2015 - All Things New

The last few years have each held a theme for me, something that I've tried to focus on during the year, a specific area where I need to grow and allow the Lord to work in me.  You can check out the last few here.

This year is going to be quite the year in my life.  It's going to be a year full of beginnings and adventures and a lot of firsts.  And those are things I know are coming down the pipeline.  Who can guess what else the Lord has in store that I don't know about yet!  In light of all the beginnings on the horizon, this year is new.

2015 - All Things New

There are lots of very tangible new things happening in my life this year.  Probably the biggest and most significant is that I'm getting married in nine weeks.  This is the biggest new adventure I've ever undertaken, and I can't wait to take it on with my fiancé!  It still seems a bit surreal a lot of the time, but I am blown away by the Lord's blessings on our lives and the gift he has given to each of us in each other.  We're very excited about our new life together, but we're certain it won't come without challenges.  New things present new hardships that we don't always get to see coming.  I've never been a wife before, so I'll have to navigate lots of new waters over the coming months and years.

Along with the new adventure of marriage, a lot of other changes will follow suit.  I'll be moving to a new place to live.  I've been at ChezMK for over six and a half years now - longer than I've ever lived anywhere before, so going somewhere else is going to be a big change!  We're still picking out a place to live, so it's fun to dream about what the new place will be like.  I'll get to rearrange furniture! (One of my favorite things to do!)  I'll get to have a dining room table!  Lots of little newnesses will come along with having a new home.

Along with a new home will come a new roommate (my soon-to-be husband, of course). But I've shared my home with my current wonderful roommate for so long!  Miranda has been a huge blessing to me and one of the biggest reasons I've enjoyed my post-college years so much.  Her friendship has been (and surely will continue to be) invaluable, but there will be a new chapter of our post-roommate relationship beginning in a few weeks.  We won't get to have the same lazy Saturday mornings where I roll out of bed and put baked oatmeal in the oven for our breakfast or make sweet tea runs to Chickfila together (as often).  We won't share a Christmas tree or host MND together.  But we'll still get to join each other for morning runs and have lunch dates and throw themed parties together! Our friendship will take on a new pace and feel, and hopefully it will be no less of a source of sweetness in our lives.

These are just a couple specific news that are happening in my life this year.  There will certainly be others, but the idea is the same.  Lots of changes are coming down the pipeline.  I love variety and change and new adventures, but they can be a bit scary and overwhelming at times, too.  These are the words of scripture I have been playing over and over in my mind as I've thought about All Things New and the changes coming in my life this year.  

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 

The new beginnings of this year remind me of the newness we have in Christ.  When he draws us to himself, he gives new life.  He has wonderful plans for us.  We get to leave the past behind and run forward into the fullness of life the Lord desires for us.  This requires us to embrace forgiveness and trust the Lord's best for us.  I sometimes struggle with forgiving myself, so I tend to hold on to guilt and shame which keeps me from the best of the new, full life the Lord offers.  So sometimes really living in the newness of Christ is hard for me.  I want to get better at that.

This year, as I face so many new beginnings, I also want to fully embrace the new life Christ offers, trusting him at his word that he forgives and forgets has an abundance of joy to offer me!

Will 2015 be a year of new for you, too?

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One Year

I recently came across this on Pinterest.

Could this be any more true in my life?

A year ago today, a chapter ended that I didn't want to end.  I didn't see how there was going to be a happy ending if that chapter was over.  I knew it could happen, but I just didn't see how just yet.

I am so thankful for time.  For perspective.  For healing. 

Fast forward from that day one year ago to today.  I am immeasurably thankful that chapter is over.  Because I didn't know it then, but there was a much more amazing story to be written in my life, and last year's chapter had to end so this one could begin.  

