day,
• 7:47
  when a mom needs a car seat for her baby and she gets that and
• 7:51
  she feels like, oh, there's this nearby church that's like here for
• 7:55
  me, oh, I think about when I'm gonna have a
• 7:58
  baby and I'm gonna need a car seat. And I know that I have family
• 8:02
  and people in my corner. It just changes the way
• 8:06
  you think. So when you're explaining that, like this
• 8:09
  podcast is all about stories, telling stories about good
• 8:13
  neighbors, there's probably a story behind you, even explaining that
• 8:17
  when you're trying to explain what Careportal means to you and how it's
• 8:20
  transformed you. Let's go there a little bit. Is there a story
• 8:24
  behind what you were saying there? Something specific?
• 8:28
  Yeah, there's one that really comes to mind. It was about a year
• 8:31
  ago or so, a request came through for a mom who was pregnant and
• 8:35
  pretty close to the end of her pregnancy. And so she was needing a
• 8:39
  stroller and a car seat pretty soon. This was actually a request
• 8:43
  that I got to bring my parents on. And they hadn't experienced
• 8:46
  CarePortal yet. They live somewhere else. And I got to kind of
• 8:50
  show them here's how it works. And so it was beautiful to get to
• 8:54
  experience that together. So I had connected
• 8:57
  with the mom over text, I think, and arranged
• 9:01
  a time to bring the car seat and the stroller.
• 9:05
  I'd given her about, I don't know, 15 minute heads up when we were on
• 9:08
  our way. And while we were on our way there, I think
• 9:11
  we'd almost gotten to her home. She calls me and
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  says something along the lines of, you know, I had to step out for a
• 9:19
  minute, I needed to go get something to eat, but
• 9:23
  my niece will be able to let you in, I'm on my way back, that
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  sort of thing. And I was like, okay, you know, all right, sounds
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  good. So we got to her home and we were parked on the street,
• 9:34
  and I wanted to wait a few minutes. Cause I was really hoping that I'd
• 9:37
  be able to connect with her once she got there. So we waited a few
• 9:40
  minutes. She hadn't come back yet. And so I thought, okay,
• 9:44
  let's just go knock on the door and bring it in. So we do, and
• 9:47
  her niece answers the door and we bring in this big box because it was
• 9:51
  a stroller car seat combo. You know, we said, hey, do you. Do
• 9:55
  you guys need any help putting this together? There might have been another adult
• 9:58
  somewhere in the home, but didn't really know who that was. And
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  they said, no, like, we've got it all good. And we're like, okay,
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  sounds good. So we go back to the car. I thought, well,
• 10:09
  let's just wait a few more minutes just to have the opportunity to meet this
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  mom. Because I really wanted to meet her and know that we see
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  her and that we're here for her. And after a few minutes, she still
• 10:20
  didn't come back. And so eventually we decided, okay,
• 10:25
  let's go on with the day. To be honest, when I think back to how
• 10:28
  I felt in that moment, I was confused and.
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  And if I'm really being honest, I think I was a little frustrated. I
• 10:36
  think those are some normal feelings to maybe experience.
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  I think with anybody. You know, you schedule a time to meet with somebody, whatever
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  the occasion is, and they don't come and you're like, oh.
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  But I think especially as believers,
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  we are called to go a little bit beyond the surface level.
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  And in that moment kind of had a nudge,
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  like, what's going on in her world? She's really pregnant.
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  Maybe what she went to get for food was the only thing that she'd be
• 11:06
  able to tolerate that day. And like, that's what she needed. Maybe.
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  Or, you know, maybe she was overwhelmed and needed to just step out
• 11:14
  of the house for a second. Maybe, or
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  maybe she didn't know how to receive help yet and
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  it was hard for her to process, like receiving this item. I don't know.
