Latest / Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community / Care Journey | A Discipleship Pathway For A Caring Community
Transcript
- 0:02Imagine the whole church discovering their passion to care,
- 0:06one small group at a time.
- 0:10You're listening to this special podcast series, Care
- 0:13Journey from the Journey with Care podcast.
- 0:18Whether it was a mega church or a little micro church
- 0:22that people desired to care and there was a
- 0:26willpower to care. But sometimes there was a barrier
- 0:29to actually knocking on that door, responding to the
- 0:33needs in a way that would be relational.
- 0:38What if you were part of a community that's not just aware of the needs
- 0:41around them, but actively responds with compassion, empathy
- 0:44and practical support? Over the next five weeks, we're going to
- 0:48dive deep into the world of care journey. It's a transformative
- 0:52five week discipleship course designed for small groups. So if you're
- 0:56ready to embark on a journey of growth, compassion and meaningful service
- 0:59from a biblical perspective, join us for this podcast series. We're
- 1:03excited to talk about it, but before we get more into that, and I
- 1:07hand it off to Wendy, let me remind you that we have journey with prayer.
- 1:11It's a five minute devotional series to start off your week on Monday.
- 1:14It's on a separate podcast feed. You can find it right now on your favorite
- 1:18podcast player or head over to Journeywithcare CA. We're able
- 1:22to continue to produce great content because of the generosity of our
- 1:25listeners, donors and sponsors. If you want to help the podcast and the work of
- 1:29care impact in the community, we value your support, your
- 1:32partnership, and we would love to connect with new sponsors to
- 1:36help the podcast as well. You can find that in the show notes as well.
- 1:40Or go to Journeywithcare CA to find out how to get involved. So,
- 1:43Wendy, we've been getting a lot of churches asking about this care journey and
- 1:47signing up for a wedding list to get a hold of it in their hands,
- 1:50to do it with their small groups. So we wanted to give a little bit
- 1:54of an introduction on the podcast to talk about what it's all
- 1:57about, why we're doing it, just so that they have a little bit of information
- 2:01before they ask about it. So you want to maybe give us a little bit
- 2:04of history of how this all came to be? Yeah, no, I'd love to.
- 2:07Johan. It's been about five years ago that we
- 2:10introduced Canada, and we had a big party, a
- 2:14launch about the care portal, bringing it into Canada, and we've been
- 2:17canadianizing it. Which care portal, for those of you who are
- 2:21new to care impact, is a care sharing technology that that
- 2:25connects people in the community, particularly where we're focusing
- 2:29on equipping the church to respond to community needs. And how
- 2:33do we know those needs? How are they coming through the care sharing
- 2:36technology we call care portal? It's because we're building
- 2:40bridges with social services and frontline providers.
- 2:43They know where the needs of children and families are the most vulnerable.
- 2:47They're hidden in plain sight for us, however, with
- 2:51partnership with these organizations, they're able to, those social workers
- 2:54are able to put needs into the platform, and
- 2:58participating churches and community members and businesses are able to
- 3:01respond in appropriate ways. And so we're excited about that.
- 3:05But over five years, Johann, we've also learned some things. We've learned
- 3:09how canadian churches are doing. We have been listening to
- 3:13pastors and leaders, we have been sitting with people in the community,
- 3:17and we've been listening from the Pew what congregations
- 3:21are saying. How is the technology working? One good news
- 3:25I have is that care portal is a technology that is working.
- 3:29It is actually seeing children and families being served in very effective
- 3:32ways. But I'd be amiss to say that a technology
- 3:36would solve the social challenges and the barriers that
- 3:40we find in community. And so that is where I. We
- 3:43actually, last year we sat down with pastors and leaders
- 3:47and people within the churches for qualitative study, and we said,
- 3:51how are your churches growing? What are the challenges? What are the pain points that
- 3:55you're experiencing? You're utilizing this technology, but what is working,
- 3:58what isn't working, and how can we help activate the
- 4:02whole church? Because here's the thing that we were seeing over and
- 4:06over again, whether it was a mega church or a little micro
- 4:09church, that people desired to care
- 4:13and there was a willpower to care, but sometimes there
- 4:17was a barrier to actually knocking on that door,
- 4:20responding to the needs in a way that would be relational.