Days like today are such a good reminder to me that the Lord is ultimately in control and truly does have a bigger and better plan than we can see.  Even now I'm sure I don't know what seeds are being planted today in order that they might blossom beautifully in the days to come.  Either way, I can trust the heartbreaks, joys, disappointments, and celebrations in life to the God of both individual moments and the whole picture.  He has a plan for the highest highs and the lowest lows and is weaving them together in our lives for his glory.  How I respond to them is the only part I can control, and how I choose to face each day can bring even more glory to him.

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 (ESV) says this:

 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

What a great reminder that the Lord is always at work, fulfilling his plan for me that he will be glorified!

So how was this time last year different for you?  Can you see how the Lord was writing a beautiful story in your life? Are you choosing to glorify the Lord in the midst of whatever it is you're facing today, looking forward to being able to see the bigger picture as time goes on and perspective changes?

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How I Got Here

Recently, I was asked if I had a ministry bio/testimony.  I didn't really have anything already written up, so I took some time over the past few days to put this together.  Here's a bit of my background and how I came to be where I am today.

My story is anything but normal.  But I don’t think I would have it any other way. 

I was born to a missionary family in Lipa City, Philippines.  My parents were in language school at the time, studying Tagalog in order to serve Filipinos at a mission hospital where my dad would serve as a practitioner and an administrator. (Oh the stories we shared around our dinner table of the adventures of practicing medicine in a third world country!)  I had two older brothers, Stephen and Peter, who were four and two when I was born.  My little brother Paul would be born on our next furlough in the States when I was three.

My earliest memories are in the Philippines, and I had (and still have) a very positive perception of our family’s experience there.  I remember running around and playing with my brothers and other playmates until Mom rang the bell for dinner.  I remember pilling into our truck and driving across the island to a church where my dad would preach on the weekends.  I remember all kinds of run-ins with local wildlife like monkeys and cobras.  I remember going to school in our one room schoolhouse where all four of us were taught together by either my mom or one of the short-term teachers who came from the States.

Our family on furlough in 1990, shortly before my little brother was born.

From the very beginning, I saw my parents living by faith.  I didn’t really understand what that meant and couldn’t have verbalized it if you’d asked me because it was just our way of life.  If we had a need, we trusted that the Lord would meet it in one way or another.  And we saw God come through for us over and over again.  When we traveled to our supporting churches on our furloughs, the song that played behind my parents’ slide show was “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.”  This was their theme song, and now I understand why.  They trusted the Lord and saw his great faithfulness in their lives more times than we can count.  Ultimately, it was this trust in the Lord and total commitment to his work that lead me to give my heart to Christ and continue to live a life dedicated to God’s plan for me.

In the summer of 1991 on our trip back to the Philippines from our furlough in Rochester, New York, we stayed in Manila at a missionary guesthouse for a few days before making the rest of the trek home to the island of Palawan where we lived in Roxas.  I can distinctly remember playing with my older brother Peter at the house; we were standing on opposite ends of a stairway (He was at the top, and I was at the bottom.), tossing a ball back and forth.  Seemingly out of the blue, he asked me if I would go to heaven when I died.  I didn’t have the slightest idea and didn’t know what he was talking about, so he proceeded to share with me how God sacrificed his Son to die on the cross for my sins so that I could spend eternity with Him.  I accepted Christ into my heart that day.  I didn’t even come close to understanding completely the ramifications of that decision, but that day marks the beginning of my journey with the Lord. 

Our family stayed in the Philippines for a four-year term and a one-year term (with a one-year furlough between) after that stopover in Manila.  We returned to the States permanently in 1997 when I was 10 years old.  Because my dad decided to go back to school for a master’s degree in rural health care, we moved to a small town in West Virginia (a requirement for his degree program).  It was there, in Welch, West Virginia, where we first attended public school.  I was in sixth grade and distinctly remember thinking the day we learned about exponents in math class, “Wow! This is the only thing we’ve ‘learned’ this year that I didn’t already know!”  Needless to say, that year was more of a growing opportunity socially than academically.

