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Hello Wai-Lam,
International Development Week is acknowledged across our nation from February 5th to 11th. This week Canadian contributions to partnerships across the world are highlighted as they relate to reducing poverty, inequality, environmental degradation, and encouraging sustainable development.
We, as followers of Jesus part of the EMCC, have a unique opportunity to reflect on the way Jesus has called us to seek the common good of our neighbours. We at World Partners have been convicted of how we begin in this work. An asset-based approach, or belief that everyone has a measure of resource that can be used, utilized, and dignified is outlined for us in various Biblical examples.
Elisha demonstrates this approach in 2 Kings 4:1-7, with a widow in desperate circumstances.
1One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”
2 “What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?”
“Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.
3 And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors.
4 Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.”
5 So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another.
6 Soon every container was full to the brim! “Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons.
“There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.
7 When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over.”
How often could we respond to God with “Nothing, but….”? But, He always gives a measure. How can we persevere to use that measure and trust God for more? How can we join in the obedience of the global church to serve their communities, seeing that step of engagement as a place where God will enlarge their faith, so they can continue to trust Him for more?
This week, World Partners will share stories of how global partners continue to address their community development needs, using what they have and trusting for more. We are humbled to have helped you engage in these stories in the past, and want to continue to learn from the example of our global partners and friends around the world.
Stories this week will include:
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How leaders in Haiti respond to unique needs, from school-aged children to seniors.
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How Inundo Development continues to help awaken leaders, interns, and others in South Africa to the untapped natural resources around them.
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How the Nepali church continues to serve those most vulnerable in their community.
- Engaging in prayer for other global partners discerning how to best serve and engage the opportunities in their contexts.
Feel free to read, pray and/or post. May these be moment for each of us to assess our capacity to bless those around us, and consider how to partner well with the Global Church.
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