- 4:24What we often found was that there would be one or two
- 4:27people that really drove this for their church.
- 4:31But our desire is to see the whole church care. And
- 4:35so we sat down and tried to dig a little
- 4:38deeper. And for our listeners that have been with us for
- 4:42any amount of time, especially this summer, we just, we did a series called
- 4:46Summer Speedos, just kind of a little fun name, but we
- 4:49shared some of those care portal stories and the impact that they're really
- 4:53having on the community and that mutual transformation that we've talked about all the
- 4:57time, how doing the care portal and helping those in the
- 5:00community really is mutually transformative. And we talk about
- 5:04careport all the time. So here's a great opportunity for our listeners to
- 5:08go a little bit deeper into what we're talking about when we keep bringing up
- 5:11this care portal thing. So, yeah, and one thing, we've had a lot of
- 5:15inquiries across Canada. Our vision is for national expansion
- 5:19of the care portal technology. There's actually a demand for it.
- 5:23Many different cities are asking more questions, and.
- 5:26And really, that is the way forward. And how Canadians can
- 5:30communicate is through technology. And obviously, it's just a
- 5:33tool that can drive social action
- 5:37and drive relationships and connection, because otherwise, Canadians
- 5:41aren't going to know where the needs are. I used to work in social services
- 5:44and overseeing a community center, and the amount of our
- 5:48families, they were getting, like, five, six frozen turkeys. And I'm like, there's got to
- 5:52be a different way. Because they don't need frozen turkeys. They're
- 5:55vegetarian. They actually need a friend. They need a
- 5:59mentor. They need help with taking to a medical appointment,
- 6:02or they need help with some basic needs, steel toe
- 6:06boots so that his dad can get a job. And so that's really where
- 6:10the inquiries are coming. They're like, we need technology, too, to help
- 6:14drive social action, help us care better for our
- 6:17communities with people that are hidden in plain sight. So
- 6:21we have a lot of need, but we're still faced with a challenge. A
- 6:25technology does not change the heart of the church.
- 6:29We often have some old patterns of philanthropy
- 6:33where we. We want to do projects. We want to care
- 6:36in massive ways or in a kind of a one size fits
- 6:40all ways. But every situation that we've seen on the care portal is
- 6:43unique. There may be some commonalities here of youth aging
- 6:47out, needing a support system, of families
- 6:51needing some very basic needs, like beds or cribs, so that
- 6:55they can be reunified. But each family is so unique.
- 6:58And what we really carry in our heart as care impact
- 7:02is saying, how can we help? Not only how many children and
- 7:06families can we help, but how can we help the church grow?
- 7:10How can we activate the church so it doesn't become a project,
- 7:14a shoebox drive, but that it becomes transformative,
- 7:18mutually transformative. And we realize that
- 7:21we want to continue with the technology, we want to expand the technology.
- 7:26But when we sat down with our experts of the church,
- 7:29the pastors, the leaders, the people that are part of the church, and we asked
- 7:33them, what's working? What are your challenges? Where are the things? What is your
- 7:37vision for the church? Whether it was megachurch or micro
- 7:40church, they were saying a lot of the same things. We desire.