The completion of Dad’s degree brought new job opportunity and place to live for our family.  We ended up in the western Pennsylvania town of Clarion.  We’d visited Clarion several times growing up because my great aunt and uncle lived there, so it was neat to move to a quasi-familiar place.  The house where we lived there was the first my parents had ever bought, after almost 20 years of marriage.  We were moving there to settle for the first time in my life.  At this point, my brothers were going into 12^th, 10^th, and 4^th grades, and I was headed into 8^th grade. 

Our time in Pennsylvania was a huge growing chapter for me.  This was the first place where I went to the same school for two sequential years (I actually went to Clarion Area Junior Senior High School from 8^th grade until high school graduation.  Unbelievable!) and had the opportunity to put down any sort of roots in to friendships or a physical place.  This was also a place where I grew into my faith more than ever before.  It was here that I had to make the decision of whether I was truly going to follow Christ myself or if I was going to give up on my parents’ views as I became capable of making my own way in the world.  Ultimately, Dad and Mom’s Jesus became my Jesus as I built intentional relationships with friends and mentors, got involved in ministry at my church, and learned more and more about what it means to follow Christ.  Not that future years wouldn’t present challenges and opportunities growth, but these years held such significant foundation-challenging and –reinforcing situations and decisions that I will always maintain them as the years my faith became my own and my walk with Christ diverted from just following my parents’ footsteps.

My college years took me to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia where I continued to grow through the challenges of school, my family moving away from our Pennsylvania home I loved so dearly, a break-up with my college boyfriend, and learning how to be a grown-up and living on my own.  Also during the college years, I had to start making and acting on decisions about what I wanted to do with my life vocationally.  Having grown up around ministry and have been involved in different kinds of ministry throughout high school and college, I decided that’s what I would want to do.  However, my parents, being experienced with ministry, encouraged me not to get a ministry-related degree because you can do ministry no matter what degree is listed on your diploma.  So instead of getting a ministry degree, I worked toward the more marketable education degree.

After completing my degree in Elementary Education, I didn’t really want to enter the field of education.  An opportunity opened up for me to work at the University, so I accepted the position and stayed in Lynchburg.  This wasn’t my original plan of going to school, finishing, and moving away to start a new adventure.  But clearly, the Lord had a plan for me to stay here.  I didn’t know what that plan was for a while, but within a couple years, I learned a little bit more of why I stayed in Lynchburg instead of moving away.

I didn’t know it at the time, but the Lord used that position to help me ultimately end up in the ministry position where I find myself now.  It was there as I worked in an academic department where I was encouraged to pursue my master’s degree in Human Services (tuition fees being one of the benefits of my employment at the university) and teach online.  This provided a means for me to pay off my student loans more quickly than I would have otherwise.  The Lord was laying the groundwork for me to be able to transition into ministry in the years to come.

In May of 2010 I finished my master’s degree.  I wondered if this would be a good time to transition into a ministry role.  But I loved my job.  I had been promoted to an academic coordinator position and thoroughly enjoyed what I did and the people with whom I worked.  I prayed that if the Lord wanted me to transition to something else that he would provide the right opportunity and change my attachment to my job and release me from my current position.  Little did I know, he was doing just that.

That summer, I traveled with Living Bread Ministries on a short-term mission trip to Brazil.  I wasn’t extremely familiar with Living Bread, so while we were on our trip, I observed different aspects of the ministry.  I also spent time getting to know the founders of the ministry, Patrick and Bárbara Hubbard.  Shortly after the trip, the Hubbards approached me about coming on staff with the ministry.  The idea sounded wonderful, but there seemed to be a few obstacles in the way.  I still loved my job and couldn’t see myself just quitting a job that I enjoyed so much.  Also, Living Bread is completely support-based, so my position would require me to raise support.  Because I still had student loan debt, I didn’t feel comfortable asking people to support my ministry and help me pay off my education.  I continued to pray that if the Lord wanted me to transition into a ministry role, he would put all the pieces in place for that to happen.

