One Life Compassion: Global/Local | The latest One Life news in Local and Global communities

Local: Henderson East End Priorities

February 23, 2012 in Engage, Henderson East End with 0 Comments

In 2011, Engage Henderson began a journey of interviews, meetings, brainstorming and dreaming about what could happen in the East End neighborhood of Henderson.

Thanks to teams from University of Southern Indiana and several architects and engineers, we have developed some ideas and drawings and we are beginning to establish next steps around these priorities developed by the East End neighbors and Henderson leaders:

1. Create one community center for all in the east end

Inclusive
Parents feel child will be safe
Broad ownership
We think re-brand JFK and the vicinity
Start with existing facilities

2. Wi-Fi for the community accessible

To schools, children, parents, grandparents, so that families have access

3. Build on the strengths of South Heights School including:

New facilities
Adult programming
After school programming
Center of community
Consider medical clinic
Mentorship
Student services
Parenting skills

4. Have an arts and restaurant district

Cafes – small family owned restaurants
Way of re-branding the east end
Attract others in
Community incentives
Consider signature activities that will bring outside people in

5. Provide a safe environment for kids from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Mentoring
Tutoring
Physical activities
Consider South Heights as a center (how would we get all the kids here)
Catalog existing facilities and programs
Consider Saturday’s

6. Eliminate drugs from the east end

Legal and illegal
Close meth houses
Develop close relationships between police and neighborhood
- Community watch
- Confidentiality
- Trust both ways
Consider satellite police station
Quick response time by police
Early Warning help to adult users and connection with others who have rehabbed
Consider teen challenge

Global: The 10/40 Window

February 18, 2012 in 10/40 Window with 0 Comments

A distinctive of One Life is our global work internationally through Uncharted International. The mission and vision of Uncharted is a strategic focus in the 10/40 Window.

The 10/40 Window is a term coined by Christian missionary strategist Luis Bush in 1990 to refer those regions of the eastern hemisphere located between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator, a general area that in 1990 was purported to have the highest level of socioeconomic challenges and least access to the Christian message and Christian resources on the planet.

The 10/40 Window concept highlights these three elements: an area of the world with great poverty and low quality of life, combined with lack of access to Christian resources. The Window forms a band encompassing Saharan and Northern Africa, as well as almost all of Asia (West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia and much of Southeast Asia). Roughly two-thirds of the world population lives in the 10/40 Window. The 10/40 Window is populated by people who are predominantly Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Non-religious. Many governments in the 10/40 Window are formally or informally opposed to Christian work of any kind within their borders.

-60% of the world’s population — more than 3.6 billion people –

live in the 10/40 Window.

-90% of the people living in the 10/40 Window are unreached.

-85% of those living in the 10/40 window are the poorest of the world’s poor.

For extensive information on the 10/40 Window, go to the Joshua Project

Local: Lessons on Compassion from the “Engage” Process

February 13, 2012 in Engage with 0 Comments

At One Life, one of our 3 strategic priorities is “Compassion” — which is our word for emphasizing the need to turn outward to both the local and global community. Engage is our process for showing compassion locally.

A simple description would be: “Engage” is an effective and wise strategy to accomplish two of Jesus’ most cherished commands: helping the poor and fulfilling the Great Commission.

It is a tested process designed to help raise the quality of life in under resourced neighborhoods by getting the people who live and work there deeply involved in the solutions.

As I am going along on the Engage ride I have learned some things:

1. Compassion is about real people

Last week, while participating in our Engage interview process, I got to sit down with a local business owner who turned out to be a huge Beatles fan and a bass player.

While I was there to capture his thoughts about community revitalization, it was a blast to begin to form a relationship around Beatles songs and bass gear.

The interviews also placed me in front of people living in housing projects. I think of one lady in particular who struck me with her wit, insight and infectious laugh. It was a good reminder I want more than just to provide canned goods to nameless, faceless people.

2. Talk about compassion is cheap.

My nature is to be a “visionary” or “idea” guy. While that can serve as a genuine strength, it can also lead to the opposite weakness if I’m not careful and intentional – all “vision” and no action. Engage is a process that provides the opportunity to act on the vision of One Life and the call to show compassion by placing me in front of real people “far from God”.

3. Strategic compassion ain’t such a bad idea.

In church circles we traditionally don’t talk very much about “strategy”. We probably get a little more fatalistic about how the mission will get accomplished than we are supposed to. I was hugely impacted by a study of Acts where it was obvious the Apostle Paul had a “strategy” on how to go about his mission of taking the “gospel to the gentiles.”

Engage is a brilliant strategy for acting compassionately in a way that can truly raise the quality of life for those in humble circumstances while getting us into conversations with all kinds of people from the community – from the under-resourced to key leaders and business people.

Engage as a strategy gave me the legitimate entry to strike up a relationship I probably wouldn’t have had otherwise.

4. Listening is a great way to show compassion.

We are called to love our neighbors. I’ve heard it said that people almost universally equate love with being heard. The Engage process begins with the compassion of listening. Sure, we have a message to speak, but to earn the right to speak, the most compassionate, humble and gracious thing we can do is to genuinely listen to people. I love asking people from all walks and perspectives what they think. I love to hear their ideas for how help can be genuinely helpful.