- 7:44We need our church discipled. We need to get out of this
- 7:48culture shift of coming, showing up for Sunday mornings, and
- 7:51having professional christians. You want us to help the community? Yeah,
- 7:55we want to help too. It's in our mission statement. It's a mandate of
- 7:59the church. But we can't even get people into
- 8:02volunteer for our kids program, and now we're supposed to do
- 8:06that. We understand that. But it was actually adding more fuel to a
- 8:10frustration they were already feeling. And we just
- 8:13really wanted to come alongside and listen to these
- 8:17churches, these leaders, and say, well, what if we created a
- 8:20resource that would be supportive of your goal for
- 8:24discipleship? So the care journey. Actually, yes,
- 8:27we're training churches to utilize the care portal, but
- 8:31there's a huge discipleship piece that can be peer to peer
- 8:35led and that they can work together. Listening to God. What is God
- 8:39telling us? And who has God created me to be? What are
- 8:42the things I need to be paying attention to that God is grabbing ahold
- 8:46of me? And how do I respond? And how do we
- 8:50respond? Because it's not just about the expansion of care
- 8:54portal and we're not just handing it out to anybody that wants it. And
- 8:58it's not just about fulfilling people's needs in the community. It
- 9:01really is about learning to be the hands and feet of
- 9:05Jesus. Because, like a church can send an Amazon card to a
- 9:09family and fulfill a need, but that's not going to cause any transformation.
- 9:13That's not going to cause any connection. Because as I say, care portal
- 9:16connection changes everything. And we really believe
- 9:20that connecting with people's hearts and seeing the faces of those that
- 9:24we're serving and being the hands and feet of Jesus, we want to get
- 9:27close. We don't want to be the saviors. We want to be the
- 9:31hands and feet of Jesus. We want to be more like him. We want to
- 9:34be discipled, and we want the church to reflect the heart
- 9:38of Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. And the care journey really
- 9:41is good news for all. It's good news
- 9:45for those who are receiving care and
- 9:48timely supports. But let's not miss the fact that it's
- 9:52good news for the church as well. In Matthew 25, when
- 9:56did we see you naked? And when did we see you in prison? When did
- 9:59we see you hungry? When we serve others, we
- 10:03actually are experiencing Christ in the community
- 10:07in how we, we are treating people with dignity
- 10:11and experiencing God in new and fresh and
- 10:14needed ways within the church. When I ask a
- 10:17congregation, do you want more of Jesus? Of course
- 10:21hands will go up and say, yes, we want more of Jesus. That's why we're
- 10:25worshiping. That's why we're here this morning. That's why we hunger and thirst
- 10:28after the righteousness of God. And that's why we're listening to the word of
- 10:32God. But my challenge for Canada is if you want more of
- 10:35Jesus, yes, continue to seek that place of worship. But
- 10:39we sometimes are seeking the wrong places. And we actually need
- 10:43those in the community that are going through suffering, those that are
- 10:47oppressed and marginalized and going through difficulties to
- 10:50experience Christ, because that's where Christ is. And
- 10:54we need to be learning together and mutually
- 10:57transformed in community. And that's not going to happen just on a Sunday
- 11:01morning in a pew, listening to something amazing from the pew.
- 11:05We need to figure out how does care portal help
- 11:09transform the church? And that's actually what we've been looking at. Can we track
- 11:12growth and vitality within church when people care?
- 11:16What's that doing to the congregation? And what is the desire
- 11:20of the church? It is to grow. It is to see disciples within
- 11:24their congregation. It's not just the pastor, that one person
- 11:28going out and doing good service, but people, the
- 11:31congregation becomes alive when they get involved
- 11:35in these service opportunities. Now, we're not going to have
- 11:38a super long episode here, but we do want to get into what some of
- 11:42these sessions could look like. We've already had a few churches
- 11:46take the care journey and we've had some great feedback so far.
- 11:50Again, it's not just about head knowledge, like becoming the hands of
- 11:53feet of Jesus. There needs to be a contemplative piece to this
- 11:57where it needs to find our way into our prayer
- 12:01lives. Like this is really made for a house group, small
- 12:05group in your church. We don't just want to present information. We really want to
- 12:08see transformation, spiritual transformation. So there's always a
- 12:12prayer piece to this. And it's so much more fun to do it in
- 12:16community, in groups. That's so much more effective than
- 12:19just reading a booklet, reading a manual on how to
- 12:23do the care portal, on how to do these things. Well, well, can I
- 12:27just mention, Johan, that we have information overload in
- 12:31our society today. We no longer are looking
- 12:35for more information. We're looking for transformation
- 12:38here. And that's what when we go, actually, when we're signing up
- 12:42a church to utilize the care portal, we're
- 12:45saying, show us your smallest form of community.