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  And frankly, that doesn't really matter. It doesn't
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  matter what the reason was, but it was a
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  moment of acknowledging there's so much that
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  people are carrying and people are walking through that we don't
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  see. And moments like that,
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  that moment specifically helped me to pause
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  and really realize so much of life. I interpret through
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  my own expectations and instead of compassion
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  or my own expectations come first and compassion comes later.
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  And I think if we can get to a point through
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  experiences like this and really putting love into action,
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  we start to kind of flip that and start with compassion
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  and say, yeah, maybe it was an inconvenience to me that that person was
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  late to something or, or, you know, I had to go out of my way
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  to, to bring a mom a meal who had just had a baby or whatever
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  the thing might be when we can step outside of ourselves
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  and put ourselves into someone's shoes, I
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  think that leads us to be a lot more like Christ.
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  I find it interesting, like there's a lot of good ministries and good
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  organizations doing good things by doing similar type deliveries,
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  hampers, all this sort of thing. But the story you just told, it felt
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  like it really wasn't about the physical item and getting it to them,
• 12:50
  but you were really wanting to get that, that connection piece to
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  that mom. Like you really wanted to connect with her and that's where
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  it bothered you a little bit. Right? It's like, I really want
• 13:00
  connection. So what makes CarePortal a little bit different there? I
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  hear those types of stories all the time when we talk about
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  CarePortal is people wanting to make that meaningful connection
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  rather than just delivering the item. Yeah,
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  that's really the core of this, is that connection with
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  somebody. And there's so many amazing ways that churches are
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  getting creative with engaging in their communities. It can be
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  really beautiful to see, you know, different activities and
• 13:29
  different programs. And those are not inherently bad. But what
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  can be a danger, I think at times is when we forget the point of
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  what those activities and programs are trying to get us to in
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  connecting with community. If we get too caught up in the details
• 13:43
  in the system, in the. The shopping list and the to dos to get ready
• 13:47
  for that event and then maybe forget, oh, what is this event? Even
• 13:51
  for in the first place? That's what I love so much about
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  CarePortal, is it? It just brings it down to that one on one
• 13:58
  connection with a family right there. Okay, so you
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  shared a personal story. What about when a church responded?
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  Do you have any moments or stories where you saw a church or community
• 14:09
  show up? Yeah, there's a
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  story that I often share when I'm meeting with churches for the first time because
• 14:17
  it. There's. There's so many stories, but this one really gets to the
• 14:20
  heart of what we're even trying to do here. A while
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  back, there was a dad who was a single
• 14:28
  dad, and I believe he had been experiencing homelessness and was
• 14:32
  now in housing. And it was beautiful. And so he was working on
• 14:35
  reunification with his daughters. I think he had two. Two
• 14:39
  young girls. And the request came through that
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  he needed some simple furniture. I think it was maybe a
• 14:46
  dresser, maybe a kitchen table and a microwave. Just some
• 14:50
  basic household things. And the request
• 14:54
  said that this would help him be able to start having visits with his daughters
• 14:58
  again if he could get these items in his home. So a church
• 15:01
  who was, I think, blocks from the family or a church
• 15:05
  responder who lived, you know, just a few blocks away from this dad
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  responded, and pretty sure in partnership with some other
• 15:13
  churches, they were able to get those items. And they go and connect.
• 15:17
  Not only did they just bring the items, but they stayed and
• 15:21
  they chatted with the dad, and they ended up watching the jets game
• 15:25
  together and just sitting down and being together for a
• 15:28
  little while as. As neighbors. And later we
• 15:32
  heard that when his daughters did get to come visit, they
• 15:36
  ran into their room they were so excited to see their space all set
• 15:40
  up for them. And I think what I always am
• 15:44
  so just amazed by with this story is the
• 15:47
  proximity that there was a dad this close
• 15:51
  to someone from a local church. They were
• 15:54
  hidden in plain sight. They were right there. And all that was
• 15:58
  needed was a way to connect, a way
• 16:02
  for this need to be brought forward in some
• 16:06
  way and this neighbor to say, yeah, I'd
• 16:09
  love to go connect with this dad. They just needed a way
• 16:13
  to know about each other. And that's what
• 16:16
  happened. A need was shared through the, the
• 16:20
  caseworker, the social worker for this dad and someone
• 16:24
  who was in the neighborhood said, yeah, I'd love to meet him.