One Life exists to show compassion to those far from God. Engage is an amazing and strategic way to act on our words.

-Pastor Bret

Global: Some Cross Cultural options without the plane ride

February 12, 2012 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Uncharted International will be offering some great cross cultural opportunities that are within driving distance. These US mission teams will be serving many of the same cultures that our international teams serve including Burmese, Buddhists and Muslims.

Ft Wayne Indiana- Join a team going to Ft. Wayne, IN from Friday, June 8 to Wednesday, June 13, 2012. The team will work with refugees from Myanmar. Activities will include a VBS camp, soccer tournament, painting apartments and more. The application deadline will be April 15. Estimated cost is $400.

Dearborn Michigan-Join a team travelling to Dearborn, MI from Saturday, June 16 to Friday, June 22, 2012. The 2012 Dearborn Arab-American Festival will occur during that time. The application deadline is February 19 with an estimated cost of $500 and formations would begin around March 17 and be approximately every two weeks following.

For more information contact Brian Kerney at the Uncharted International Office at brian@unchartedinternational.org

Local: Images of a neighborhood Design Charrette

February 11, 2012 in Local Photos with 0 Comments

Local: What makes a healthy neighborhood?

February 10, 2012 in Henderson East End with 3 Comments

Engage Henderson will do their second gathering from the East End neighborhood of Henderson to talk about how to improve the quality of life for the residents. The next gathering will be on Saturday, February 11^th from 9a to 1p at South Heights Elementary gym and the project will be a Design Charrette which is an interactive session with architects to generate aesthetic ideas for the neighborhood environment.

But what makes a healthy neighborhood? Sources tell us that a great neighborhood has 11 characteristics:

Leadership-Healthy neighborhoods value and cultivate skilled leadership and active residents to participate in the process of improvement.
Vision-A healthy neighborhood is driven by a shared vision between neighbors, local business, education leaders, church leaders, municipal leaders and the community at large.
Collaboration-Healthy neighborhoods are characterized by a growing collaboration between the neighbors, churches, local schools, local businesses and the larger community
Safety-Healthy neighborhoods are characterized by a strong partnership between neighbors and local law enforcement
Housing-Healthy neighborhoods offer attractive and affordable housing that helps create ownership and equity investment by the residents
Services-Healthy communities maintain the highest standard of health and human services.
Education-Healthy neighborhoods place a high value on intellectual and moral education and take extraordinary measures to provide support to local schools.
Culture-Healthy communities offer a wide and varied array of artistic, cultural, recreational, and spiritual programs and venues to enrich the quality of life, nurture local talent, and foster creativity.
Environment-Healthy communities manage and invest in local properties and the common environment to maintain the community’s aesthetic and physical quality.
Business Diversity-Healthy communities possess a complement of retail and professional services.
Economy-Healthy neighborhoods provide a setting where individuals can participate in the economy, either in the workforce or through entrepreneurial activity.

Local: Why One Life Church serves through Engage Henderson and Engage Evansville.

February 9, 2012 in Engage with 0 Comments

Early in the launch of One Life Church in Henderson, we decided that we wanted to serve the community in ways that are bigger than just one church. For several weeks, we interviewed a variety of local leaders and residents and found that many had a similar passion to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods that were experiencing some decline.

Key leaders from One Life connected with others from the community and we started a group known as Engage. The basic mission of Engage is to gather human and financial resources around a process designed to improve the quality of life in key neighborhoods.

We are now at various stages of involvement in the East End neighborhood in Henderson and the Jacobsville neighborhood in Evansville.

The values of Engage include:

LISTENING-Seeking to understand the dreams, gifts and strengths of people by providing a safe place for open discussion of ideas.

LEVERAGE-Building on the strengths and assets of the community

PARTNERSHIPS-Doing things WITH not just FOR the community

COLLABORATE-Focusing the gifts of many on a common vision

COMMUNITY-Serving through community and with the community by bringing those we serve into the circle

All of these values are driven by process that serves neighborhoods with residents owning the journey. It is a new paradigm of neighborhood improvement that deeply respects those who have a vested interest.

Global: Friends-A report from the January 2012 Myanmar Trip

February 2, 2012 in Myanmar with 0 Comments

I knew when I came on this trip that the kids in the orphanages were going to make a change in my life. What I didn’t expect was for the adult Burmese to have the same impact. This week I have watched our team and the leaders and staff at the Uncharted orphanages grow from mutual respect to a genuine friendship and caring for one another. Every evening we have gone out to eat together, and our dinners have become crazy events where we are making jokes and picking on each other and sharing our hopes and dreams for the future. We are brought together by a mutual bond-love for these children, but we have become more than just business partners. I looked out the window today and thought that I am really half way across the world from where I live in a different culture with a language I don’t understand, and yet I have been made to feel “at home” here……..by a group of Burmese people that have huge hearts and the most welcoming spirit I have every witnessed. Something I definitely did not expect, but am very thankful for!

Tammy Sutton