- 12:49Currently, we're not telling you how to run your church, but where is your
- 12:53smallest form of community? Where do you have a place where people
- 12:56congregate? Is it a small group? Is it a coffee time? Is it
- 13:00a prayer group? Where's your watering hole. Where
- 13:04are you finding life in your congregation? Here is a
- 13:08peer to peer led resource that can be added
- 13:12nutrients to that conversation, nutrients to that smallest form of
- 13:15community to mobilize them. Yes, we want community and
- 13:19that cohesiveness together, but we also want to drive
- 13:23that smallest form of community into action, into their community, so that
- 13:27they can utilize what they're receiving, what their
- 13:30Bible knowledge and their community, they're including other people
- 13:34into it. So it is peer to peer led. There's a video
- 13:38component, there's an easy guide to follow. And we're actually
- 13:41saying if you want to be active in your community through the care portal,
- 13:45we're asking you to do this together. Because how can you be community
- 13:49out there if you can't do it together and grow together
- 13:53through this experience and be accountable to each other? You're not doing us a
- 13:57service, you're not volunteering for us. We're wanting to add life and
- 14:00vitality to your congregation and help
- 14:04lead you into active service. But before we
- 14:08get into those details, what about those communities that don't want to do
- 14:11care portal? Or they don't. It hasn't even been on the radar.
- 14:15Could they take the course and still get something out of it? What do you
- 14:18think? I think they could, yeah. No, I definitely
- 14:21think you don't need to wait till care portal is in your community
- 14:25to be activated. This is a biblical
- 14:28command. We're not serving care portal. Care portal is simply a
- 14:32tool to actually maximize your impact. So I'm still
- 14:36a huge fan of doing collective
- 14:39impact and doing it in a smart way. However,
- 14:43any community, I'd love to dive into what
- 14:47the modules look like because I think people will
- 14:50realize that there's something here for everyone. Yeah, because really
- 14:54that fifth module is the one where you get into the practicals of how to
- 14:58use care portal. So the first four modules I think anybody
- 15:01would benefit from for sure if you wanted to do with your small group. So,
- 15:06yeah, so that first week, it's a five week course.
- 15:09So that first week we titled this Kairos
- 15:13moments. Now we're not going to go into deep detail what that means, but
- 15:17you want to give us a quick overview of what Kairos moments looks like.
- 15:20Yeah, we're looking at how does God interrupt our lives?
- 15:24We have no time, we're busy and sometimes we want to
- 15:28curate our faith. We choose when we're going to, especially
- 15:31Christmas time. Everybody loves to be caring and hearing the voice of God then,
- 15:35and caring in specific ways. But God breaks in on a Monday morning
- 15:39as well, God breaks in on a Thursday afternoon in the middle of
- 15:43summer, even though we're going camping and we're looking at
- 15:47those Kairos moments, when God invites us into a moment that
- 15:50we didn't curate, but God has interrupted us. And you're gonna hear
- 15:54Harold and myself, our story of the times that God has broken
- 15:58in and saying, God. We said to God, like, surely you know that we're busy
- 16:02doing the Lord's work, and yet we had somebody at our doorstep and where we
- 16:05were invited to receive them in, and they were exactly who
- 16:09we needed to be with. And so we're gonna talk about those chiral moments of,
- 16:13what do we do when God interrupts us with
- 16:17opportunities or thoughts or callings on our life? And we
- 16:20say, paying attention to how do we hear God's voice?