• 16:28
  That's just beautiful to me. And that's one of the things that you
• 16:31
  mentioned with fulfilling these needs. Like, it's not
• 16:35
  just about that one on one connection. Like, we're really trying
• 16:39
  to bring networks of people to surround people.
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  Like, we're bringing different organizations together to fulfill these needs
• 16:46
  to make connections with people. So it's not just that one on
• 16:50
  one connection, but we're really trying to bring organizations together. What have
• 16:54
  you seen with like the networking of, of different groups of people
• 16:58
  coming together to support these families?
• 17:01
  Yeah, the connections with families are so
• 17:05
  powerful and impactful. But the whole
• 17:08
  networking and cross collaboration that happens
• 17:12
  is, in my opinion, just as meaningful.
• 17:16
  Because in communities you have, yes, you have
• 17:20
  churches that are pillars and sometimes long
• 17:23
  established places. You also have government
• 17:27
  agencies working. You have social workers who are there
• 17:30
  trying to support families. I think of mental health counselors
• 17:34
  and all of these different supports that are out there. But
• 17:38
  so often what happens in today's world is everyone
• 17:42
  is operating in silos. I don't think it's a lack of
• 17:45
  desire to coordinate and
• 17:49
  collaborate, but I think how to do that in practice can
• 17:52
  get hard. And that's. That can be where it's just like, how do we
• 17:56
  come together in a way that's efficient and really meaningful?
• 18:00
  And so what we've gotten to see through this
• 18:04
  network is churches coordinating with
• 18:08
  social workers and nonprofit organizations,
• 18:11
  partnering with, you know, these church responders. And sometimes
• 18:15
  we even are able to have local businesses like Kildonan,
• 18:19
  mcc thrift, they're a part of this as well. And so all these
• 18:22
  intersecting spaces and entities
• 18:26
  working together in a way that's actually quite simple and
• 18:30
  doesn't take a whole lot of.
• 18:34
  Relatively speaking, there is some effort that has to go into, you know, these
• 18:37
  partnerships, but there's an element of
• 18:41
  cross sector collaboration or what we'd maybe call collective impact.
• 18:45
  That is hard because partnerships can
• 18:49
  be messy. But when we embrace that messiness
• 18:52
  sometimes and are able to use a tool like this
• 18:56
  to streamline sharing needs and
• 19:00
  needs being met, and churches and agencies
• 19:03
  and government working together, the impact
• 19:07
  goes far beyond what we could each do in our own lane.
• 19:12
  And the church working alongside these government
• 19:15
  organizations and community organizations is really cool, too.
• 19:19
  Like, that's not something that is typical historically throughout the church,
• 19:23
  where the church can work really well with community organizations.
• 19:27
  Exactly. And more and more every day,
• 19:31
  I am convicted again and again
• 19:35
  of how the church is called to show up in this space.
• 19:40
  I have immense gratitude for social workers.
• 19:44
  I have friends that are social workers. We have people on our team that
• 19:47
  are. And what they are carrying
• 19:51
  day in and day out is unbelievable.
• 19:56
  And the mental health counselors in our cities,
• 20:00
  what they're walking with people through and the
• 20:03
  government agencies and supports and benefits that are out there,
• 20:07
  you know, all of these are in an effort to support people,
• 20:11
  but they can't carry that alone. And the church is
• 20:15
  called to do this as well. I love the church. I
• 20:19
  was raised in a local church. I'd call myself Church Girl.
• 20:22
  And I believe in God's plan to use the church to reach
• 20:26
  people with hope. Because we. We know where the hope is.
