Ten Together
A project of Forgotten Voices International.
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Friends – Greetings from Summit VI. I’m excited to share the lessons we just heard from the panelists at lunch today. At the panel, I promised to type up my notes and pass them on here on this post for those in attendance. The panel was called “Wisdom for Partnering with Indigenous Churches.” I served as the moderator. Panelists were:
Sergey Demidovich, Together International Ministry/TBN Ukraine; Hope for Every Orphan
Peter Kasirivu, Africa Renewal Ministries
K. Sudakar, Vision for India
Lessons learned:
- Before partnering, go and see the work and the people BEFORE committing
- Pray for your pastor to lead the way (adopt a child, lead a ministry, etc). If the pastor believes, the people will follow
- Start. Consider, but start!
- Sacrifice. Be willing to sacrifice your time, money and energy – your heart. The sacrifice will yield fruit for you and kids far greater than what you thought you were giving up.
- Dream big dreams, but start small. God has big aspirations for His church.
- Sergey encouraged us to pray about three things that he preaches in the Ukraine.
1) Orphanages or foster families are not permanent/long-term solutions. My adopted son needs to hear, “You are my son.” This is not something for a child to doubt.
2) National adoption is best. You kind-hearted Americans can’t take all our kids. Please help us equip churches in Ukraine to open their homes.
3) Christian adoption. Christians take in kids and don’t send them back. Christians are grounded by the Lord that they can see challenges faced by the child and the family as opportunities to grow in their relationship with God.
- Pray now for all the challenging things these children and your family will face; that you will face. Pray now – today!
- Be patient and not afraid of disagreements in the partnership. These may be opportunities for new things and new areas.
- Embrace kids and these opportunities with strength.
- Check out the work by 1) Asking around; are these churches and pastors for real? 2) check prices and with other ministries to see real costs. These things are good for you and for them.
- Constantly support those that say YES in your ministries and church. They need you. God needs you to support them as His church.
- God speaks with truths. We must prepare people for the trials and hope ahead. Speak in truth about the tough road ahead and the promises of our God.
- Remember the cultural contexts facing your potential partnership. There are diverse traditions and norms. Work hard to understand the country context AND the local community.
- When partnering, constantly look for how to balance power so we are learning from one another — that there is a balance of power in the partnership; a true partnership of interdependence.
- PRAY
- See the challenges kids face and you face and your partners face through the eyes of a child.
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I’m so glad you chose to come to our session. If you were unable to come to Summit VI this year, consider coming to the MidAtlantic Orphan Care Summit in Hershey, PA: November 5-6. Details to come.
May God bless you as you defend the fatherless.
With love and admiration for your hearts,
Ryan
Ryan Keith, President, Forgotten Voices
TenTogether.org is a new initiative of ForgottenVoices.org
1 Comment so far
One Response to “Lessons from Summit VI”
11:26 pm on April 30th, 2010
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by ForgottenVoices.org. ForgottenVoices.org said: Friends – check out http://www.tentogether.org/2010/04/lessons-from-summit-vi/ to learn what I'm learning at #SummitVI. Pray on! [...]