Global Community Partners: December 2010

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

GCP Update: Happy Christmas!

I can't believe it is already almost the end of 2010. It seems that each year, as I watch the calendar, I still can't seem to believe my eyes when that "December" rolls around. Strange isn't it, how we seem to protest the passage of time? Or maybe it's just me.

In any event, I hope this update finds all of you well and happy for some time with family and friends. I know it has been a while since I've written an update but honestly, I haven't known what to write. Since my last update I've sort of plunged myself into other things - dissertation proposal, mainly - and also into wondering where GCP needs to go from here.

We are a different organization, and we are a very small start-up one. The very thing that makes us different makes it harder to get us off the ground. And thus, this difference has made me wonder if GCP can even become a useful team of people that brings its vision to others at a given point in time. I was hopeful, and sometimes I still am, but in the midst of trying to work on my dissertation and find an income, GCP has not had much attention from me.

So as I look back on a somewhat stalled year for GCP, I also look forward to a new year of changes perhaps, whatever those changes may be. And I thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement.

I also wanted to mention, as I didn't get a chance to update you on this, that Pastor Joseph, one of the pastors I met while on my trip to Malawi in 2008, passed away this September. This was very sad news as I absolutely enjoyed meeting him and listening to his stories. I marvel at the fact that although little time was spent with him, the impression he made was quite great. And it inspires me to want to be such a person, despite my shortcomings. Please pray for Reverend Phyllis Labrentz (the missionary with whom I stayed while doing the workshop at Kings Victory Academy), as she worked with him very closely as well as all those who are feeling his loss. Thanks.

Safe travels for those of you visiting family in different places. I will be spending Christmas in New York but will be in Southern California for New Year's. I wish you all a beautiful Christmas and a blessed New Year!

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.