Our 2019 Haiti Team is gearing up (and by the way, they need the support of our prayers and dollars!)

We’ve sent a team each year since the quake first hit in January 2010. That’s witness to an amazing commitment on the part of many individuals and our congregation as a whole. That long-term commitment changes “mission” into “relationship” and “doing for” into “working with.” It means that we’ve seen kids growing up and facilities we’ve helped build being used. It means seeing that the goats we purchased become the “bank accounts” our Team describes. It means that we are welcomed back by people who know us and look forward to our coming. It means working alongside them again on the projects they have set as their priorities. It means that they have become sisters and brothers, and their families part of our family.

This long-term commitment has changed not only the team members who have gone to Haiti, but our congregation as well. Our boundaries are not Santa Monica or the Westside. This has actually been true of us for a very long time, beginning perhaps with our welcoming of refugees from Vietnam back in the 1960s and 1970s. You may know of other examples as well.

To say “God’s world is our world” is not just about mouthing some words. We know that it’s about living into it, embracing others, learning their names and their stories, seeking their welfare alongside ours. It means holding them in our hearts and making decisions about public policy not just from the mind but from our heart and soul.

Thanks be to God for these gifts of new life and for a family that spans the globe.