Shalom for Everyone

Greetings for the New Year 2011!

I've been reading Robert Linthicum's book Building a People of Power. He does a great job at talking about the biblical concept of shalom as what a God vision for the whole world is to look like.

We talk a lot about shalom when we talk about Kingdom Causes to churches and people of faith. After all we use Jeremiah 29:7 a lot in our conversations: "Seek the welfare (shalom) of the city." But what I didn't think about is that shalom is for the "haves and have nots," and Linthicum does a good job at showing these two are intertwined for shalom to be whole (and biblically speaking, the two themes are brought together in the book of Deuteronomy).

Shalom for the "have nots" is a message of liberation, salvation, of setting free. Shalom for the "haves" is of celebration for security and of wise management of all God has given. As Linthicum says,

The biblical message on shalom is that it is for both the haves and have nots. It is both for those who lack power and are in need of liberation and for those who hold power and seek to appropriately manage the resources God has placed at their disposal...One of the essential tasks of the church is to bring together through Christ those searching for liberation or salvation and those who are the managers of society and seek security, so that they might work together to build shalom that is truly just and equitable for all, that brings people in to an ever-deepening relationship with God and each other, and consequently contributes to the formation of society as God intended it to be lived.

Couldn't have said it better myself! Here's to seeking shalom and bridges between the haves and have nots in Alhambra & Monterey Park for the New Year!

2010 Reflection

Below is the text from the end of the year newsletter I sent to many others. Thanks for all the support this year!

It’s hard to believe the end of 2010 is coming soon. During this Advent season, I look back at the last year and have seen God’s provision and generosity through your support, prayers, and participation in our events and programs, even as I transitioned into full-time as the catalyst in June.

One word I can use to describe this past year is “favor.” We received a generous capacity grant this year that provided computer equipment, marketing material for our Believe mentoring program, and an urban gardening handbook for our Neighborhood Gardens program. This grant also included wonderful leadership coaching in handling finances, strategic planning, online marketing, and fund development, perfect for someone starting out full time! We also renewed our contract with the County of Public Health to continue giving workshops on having safe and healthy home environments for families.

This favor also extended into some of our initiatives. Our Monterey Park Ministerial Association has completed another year of finding ways we can reach out to our community together. On Good Friday, over 100 people prayerwalked to pray for peace in our city and community. In the summer, a number of churches coordinated their VBS program schedule so they could provide families with 6 weeks of VBS for the community. And our annual Community Thanksgiving Service also provided a candle prayerwalk to City Hall as we put into practice our role as “salt and light” in our communities.

We also facilitated several neighborhood BBQs this year, as a way for us to practically reach out to our literal neighbors. Without fail each time, neighbors say, “we should do this more often!” Even in Los Angeles, people realize they want to know and trust their neighbors even though the default is to live in isolation.

Next year, we are going to capitalize on this year’s favor to use the urban gardening handbook to help our low-income neighbors using local food banks to grow their own food. We hope to expand our mentoring program with Alhambra School district to be more robust and hire someone part-time to lead that development. We are also growing a new Alhambra Ministerial Association of pastors and ministers who will work together on ways to bless the city (we are planning a join prayerwalk at the beginning of Lent next year).

Thanks for all your support this year, and may you have a blessed 2011!

Jesse Chang, Catalyst