Over the next two years, all those pieces fell into place.  I was able to completely pay off my student loans.  Some things changed in my job situation that landed me in a different position at the university. Though I still enjoyed my role very much, I didn’t have the same level of attachment to what I was doing.  So, when the time came for me to leave, I didn’t have nearly as much hesitation to putting in my notice. 

June 30, 2012 was my last day on staff at Liberty University.  I began working full-time as Administrative Coordinator for Living Bread Ministries in July.

Over the last two years, I have continued to love my role with Living Bread and the opportunities it has provided.  Though I am still working to raise full-time support so I am not as dependent on supplemental income, the Lord has always provided and met my needs. 

My transition to Living Bread was not without challenges and adjustments.  I thought my biggest challenge would be going from working in a busy office environment with lots of people all day to a home office environment where some days I work by myself during the day.  This did take some getting used to, but my biggest challenge was the newfound flexibility I had in my schedule.  I wasn’t married to an eight to five, Monday through Friday workweek.  Instead, I could plan my days differently and use my flexibility to meet others’ needs.

Despite the ups and downs of transitions and new beginnings, the Lord has been faithful to me through all the adventures he has brought my way.  I never thought I would be in Lynchburg 10 years, but I have been.  I never thought I would be able to enjoy working with a missions organization right here in my home town and still have the opportunity to travel overseas, but I do.  I never thought the Lord would take me so far from what I thought my life would look like and still be so content with his provision and his timing, but I am.   

My story is anything but normal.  But I don’t think I would have it any other way.

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April Showers

Happy April!

I don't do April Fool's Day, so sorry to disappoint.  Nothing funny or clever here this morning!

It's hard to believe 2014 is already a quarter over, but I am looking forward to this month for several reasons including but not limited to:

• It's my birthday month.
• I'm going to become a legit aunt this month.
• It's getting warm and that means spring.
• April showers bring May flowers.
• I like flowers.
• I've decided to read the whole New Testament this month.

I realize it's not such a huge feat, but I'm really looking forward to it.  My Bible reading has been lacking focus for the past couple months, so I decided to do something to kick start me into a better routine.  

There are 260 chapters in the New Testament, so I'm reading 9 chapters each day except Sundays when I'll read 7.  That will leave me with only 7 chapters on the last day of April, too.  

Today's chapters (Matthew 1-9) were full of rich teaching (This section includes the sermon on the mount), and this was one of the verses that stood out most to me.

I'd love to hear about how you like to read the Bible and if you have some kind of plan that you use.  Would you share your ideas with me?  I have a kind of short attention span; I like to try different things, so I'd love your suggestions!

Bring on the April showers in anticipation of May's flowers!

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Scubie-dubie-duba

A year ago, I dove in.  Almost literally.  It wasn't actually until March that I took my first literal dive, but I made the decision a year ago.  

I learned how to scuba dive.  Whoa.

It's been a pipe dream of mine for a while.  It was a hypothetical ambition.  *Someday* I wanted to learn to scuba dive.  Scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef is on my bucket list.  But the super-far-into-the-future bucket list.  But around last Christmas/New Years, I decided to do it.

I did the research.  I found classes in my area.  I even (kind of) talked a friend of mine into taking the class with me!

I did it.  

I learned how to scuba dive.  It was on my life to-do list, and I did it.  I checked something off my list.  

Somedays, when I feel like I'm not making progress toward a goal or like I have nothing to show for the nearly 27 years I've been around, I remind myself that I know how to scuba dive.

Now to actually go diving somewhere...

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2014 - Immanuel, God with Us

This past Christmas was an interesting one for several reasons.  Certainly, it was a joyous time of celebrations with family and friends.  Yet at times, in the midst of these celebrations, I felt a tinge of loneliness.  While praying through this loneliness during a season that's supposed to be all smiles and warm, fuzzy happiness, God whispered in my ear, "I came."  I came for you.  I came for you when you felt alone.  

