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Posts tagged as:

poverty

movein.to

by Lon on March 31, 2009

movein-conference

Some friends of mine have an awesome vision of incarnating Christ into the neighbourhoods of Toronto.  They’ve been researching hard and have identified 25 of the poorest and most unreached patches in the city, and are asking for people to literally move-in, and be the church in these neighborhoods.

They are holding their first conference May 8th-9th to cast the vision and are praying for 2,000 people to participate.

Pray, join, invite others, and find out more more at http://movein.to/

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Evolving Church – Live Blogging…

by Lon on March 21, 2009

Morning Session for the evolving church: amidst the powers – Walter Wink and Dan Oudshoorn

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Being Asian…

by Lon on February 4, 2009

Some thoughts that have been percolating on being Asian…

I’m Chinese. I don’t think I realized it till about grade three.

I have faint memories of myself squeezing my nose in the mirror in hopes that it wasn’t so flat.

Race itself can be a type of poverty

Is the asian model minority myth, a myth?

In Dreams of my Father, Barack Obama talks about not wanting to associate with the one other black classmate because it would only remind them further of their isolation. I feel that way sometimes when I’m surrounded by Asians.

Asians are rarely included in the black-white race discussions

I’ve heard people say where black and white are on the extremes, yellow and brown are ‘just right’.

Along with the color remarks, I’ve heard people use the term ‘banana’ for Asians that act white. I’ve always wondered if there was something similar for Asians acting ‘black’. Beef patty is the closest thing I can think of, yellow pastry on the outside, dark on the inside?

Labels are rarely helpful, but where else would we start?

When Asians are mentioned in conversations on reconciliation it seems to be merely for the sake of inclusion, not that there might be some form of weight behind it.

Being Asian typically carries more stereotypes behind it than an actual narrative

Many of the circles I travel in, from old-school pastoral gatherings to emergent networks, I’m the only Asian dude.

I wonder if I help validate the movement of Christ to all people when I show up.

Truth is, I long for a truly multi-cultural church as well

At my wife’s school, there’s typically only one token white kid in her classroom.

Statistics say that within a decade the majority of Christians in America will be non-white. What does that mean about our future leadership?

With the Chinese ethnic church booming over the past decade, black and white pastors have asked me, when will the Chinese church begin reaching back out to them?

We as a church need to have a better theology of the human person and of diversity.

God’s not colorblind, and when we avoid the discussions as we do in Canada, we’re negating a part of who God created us to be.

Is there affirmative action happening in our churches? Is that a good thing?

John Piper thinks that Asians might be the next great movement of missionaries

I wonder how China being an emerging superpower relates to the church of the future?

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Blog Action Day: Poverty

by Lon on October 15, 2008

Today’s blog action day.

Poverty, what do you think?  Where do you fit in it all?

Last Christmas my wife and I experimented with funding a few differnet organizations in place of presents for one another.

We bought a goat through World Vision, which sounds cool, but I have no idea what that Goat is doing right now.  We decided to partner with Food for the Hungry for child sponsorship.  I like how they state upfront you can actually meet the child you sponsor.

My favorite organization yet has been Kiva.

Through Kiva we’ve been able to continuously re-microfinance different families all around the world.  I love reading about the different ways entrepreneurs in the two-thirds world are lifting themselves out of poverty – everything from selling vegetables, recycling goods, and making clothing.

With all the places we can donate money to in mind, I believe Shane Claiborne once said something to the effect of how churches and these organizations can be reduced to distribution centers.  Where the poor get their stuff, and the rich feel a bit better, but in the end no one is deeply transformed.

Poverty.  What do you think?

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Change…

by Lon on September 24, 2008

obama change

Obama’s clearly inspiring people of all types.

The debates are this Friday, what a soap opera this year.  I can’t believe how tuned in I am.

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Homeless in Toronto…

by Lon on August 13, 2008

I was out from 2am-7am yesterday feeding the homeless.  A new good friend and I handed out 150 sandwiches and 200 bottles of water.  Was there something better we really could have been doing with our time?

You can read a bit more about homelessness in Toronto in this report from the city itself.

Reports vary in terms of how homelessness is measured, some say 4,000 others say 40,000 homeless individuals.  Either way there’s only enough for about 3,000 people in shelters.  And imagine those winters.

Even the ‘middle class’ are being driven out of the downtown core with gentrication and skyrocketing living costs.

What’s an individual in a big city like Toronto suppose to do about all of this?

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Canadian politics…

by Lon on May 22, 2008

Some Canadian politics for once…

Toronto Life had a segment on Cheri DiNovo of our new democratic party.

I love her story.

She was a street kid dealing drugs by smuggling LSD in hollowed out Bibles.  She ended up becoming a mother of two and a Mercedes-driving CEO.  Her husband was killed in a motorcycle accident and she became an ordained minister of the united church.  She’s a big advocate of poverty related issues and just introduced a bill to raise minimum wage to $11 by 2011.

The Toronto Life article closes out by stating “Her politics grow from listening to her inner child – the 15-year-old street kid hoping for a decent chance to turn her life around.”

You can find her blog here.

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Hunger Banquet

by Lon on February 18, 2008

Global Awareness Night

This past Saturday a team of us from two churches organized a Global Awareness Banquet.

The banquet is a dramatization of the inequity that perpetuates poverty in the world. Guests are randomly assigned according to the realities that divide us today 15% rich, 30% middle class, and 55% poor on a global level.

The rich were served wine, appetizers, roasts, cake to classical music, while the poor had to line up for a chunk of yam. Some ended stealing from the rich, some of the rich spread the wealth, and some sat there feeling pity for themselves or for others.

We even dumped excess food into the garbage in front of the crowd, as people screamed no.

The discussion was lively, and the anger died down as people understood why we made them pay for a meal with no food.

If you can gather at least 40-50 people in your school, church, workplace, campus, I totally recommend trying to run an event like this.

Here’s a sample planning kit by Oxfam Canada.

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