Global Community Partners: December 2008

Friday, December 19, 2008

GCP Montly Update: Joy oh joy!

As we find ourselves rushing towards the end of another year, I can't believe that the support that I have found in you. I am thankful. Christmas time is always one of reflection for me - and this year is no different, albeit I'll be reflecting in bits and pieces because of my schedule. For some reason I feel that I've misplaced a whole week of my life and now I'm spending some time running to catch up. Ever feel that way? It's the weirdest feeling ever. But, the calendar says December now and I don't have the wherewithall to figure out what happened to one week in November.

Christmas time is equated with shopping, mostly in this country generally because we shop for Christmas gifts and as consumers, what is Christmas without consumption? But seriously, I think the joy is in delighting people you care about. It makes me think about how God felt in giving us His son on Christmas day. If I delight so much in thinking about gifts for those that I love, how much more did God delight in creating this blessed gift for us through Christ? I've also learned that it's not just about giving, but it's about being a gracious receiver; and boy have I received a lot this year - particularly in the last few weeks! And I am humbled at just how much I've been given.

This year has certainly had its ups and downs, but I am amazed at how through it all, there has been one constant in my life and that is God and His faithfulness to what He has started in me. And with those ups and downs, there has been a certain joy -- a deeper joy that really cannot be shaken. This is not just simply a kind of happiness, but to me, it's more of a peace and steadfast reassurance that the sun will shine once again no matter what is going on or where I find myself. I'm sure there are those who face Christmas with a certain sadness, or stress, not just delight. Wherever you are, or whoever you are with or not with, I am praying that the joy of Christ will touch every one of you.

Just a few things I'd like to share with you:

1. There will be a Board Meeting on December 28th at L.A. Ye-Bon Church, at 4 p.m.
2. Many months ago, you voted for our proposal on the GiveMeaning.com website; the proposal has finally been activated into a project, so feel free to sign in and donate as well as spread the word about this project. The link to the project is here: http://www.givemeaning.com/project/communitymalawi
3. We are trying to figure out where to head next with our Malawi project, still connected to the community at King's Victory Academy so pray for us!
4. Our "Providing Change" campaign will still continue - so keep collecting all those coins and spare change that you end up finding under the couch cushions and weighing down your pockets. We are still working toward that soccer field for King's Victory Academy.
5. Eun-sil will be having a heck of a time tying together loose ends administratively for this year, so please pray that she can get her head together after her last final and paper (on December 23rd!).

Thanks again, for all your prayers, your donations, your partnership with me, and your encouragement throughout the year. I couldn't be here without all of you. May God bless your Christmas holidays and may He fill your hearts with joy and happiness, just as He has filled mine.

Happy Christmas!

Our Vision

Global Community Partners’ vision is to build partnerships in developing community around children all over the world. Supporting this vision are our guiding values that are integral to our organization. All our guiding values are based upon a way of work and life as followers of Jesus. We are a Christian organization that believes in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and believe further that Jesus lived, died, and rose again. We believe that Jesus is an integral part of our lives and in Him, we see the example of how we are to care for those around us. Our work is guided by the following principle beliefs:

Children’s Rights

- We believe that children are vitally important to the improvement of our future. As delineated in the UN Convention of Children’s Rights and other such documents, children have rights that must be valued and protected, particularly in those places where poverty and crises exist.

Child-focused Community

- We believe that his/her environment, immediate, and removed, influences every child. Therefore, focus on children must also include education of the immediate community and raising the awareness of the global community. We believe in providing tools for the immediate and global communities through education, support, and training.

Community Partnership

- We believe in partnerships, partnerships with existing communities to help build a stronger, empowered community that can in turn help empower their children. We believe in building relationships in these communities and we believe in long-term goals rather than short-term goals, or one-time trainings, meaning that we are willing to work on an on-going basis with communities to provide input, education, and training on a long-term and on-going basis. These community partnerships include governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, and other entities.

Respect for Culture

- We respect the cultural diversity of the global community and therefore believe in working with each community on an individual basis to incorporate cultures and traditions in coming up with a viable way to improve community. We believe in being responsible and maintaining respect for the communities we work with, the culture, the traditions, and the environment.

Overall Principle

- We believe that people, particularly children and their families, are integral and central to our work and to that end, we commit to uphold these guiding principles in the presence of God and of each other. We believe that there is no substitute for the manner in which we think, work, and live and our commitment to these guiding values must be evident in our interaction with each other, the communities we work with, and the global community at large.
Targeted beneficiaries will ultimately be children, but beneficiaries will also include the community around these children – families, immediate and extended, as well as other adult community members. Activities that GCP will undertake include research, program development, and implementation of programs as well as monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of program.