In the midst of the loneliness of the world in sin and in need of a Savior, God showed up in person.  He came to fill the longing in our hearts and the sadness in our souls.  He is the ultimate cure for the loneliness of mankind.  He continues to be with us day in and day out along the journey of life.  This year, I want to live in light of his presence.  Immanuel, God with us.  He came.  When we needed him most, he stepped in.

I think the implications of this truth on my life are many, but I want to focus on a couple specifically this year.  The first implication of God's omnipresence on which I want to set my heart is his constant companionship.   

Throughout the Bible, there are many times when God promises to be there for us and not to leave us on our own:

It is the Lord who goes before you.  He will be with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.  Do not fear or be dismayed. Deuteronomy 31:8

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:20

No matter what I may face, I will never have to face it alone.  Sometimes I may feel alone, but God's word says otherwise:  I am never alone.  As I walk through days that might seem filled with loneliness or filled with community, I can always have confidence in the Lord's presence.  

The second implication of Immanuel on which I want to focus this year is the accountability of the Lord's presence.  Having a consistent awareness to God's presence in my life should hold me to a higher standard of conduct and a greater desire for personal holiness.  Would I make the same choices if I was keenly aware of Christ's presence in the room?  Would I do what I do if Jesus was watching?  Well, he is watching, and I need to live in light of this presence.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Psalm 139:2-3

Nothing escapes the Lord's awareness and his knowledge.  He knows the choices I make; he is there watching me make them.  This makes me desire to live in a way that will honor his presence in my life.

So, this year, I want to find comfort and conviction in his presence because he came.

Immanuel, God with us.  God with me.

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Wait on the Lord

Hard things happen, things we don't always understand or can't control.  These words from Psalm 37 have been a special blessing to me over the last few weeks as I have faced some hard things.  

This is a beautiful reminder to stay committed to the Lord, trusting him that his purposes are being fulfilled despite my limited understanding.  I love the promise of the Lord's steadfast love in the midst of challenges; I never have to face anything on my own!

It's also a good reminder not to try to manipulate a situation to turn out the way you want it, but instead to trust the Lord and let him work it out.  The temptation is to be impatient, to get angry, to worry.  But we are called to trust, delight, commit, be still, wait patiently, fret not, refrain from anger.  And wait on the Lord.  

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Lesson Learned....or Being Learned

So, I have less than a week to get a July post on the books, so here goes!

This summer has been one of lots of learning for me, so it's good for me to sit down for a few minutes and process what I'm learning and how I can apply what I'm learning beyond "huh - that's cool" to "wow - that was really a turning point."  Here's a less-than-all-inclusive list of the life lessons in my primer these days.

I'm bad at my job.  I suppose this is a bit subjective, and the ultimate determination of it might be my boss's call more than mine.  But here's the skinny:  I know I could be a lot better at my job.  I could invest my time, energy, and skills more effectively to promote and further the ministry for which I work.  I think maybe that's my issue...I see it like a job, like something to check off my list, instead of a calling to serve the Lord with the best of me.  So I'm learning to give of myself more than is required to check a task off my list and really invest with my heart into a cause that matters.

I don't like going to the gym.  But I'm going anyway.  I have never been one for much physical exertion, and if I'm going to exert myself physically, I want it to be doing something fun like catching waves at the beach or playing tennis not something mundane like running on a treadmill or lifting.  Blech.  But it's good for me.  It's good for me to do something I'm not particularly fond of, and it's good for me to start healthy habits now that will hopefully allow me to enjoy a long, healthy life.  So I'm learning to do things that are not fun in the present that will bring about a worthwhile gain in the future.