• 20:30
  It's in Jesus. And so should
• 20:34
  the church be involved in caring for the widow and the orphan?
• 20:38
  Scripture's pretty clear about that. And we got churches on
• 20:41
  every corner. We are in the communities. Like, what an
• 20:45
  opportunity. That's right. There's churches all over
• 20:48
  the place. And I can understand that
• 20:52
  sometimes it's not that churches don't want to help, but sometimes
• 20:55
  it's just like, where do we start? Especially if they're in a community with a
• 20:59
  lot of needs, or maybe they're more in a more
• 21:02
  affluent or less impoverished area and they want to help, but they're
• 21:06
  like, how do we access those needs and how do we support?
• 21:10
  And so that's what I love about my job, is I get to help
• 21:13
  churches identify the barriers for them in
• 21:17
  engaging in community and then help remove those barriers. Because
• 21:20
  when we put our love into action and we rally around people who don't have
• 21:24
  a community of support, and we as the church get
• 21:28
  to show them what that looks like, that is
• 21:32
  really embodying, I think, what the church is supposed
• 21:35
  to be. And like you mentioned earlier, it's very
• 21:39
  geographical. Right. So there's an opportunity there for
• 21:43
  churches being on every corner to check in again after, to follow
• 21:46
  up, to be that continuous connection. Because
• 21:50
  that's really what people need and are longing for, is that continuing
• 21:54
  connection. Yeah, 1,000%. I remember hearing
• 21:57
  about a family who was asked to write down their
• 22:01
  circle of support. And I think this was they were in a caseworker
• 22:05
  meeting of some kind of. And every name that
• 22:09
  they wrote down was someone who was a paid professional.
• 22:12
  So whether it was their social worker, their counselor, whatnot.
• 22:16
  And ever since I heard that story, it has stuck with me
• 22:21
  because I think about if I were asked to do that, I'd start with my
• 22:25
  parents, I'd start with our pastors. I have
• 22:28
  mentors in multiple countries
• 22:31
  now and regions. And that is such a blessing.
• 22:35
  And I'm so rich because of that. My husband and I are so
• 22:39
  rich with relationships that
• 22:42
  there'd be so many people I could share. And to
• 22:46
  imagine that there are some, actually a lot of people
• 22:50
  that aren't able to do that,
• 22:54
  yes, it breaks my heart. But then it fires me up because I
• 22:58
  know there's churches on every corner that are called to be that.
• 23:02
  And that's where they can really step in in a meaningful way through
• 23:05
  relational, consistent care. Not just showing
• 23:09
  up once, but actually remembering someone's name, sending
• 23:13
  a text a week later after they dropped off that car seat and
• 23:16
  saying, hey, mom, how are you doing? You know, do you need anything this week?
• 23:20
  Can I bring, you know, a meal over or, you know,
• 23:24
  are you getting ready to go into labor? Whatever. The thing is,
• 23:28
  it's relational, it's consistent, and
• 23:32
  being present shows people that they're not alone.
• 23:36
  You mentioned remembering someone's name. Just that recognition and
• 23:39
  that continuous connection. Is there a face or name or
• 23:43
  moment that you still carry with you every day?
• 23:47
  Yeah, there's definitely a face and a moment
• 23:51
  that sticks with me. Last summer a
• 23:55
  request came through for a mom who was due with
• 23:58
  a baby. She's a first time mom and was feeling pretty
• 24:02
  anxious and needed pretty much everything.
• 24:06
  She didn't really have anything. And so there were a few key
• 24:09
  things that she was going to need to begin with, but also just some of
• 24:13
  the other basics for a new baby beyond that. And there was
• 24:17
  somebody from my own church actually who had
• 24:21
  adopted, fostered and adopted and had just told me, you know, if
• 24:25
  you ever need baby items, I've got so much. And
• 24:29
  so I contacted her, I said, hey, now's the time. We're ready for those things.