- 16:24How do we hear God's voice together and become vulnerable together and
- 16:27accountable in the body of Christ and supportive of each
- 16:31other through those Kairos moments, and then how do we respond? Because faith
- 16:35without actions is dead. And so I believe that
- 16:38everybody in the church has multiple Kairos moments where we're
- 16:42invited in. And, yes, it's disruptive, but, boy,
- 16:46does God work through those moments. And how do we respond? And
- 16:49so you're going to be hearing some stories about that
- 16:53and walking with each other through those opportunities,
- 16:56and we're going to be introducing you to ways that God can break in, even
- 17:00through care portal stories. And how do you respond to that? And
- 17:04just to bring clarity, you and Harold are coming on for the next
- 17:08podcast episode. Your story's not shared in that first
- 17:11module. Okay, so what about week number two? We
- 17:15titled this one rethinking poverty. I think
- 17:18we often have a preconceived idea
- 17:22of what poverty is. Usually it has to do
- 17:25with financial poverty or resourcing
- 17:29poverty, housing poverty. And
- 17:33all of those are part of it. But we're really unpacking the
- 17:36theology of poverty and suffering and looking at the many
- 17:40ways that we can experience poverty. And really, at its
- 17:44core, is a relational element, a relational poverty
- 17:48that is more identifiable to everybody in Canada
- 17:51than we actually make it out to be. And let's
- 17:55identify that with our own poverty in the areas that we have
- 17:59deficits as well, and so that it doesn't become an us and them,
- 18:02those that have and those that have nothing and those that have. And there's a
- 18:06prosperity gospel that we have to be cautious about that. Oh, if God
- 18:10has been providing and we're doing well, then we can go
- 18:14rescue those that have less. Actually, can we sit with the
- 18:17core. Can we be with and understand our own sense
- 18:21of poverty and grow together more in a mutually
- 18:24transformative way? And we're going to bring groups into
- 18:28that understanding. And in this episode, in the subsequent, in this series, we're
- 18:32going to actually talk about some stories and introduce you to
- 18:35some poverty training and experiences that you could bring
- 18:39into your congregation. So that's going to be exciting as well.
- 18:43Awesome. So that third week, the topic we entitled
- 18:47radical presence in hard places. So what do we mean when we say
- 18:50radical presence? You don't have to look far.
- 18:54Maybe you're looking on the news or you're
- 18:58hearing somebody's story or you're at a meeting.
- 19:02And we can see that there's a lot of
- 19:05trauma, a lot of difficulty that people are going through.
- 19:09You might even be experiencing it in your own family. And there's
- 19:13a lot of people going through a lot of hard times. And one
- 19:17of the things that we've observed is that as we're introducing
- 19:20people to the care portal and they're being introduced to people's
- 19:24stories, whether they're a newcomer struggling to
- 19:28get their feet on the ground, or a youth aging out
- 19:32or a family that is desperately trying to work together, these are
- 19:35hard stories that we're introducing people to. And it's not foreign
- 19:39to anyone. They have hard stories around them, but it can be
- 19:43paralyzing for the church. There's like this separation
- 19:47from what they know biblically to be true to. How do
- 19:51we practically care for others in these hard places?
- 19:54So we're going to be unpacking a little bit some basic principles
- 19:58of trauma care. And what does the Bible say about helping
- 20:02people in their distress? Being with the radical
- 20:05presence is often just being with and knowing how to
- 20:09be good at being present with other people's suffering
- 20:13without the need to rescue them or fix people.
- 20:17People are not projects to be fixed, but people to be with. And,
- 20:20and God has such good illustrations in the Bible
- 20:24that we can learn from. But I think what we're trying to do in this
- 20:28module is unpack that. What does it actually mean
- 20:32when I see that care portal request? What does it actually mean when
- 20:36I read the news? What does it actually mean when I'm sitting with somebody in
- 20:40my congregation that's going through a hard time? And what is a
- 20:43biblical response? What is a faithful and obedient response
- 20:47to that? And I think people will feel enlightened and that burden lifted,
- 20:51that they don't have to save people, but that their presence
- 20:55matters. And again, like each of these sessions has
- 20:58a time where they can really reflect and meditate on
- 21:02scripture, go contemplative and hear from the Lord for themselves.