I don't know how to be a good girlfriend.  Let's be honest.  It's been a while since I was in a legit relationship with a guy.  Now I'm blessed with a wonderful man who I get to call my own, but I have to learn how to do this right.  It takes more than staring at his ridiculously handsome face across a dinner table or holding his hand as we walk around an amusement park.  It takes intentionality to build a relationship worth having.  It takes me getting out of my I've-been-single-and-on-my-own-for-a-long-time mindset and learning how to have a now-I-get-to-have-someone-else-to-consider thought process.  And he's more than worth it.  So I'm learning to let go of parts of my selfish independence for the sake of investing in another person who matters.

What lessons has this summer thrown your way?  Have you stopped to think about how you're applying them?

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You've Got a Friend in Me

I shared lunch with a great friends this week (as I do most weeks).  It made me thankful for the friendships I enjoy.  

I am blessed with an amazing group of people with whom I get to do life.  When I stop and think about it, I am spoiled to have so many friends who I would consider close, with whom I am confortable to share my life whether they are living in my house with me (shout out to my wonderful roommate!), down the road, in a different state, or a different time zone.

I find myself appreciating the relationships around me most when I approach them with intentionality. If I plan to have lunch with a friend and make sure that we don't just shoot the breeze and talk about the weather but really talk about what is going on in our lives and how we're struggling or what successes we've enjoyed, it makes our time together seem so much sweeter.  I feel like I have invested in our relationship instead of just having someone come over to eat.  I could have people who are just "lunch buddies" all day long.  But when I care enough to share my heart or ask them about theirs, real relationship happens.  And that's what it's all about. 

I'm a big proponent of discipleship.  And I think that largely means intentional relationship.  I have a friend who is older than me and further along in life than me with whom I meet every week (with few exceptions, we've been doing this for six years and some change).  We usually drink coffee and sit in her living room (or on her porch now that the weather's nice!) and share about our lives.  We often do a Bible study together or go through a book together, but mostly we just talk.  We talk about what challenges we're facing or what wins we've experienced.  I've learned from her as she's married and a mom and in a different stage of life than me.  We take time out of our lives to meet every week. To be intentional.  And it's worth it.  

So, I try to do the same thing with people who are  younger than me, who are in a different stage of life than me, but in the opposite way.  Maybe they're still in school or living with their parents or brand new to loving Jesus.  Maybe they can learn from me, but I've found that often I'm still the one learning.  

All this to say, I'm learning more and more how life is made so much sweeter when you share it with other people on purpose.  In fact, I'm meeting a new friend for coffee this afternoon.  Then catching up with some old ones later tonight.  I am one friend-blessed girl!

Just a handful of the wonderful people I get to call friends.  Love them.

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Conference Debrief

The last couple weeks have been a whirlwind at best with two back-to-back weekend conferences in Philadelphia, PA and Austin, TX.

I have mixed emotions about times like these.  I love the adventure of being a jet setter, but I hate the inconsistency of it.  I love the new experiences I get to have, but I hate missing out on my normal, wonderful routine.  I love meeting new people, but I hate not seeing my friends for so long.  You get the picture.

The good news is this:  I had a great time, I got to turn another state green on my travel map, and now I'm back home to catch up on life and try to create a new normal based on all I was exposed to over the last two weekends.

My primary purpose in attending these conferences is to share about the ministry of Living Bread with attendees.  But one of the perks is that I get to sit in on some of the sessions and have my own life challenged, too.  

Conference numero uno was The Justice Conference in Philly.  This conference is all about social justice, and the theme for 2013 (and since it was in Philadelphia) was "Justice and Liberty for All."  This is a very trendy topic in our culture right now, so the conference was attended by lots of people from lots of different backgrounds with lots of different stories but with a common goal - advancing justice around the world.  A couple quotations from Justice Conference founder Ken Wytsma that resonated with me were:

When you learn about justice, you're studying God.  When you're studying God, you learn about justice.

Just because we can't fix the world doesn't mean that we can't change it.