• 24:33
  So I picked them up from her. And this mom was
• 24:37
  in a much different part of the city, so I was able to connect with
• 24:39
  a church who was closer to where she is. And
• 24:43
  one of the young ladies there came along with me, and
• 24:47
  we had our car packed full of things. And when we
• 24:51
  got there and got to meet her,
• 24:55
  she was overwhelmed. She was overwhelmed in the best way.
• 24:59
  She cried, and I cried
• 25:02
  because I was so challenged and
• 25:06
  convicted by her courage, the strength it
• 25:09
  takes to say, I don't have all the things I
• 25:13
  need, but I'm willing to receive them. Hearing
• 25:17
  a little bit about her story and some of the circumstances
• 25:21
  leading up to this beautiful baby that was gonna be born,
• 25:25
  I just felt like such an honor, such a gift
• 25:29
  to get to go and connect with this mom that I wouldn't have known about
• 25:33
  otherwise and show her that there are people that
• 25:36
  see her and that are here for her. That's really a
• 25:40
  moment that I won't ever forget. I would
• 25:44
  say doing some CarePortal requests myself. I wish we all
• 25:47
  had those stories and those people that we can go back and
• 25:51
  remember and keep us compassionate and keep us wanting to
• 25:55
  see more people find those connections. And I think
• 25:58
  there's opportunity for the church to grow in this.
• 26:01
  Obviously, like, this is. It's not always easy for
• 26:05
  churches to know how to do this and access ways to get into
• 26:08
  their community, but CarePortal, I mean, we don't want to
• 26:12
  sound like an infomercial here, but Careportal really is a
• 26:16
  good way of doing that. Yeah. So let's go back
• 26:19
  to your job as the regional manager a little bit.
• 26:23
  We're going to close up here right away. But what are some things that you've
• 26:26
  learned through some of these moments of connection, through
• 26:30
  seeing churches fulfill needs? Maybe just share some of those learning
• 26:34
  moments. Yeah, there's a bunch. And I think one
• 26:37
  thing to address, too, something that I always communicate
• 26:41
  when I sit down with a church for the first time and share about this
• 26:44
  opportunity. I shared this in the beginning of the episode
• 26:47
  here that, yes, we're talking lots about
• 26:51
  CarePortal, and we don't want it just to feel like an infomercial. But that's the
• 26:54
  thing. It is just a tool. And so this
• 26:58
  is a great tool, but in the hands of a church who's
• 27:01
  able to use it and make it part of their ministry and integrate
• 27:05
  it into their ministry as an outreach tool, that's where things
• 27:09
  can change, and that's where impact can happen. And what I've
• 27:13
  learned through that is so often,
• 27:17
  I think people overcomplicate what it means to care.
• 27:21
  We think we need to have a bunch of time in our
• 27:24
  schedule. Sometimes we feel like we need to have it all Together
• 27:28
  ourselves or, you know, have a degree of some kind
• 27:31
  to do this. And that's not it at all. I
• 27:35
  think what people want the most is for someone just
• 27:39
  to listen. Think back to an episode that we did with
• 27:43
  Pastor Steve Griffin from Calgary, and he
• 27:47
  talked about this exact thing that he's experienced when
• 27:51
  working with people experiencing homelessness. More often than not, people
• 27:55
  just want someone to listen to them beyond the stuff themselves.
• 28:00
  So slowing down really matters. And I think the beauty of
• 28:04
  a tool like this is that you don't have to find the
• 28:08
  needs yourselves. We're already partnered with
• 28:12
  trusted agencies and trusted organizations in the city that are
• 28:16
  already doing this in a very dedicated, boots on the
• 28:19
  ground kind of way. They know where the needs are. They have people coming to
• 28:23
  their doors already. This is an invitation for
• 28:27
  churches to show up as neighbors, not as experts,
• 28:31
  not as child welfare professionals, just as
• 28:35
  friends, as neighbors. And so there's just such
• 28:39
  an easy, practical way to step into that kind of care.