- 21:06So the feedback we've got is, everybody loves that part of it.
- 21:10So our fourth week, which is the last, if you are not doing
- 21:14care portal, and we called that one awakening
- 21:17dignity. You want to tell us a little bit about that one?
- 21:21Yes. Awakening dignity is really about
- 21:24showing respect and dignity when we're responding to the
- 21:28needs of others, when people have invited us into their sacred
- 21:31spaces and challenging spaces, how do we do that?
- 21:35With mutuality and respect, human to human
- 21:39caring for each other. And I think this is an
- 21:43important aspect that we all desire
- 21:47to give dignity to others. But sometimes even in
- 21:50our unawareness of what we're projecting or unawareness of
- 21:54our presence, what we bring into their story, we can actually
- 21:58induce shame and cause more
- 22:01friction or cause more harm than good,
- 22:05even when our intentions don't mean to. And so we're talking about how do
- 22:09we bring dignity into the stories of others
- 22:12when we go to their doorstep and respond to the need that they've invited
- 22:16us into? What does it look like to give dignity to social
- 22:20workers who are part of a system much bigger than themselves?
- 22:24And yes, it's imperfect, but how do we show dignity and love
- 22:28and compassion and see the human side of them? How do we show
- 22:31dignity to officials and leaders? And how do we people,
- 22:35well, as the church, and I think sometimes we can get into this
- 22:39us and them mentality where we have this church
- 22:43culture, where we were really caring and supportive. When you're in the
- 22:46culture, you get it, but it's really hard to integrate into the
- 22:50community. And sometimes it comes out weird and indignifying.
- 22:54We're not bashing the church over the head at all, but we're just saying,
- 22:58here's some simple tools. It's actually easier than you think. You can drop the mask.
- 23:02You can actually be human with other people. You don't have to be perfect. In
- 23:05fact, in our imperfection, in our vulnerability, we are actually
- 23:09drawing people in and connecting with people in a really mutually
- 23:13transformative way. And so this is simply a tool to say, you know what? It
- 23:17might be easier than you think. And here's some great biblical examples. Here's
- 23:20some great tools for, for prayer and contemplation so that you can say,
- 23:24hey, lord, when I go into my day today,
- 23:28how can I be fully present? How can I provide dignity to
- 23:31those I interact with, whether it's a homeless person at a streetlight
- 23:35or it is somebody in my workplace or somebody I
- 23:39don't even get along with. But how do we give
- 23:42dignity as image bearers of Christ serving image
- 23:46bearers of Christ? Yeah, because if that knowledge doesn't make it into
- 23:50our daily lives, our prayer lives, or spiritual lives, it's like that seed that falls
- 23:53on that hard ground and just dies and shrivels up. Right.
- 23:57Such an important part of this course. But we do have that
- 24:00practical part of this course where we walk you through the care portal. And this
- 24:04is obviously for those that want to get care portal into their
- 24:08churches. Week five, we call them meaningful care portal
- 24:11connections. So what does that look like, Wendy, on that? Week five, it's
- 24:15very practical. We'll bring one of our staff in and work with
- 24:19the congregation, with the small groups that have
- 24:23gone through the training, and they are committed to wanting to
- 24:26serve because faith without actions is dead. So we don't want to just make it
- 24:30a. Oh, that was really nice. That was very powerful
- 24:33and really not see action. We're actually tracking that and saying,
- 24:37okay, as you've learned these things, how has it
- 24:40actually translated into meaningful compassion in your
- 24:44community? And so for the churches that have said yes to care portal,
- 24:48we're saying, can we help activate at the small group level?
- 24:51Can we activate these groups to show acts of kindness and respond to
- 24:55needs through the care portal? So the. The actual module will be
- 24:59very practical. How do you show up? It's like telling my teenager, how do
- 25:03you answer the phone? Right? How do you have a phone conversation? We're doing that
- 25:06with churches because we're. We're realizing that while there is a
- 25:10desire to care for the community, there's actually some social
- 25:13skills and social development that needs to happen on a practical
- 25:17level to remove some barriers that people are feeling like.