The second conference (the one from which I just returned) was Verge13 in Austin.  This one challenged me a little more than Justice because it focused on something that's a little bit closer to my heart: discipleship.  The theme was disciple making, and each speaker shared about some facet of this key element of Christ-following.  Because that's what Christ-following is: being a disciple of Christ.  

I have long been a proponent of discipleship - having intentional relationships with someone older (who can disciple you) and someone younger (who you can disciple) - but this weekend challenged my thinking on the topic as a whole and how I live it out day-by-day and week-by-week.  Here are a few quotes that stood out to me this weekend:

The consequences of casual, cultural Christianity are eternally tragic. - David Platt

We are all making disciples.  Are we making disciples of Christ? - Jeff Vanderstelt

The key to the health and sustainability of the church is not more evangelism but discipleship. - Alan Hirsch 

I'm still processing a lot of the information overload I experienced over the last several days, so I'm sure these will be topics of further discussion, but I just wanted to get an initial reaction down in writing.  I'm so thankful to live and work in an environment that is so conducive to being challenged and grown as a result. 

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Independency

Posts like this are a little out of my comfort zone because I feel a bit inadequate to discuss things like the theology of church planting or the most effective models for partnership.  However, it's through uncomfortable, stretching exercises that I am strengthened and challenged to grow and learn.  So, today I am being stretched and challenged. 

I work for Living Bread Ministries as their administrative coordinator, so I handle the donations, the newsletter, office stuff, and a bunch of the other nitty gritty things that are necessary for any kind of organization to function.  Though I am 100% on board with what we do, I'm not so much on the front lines of our church-planting efforts.  

I am continuously learning about best practices in Gospel ministry, and there is a wide variety of opinion when it comes to Western mission organizations working around the world in impoverished communities.  Books like Toxic Charity, When Helping Hurts, The Poor Will Be Glad, and  To Give or Not To Give all discuss pros and cons of distributing free goods and services to those in need and whether or not these are helpful and life-changing in the long run.  Many are highly opposed to Westerners giving resources, financial or otherwise, to nationals for ministry in fear that an unhealthy dependency will develop or any chance at a self-sustained local economy can flourish while others are hesitant to work with or trust nationals because of assumed lack of expertise or experience.  I haven't read through all these books (though I am working on a couple of them), so I'll refrain from discussing their ideas or suggested solutions further.  Rather, I want to focus on how Living Bread approaches this issue in our church-planting ministry.

At Living Bread, we hold to an interdependency model.  We don't step into a community, build a church, pay a pastor, pay for all the church's ministry, and let it run on it's own.  Neither do we step into a community, put our own pastor/missionary to work and call all the shots.  We work with nationals in a way that relies on the resources (monetary and otherwise) that both parties can bring to the table.  

As Americans, we can't jump into a ministry in a Brazilian or Thai slum in the same way a national Brazilian or Thai could.  Most of our church-planters have a background that isn't foreign to living in less-than-affluent circumstances, so they are well-equipped to relate to the poor and meet them where they are.  However, these men who have a heart for sharing the Gospel don't have the resources they need to serve in a full-time ministry capacity.  These communities struggle to sustain themselves, so supporting a pastor presents a significant challenge. Thus, we need each other.  We provide resources that would not be otherwise accessible, while they provide the hands and feet of the ministry.  

This interdependence also translates into the decision-making for the ministries of our church-plants.  We depend on our national leadership to determine how to best serve their communities and support their decisions without demanding specific requirements to be met. 

Living Bread's founder Patrick Hubbard says: 

This type of partnership is hard and risky.  It is often messy.  It requires a level of vulnerability that most are unwilling to accept. 

I am abundantly thankful for the opportunity I have to serve with Living Bread, and I especially appreciate this unique approach to the issue of charity, sustainability, and Kingdom work.  

To learn more about Living Bread, check us out on our website, Twitter, or Facebook.

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