• 28:43
  You're not supposed to be a savior who, who has all the answers,
• 28:46
  who has all these kinds of training. We equip you with some tools
• 28:50
  for sure, and that's helpful, but you get to just be somebody who
• 28:54
  cares and you get to help your church lean into this posture
• 28:58
  of caring for those right outside your door.
• 29:02
  With care, it doesn't mean you have to have the right answer for somebody
• 29:06
  right away, but you're willing to step out of your comfort zone.
• 29:10
  You're willing to be the kind of person that
• 29:13
  in times of loneliness or isolation, yourself you've
• 29:17
  wanted. You just notice, you, you
• 29:20
  listen and you're willing to show up for others.
• 29:24
  And so I think this week, as you are
• 29:28
  going about your day to day and your world and things don't go
• 29:32
  the way that you expect, or someone doesn't respond the way that you thought
• 29:36
  they would. Ask yourself a simple question of
• 29:39
  what might be going on in their world. Because more often than not,
• 29:44
  there's always more to the story.
• 29:47
  Yeah. So let's go get those stories that are going to sit with us.
• 29:51
  Like the stories Shannon shared that are going to transform us
• 29:54
  and keep us compassionate people. That's really beautiful.
• 29:58
  So, Shannon, what might be keeping people from actually
• 30:02
  jumping into this and getting those stories that stick with them, the ones that
• 30:06
  some of those stories that you have that stick with you and keep you compassionate.
• 30:10
  What do you think is holding us back? Yeah, I think
• 30:13
  a lot of it is fear. And that's not always something that I
• 30:17
  hear people name specifically, but
• 30:21
  is one of the barriers that's going on internally,
• 30:25
  whether it's insecurity of whether they
• 30:29
  feel equipped or feel like they have the ability to
• 30:33
  go in and do this and meet a need like this,
• 30:36
  or they're just uncertain of, you know, what.
• 30:40
  What is this family walking through? There's. There's so many,
• 30:44
  I think, limitations that we place on ourselves,
• 30:48
  but also on God that we think we're
• 30:52
  going out into the world on our own. And
• 30:56
  he quite literally sent an advocate and a helper. He sent
• 31:00
  the Holy Spirit to walk with us. And so when
• 31:04
  we change our posture to one of,
• 31:07
  wow, I get to engage with a family in my community, and I'm not doing
• 31:11
  it alone. I'm helping them feel not alone.
• 31:15
  That changes everything. And that would be my
• 31:18
  encouragement to any of our listeners, is that you
• 31:22
  look internally and you reflect on
• 31:26
  when that resistance comes up or when those feelings of
• 31:30
  holding back come up, that you'd actually challenge
• 31:34
  yourself to press in and to stay to engage in the
• 31:37
  opportunity when it comes up, because that's
• 31:41
  where real change can happen. And stretching ourselves
• 31:45
  beyond fear is a great way to grow. That's right. Thanks so much, Shannon.
• 31:48
  Thanks, Johan. The stories we share here
• 31:52
  remind us that CARE does not have to be perfect to be powerful. It
• 31:56
  just has to be present. Neighbourly is an initiative of
• 31:59
  CareImpact, a Canadian charity equipping churches, agencies
• 32:03
  and communities with technology and training to care better
• 32:06
  together. This episode was produced by CARE Creatives Co, a
• 32:10
  social enterprise of CareImpact. If you're building a podcast
• 32:13
  and want help with strategy, editing, or full production, visit
• 32:17
  CareCreativesCo.ca to connect with us. I'm Johan. Thanks for
• 32:21
  listening and keep being the kind of neighbor someone will never
• 32:25
  forget. In a good way.
• 32:43
  When I see you in a stranger I'm no
• 32:47
  longer a slave Turning
• 32:50
  over.