- 25:21Canadians don't just show up at somebody's door. Right? Canadians don't
- 25:24just work with social services. Canadians don't necessarily work across
- 25:28the sectors. But we're saying, you know what, church? You can do
- 25:32this. And we're going to show you how. Don't go by yourself. Here's some best
- 25:35practices. Here's some things to do when you. You have an encounter with
- 25:39others. Just some very basic things that help
- 25:43people. People well. And not only that, the technology
- 25:47is working great in Canada, I have to say, and give kudos to the care
- 25:50portal team in the US who have partnered with us.
- 25:54We're the first to take it out of the. Out of the country and into
- 25:57Canada. And the technology works well, but we're teaching
- 26:01congregations how to use technology. You know, everybody knows how
- 26:05to use an Uber app. I think most people do. Or Uber eats or
- 26:08these technologies that allow us to get food or other
- 26:12products. We know how to use Amazon prime, that doesn't seem formidable,
- 26:16but sometime within the church, we actually need help to use technology, saying,
- 26:20you mean, I could actually, in a similar way, use an app to
- 26:24be able to see needs in real time. And if I click this button,
- 26:28I can actually be connected with that social worker to coordinate
- 26:31that care so that we can make sure mom gets baby home safe and
- 26:35sound. So we're actually just helping handhold that
- 26:38process so that everybody can care
- 26:42in meaningful ways. It's absolutely brilliant
- 26:45technology and care portal itself. Like, it's amazing
- 26:49that the church actually found a way to connect with social
- 26:52services. Like, that is not an easy
- 26:56thing to happen. If any of you work in social services, you know that
- 27:00the church and social services don't tend to work together very
- 27:03closely. Now, I'm really excited about that. And one of the things I've
- 27:07learned about over the five year journey, bringing care portal, introducing
- 27:11it into Canada, and seeing how will it respond
- 27:14in different sectors within our canadian sector, is that
- 27:18social service is ready for it. If it was just for even
- 27:22secular, if social service, it was up to them, we would
- 27:26be, like, rampant across Canada. But we have to go at the pace of
- 27:29relationships in building up the church to be able to respond, to
- 27:33put it on the peripheral, put it in the vision within the church and
- 27:37denominations to say, you know what? We actually have a space here. Child
- 27:40welfare isn't just a government issue or,
- 27:44or the nonprofit that we give our support to once a
- 27:48year. It's actually the whole church can, it can be part of this
- 27:52caring capacity. And so we're really going at the pace of
- 27:56the local church, and we're going at the pace that cities
- 27:59across Canada have developed networks. And so one of
- 28:03the joys I get to have right now is working with different city
- 28:07leaders that they're saying, we have this vision to see our
- 28:11churches work together. We have this vision to see the churches
- 28:15work with the social sector. And so we're going at that pace and
- 28:18are able to. So the good news is we're able to work with them and
- 28:22give them technology and the training and some of these resources like we're
- 28:25talking about today to help cities take
- 28:29leadership in these same ways. And we're here to walk alongside, and
- 28:33it's the joy of my life is walking alongside city leaders
- 28:37as their grappling with building these bridges. That's
- 28:41such a beautiful picture, having the church work side
- 28:45by side with social services to serve the community,
- 28:48to help those kids aging out of care. And that moment that is in
- 28:52danger of losing her children because of lack of
- 28:56resources. To have the church partner with social services so
- 29:00that those things can be alleviated is amazing,
- 29:03unheard of. And I'm just excited about the future of the church,
- 29:07and that's why we're doing this care journey. Right? Well, and the verse that comes
- 29:10to mind when you're saying that, Johan, is the harvest is
- 29:14plentiful. There's actually ample ways that the church is
- 29:17being invited in across the sectors to work with children
- 29:21and families and those most vulnerable in our cities. But the
- 29:25workers are few. And that is a challenge to the church that
- 29:29we were sitting with pastors in the beginning saying, what is helping your churches
- 29:33grow? What are some of your frustrations and friction points that
- 29:36prevent the whole church from caring well for their community?
- 29:41And we're all sitting with this and saying, what if there's some
- 29:44resources that anybody in the congregation could lead
- 29:48a small group? They can gather people around the table. They can bring people into
- 29:51their living room and grow closer to God and to each other
- 29:55and challenge each other and keep each other accountable and grow together in
- 29:59loving their neighbor. Well, the workers are few. We can only grow care
- 30:02portal. We can only grow it as the church in
- 30:06caring for our community in these meaningful ways, as much as
- 30:09the workers are developed and disciples and nurtured.
- 30:13And one of the beautiful things that I see is this isn't
- 30:16about like roping people in when
- 30:20I see somebody that originally was just a Sunday
- 30:24Christian, and yet all of a sudden they discover those Kairos
- 30:27moments and God is speaking to them and saying, you know what? I'm, I've
- 30:31created you in this unique way. I've given you these
- 30:34passions. I've wired you in this specific way. I've
- 30:38created you for community. And when they discover their God
- 30:41given identity, which is part of this whole care
- 30:45journey process, they light up, they become
- 30:49alive. And I think that's what we want for our congregations. We don't want
- 30:53to just see people out in the communities transformed.
- 30:56We want to see the church revitalized, and that's going to be
- 31:00through discipleship and community.
- 31:04And we want to share those stories right here on the podcast. So
- 31:08we want more churches involved, and we want to see more of those stories encouraging
- 31:12the church to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We don't want this to
- 31:15sound like an infomercial for something we're wrapping up to
- 31:19sell or anything. So Wendy, for those churches that want to get their hands on
- 31:23it, we actually made this resource free at the moment. You
- 31:27can go to Careimpact ca
- 31:29carejourney. No spaces in there. That's Careimpact ca
- 31:33carejourney. There's a form there to get you on the waiting list for your
- 31:37church. Again, it's no cost unless you want us to get
- 31:40some printed color booklets for you and your group. But there is
- 31:44a leader's guide and there's, there's workbooks that will be sent to you
- 31:48digitally PDF if you want to print it on your own. Again, that that part
- 31:52is free, but if you want it printed through us, we can do that for
- 31:54you. And one of the caveats with that, I'll just add, is
- 31:58that we want to learn with you what is working, what is transforming
- 32:02your group. And so you'll. You'll have opportunity for your participants
- 32:06in your small group to be able to give some responses on how it
- 32:10is impacting them. We are wanting to, to grow this, um, and
- 32:13so by you, um, utilizing our resources,
- 32:17we also want to be learning with you and from you. And so we
- 32:21would love for your participation. So if you're part of a congregation
- 32:25and you're part of a small group and you're eager to discover how
- 32:29to bring compassion into action, we invite you to
- 32:32follow along in this series. You will be inspired by the stories we share
- 32:36and possibly you could consider taking the care
- 32:39journey. Thank you for
- 32:43joining another conversation on Journey with care
- 32:46inspire curious Canadians on their path of faith and living
- 32:50life with purpose in community. Journey with Care is an initiative of
- 32:54Care Impact, a canadian charity dedicated to connecting and equipping
- 32:58the whole church to journey well in community. You can visit their
- 33:02website at CareImpact CA or visit Journeywithcare CA to
- 33:05get more information on weekly episodes, journey with prayer, and
- 33:09details about our upcoming events and meetups. You can also leave us
- 33:13a message, share your thoughts, and connect with like minded
- 33:16individuals who are on their own journeys of faith and purpose.
- 33:20Thank you for sharing this podcast and helping these stories reach the
- 33:23community. Together we can explore ways to journey in a good way
- 33:27and always remember to stay curious.