On March 3rd, 2012 we had our fourth open meeting, which was hosted by Village Green Community Church. It was an excellent morning of open and interesting presentations and discussions.

The theme of our latest meeting was talking about the recent Helping without Hurting conference, held in January at North Park Community Church. That conference presented many challenges to the ways that churches help the materially poor, and might be summarized by the idea that “Development isn't done to people or for people but with people.” .

At our March 3rd meeting we had presentations from people working in the local environment and at the global level, sharing personal insights and stories of Christians helping, and learning how to help in better ways.

In the topmost photo, emcee Steph Card introduces Ron Burdock. Steph did a great job of framing the presentations and discussions.

Thanks to everyone who attended, presented, and volunteered!

One of the main resources we added at this meeting is the following handout, which has excellent links to materials from the Helping without Hurting conference:

	Click on the image on the left to see the handout from the meeting. This includes links to many useful resources for asset mapping, as well as benevolence guidelines.
	Jon Korkidakis is the lead pastor at Village Green Community Church (www.vgchurch.org). Speaking about the poverty challenges facing local churches, Jon Korkidakis said: “We are looking at new ways to deal with immediate and long term needs. We are sensing the tension between the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of helping. It can be easier to write a cheque than doing the time-intensive work of engaging personally with people, but that is what we need to do.”
Bob Kline works with Hope for Rural Children and Orphans (http://www.horco.ca) in Ethiopia.	Bob's discussion of Ethiopia was framed by the fact that 70% of people there have no clean water access. By working through NGOs and rural partnerships, HORCO is able to help via indirect ways that invigorate the local communities there. The HORCO Facebook page shows a video of a community’s hands-on work to tap into an underground spring. “Seeing them working together, using pots and pans, is an inspiring example of a community in action.”
	As North Park’s director of global outreach, Ron Burdock brought a lot of experience to the meeting. Ron's team had also hosted the recent Helping without Hurting conference. We had an excellent turnout, and did lots of great sharing and discussing. A shout-out to Rob's Mom, Helen Hueniken, for her wonderful baked goods! She liked that the extra went to Darryl and Debra's friends at Sanctuary London.
	Ron Burdock said: “We need to empower local resources, and build capacity into families and communities.” “The guideline at the heart of these changes needs to be ‘Don’t dishonour the poor.’” www.northpark.ca
	There were lots of excellent questions from the meeting attendees, including Sue Gowan, President of Mission Services of London. The front-line care organizations really feel the struggles of providing relief while aiming for personal and community development. A phrase that sums up much of the new approach to helping the materially poor is “Development isn't done to people or for people but with people.”
	The meeting wrapped up with a panel discussion, moderated by David Cottrill. David’s good work with new arrivals to Canada has helped develop his perspectives on helping. “If your organization gives things out then you become known for that, and lose opportunities to develop relationships. When you give people the responsibility to help themselves they can show their community to be very resourceful.”
	There were many discussions after the presentations, including Bob Kline speaking with Dave Hiebert (of Village Green). We are happy that Churches Together London can help to encourage discussion and learning, as we move forward in our shared community development efforts here in London.

We are looking forward to our fourth meeting, on Saturday March 3rd, from 9:30am until 11:00am. And you are invited!

The theme will be "Practical Applications from the Helping Without Hurting Conference".

Our meeting is being hosted by Village Green Community Church, and its pastor, Jon Korkidakis, will be one of the speakers at our meeting. (Here's a map).

The Helping without Hurting conference, held on January 14th, provided a wealth of interesting and challenging ideas for improving how churches help others, both locally and globally. 500 people attended this excellent conference, which was hosted by North Park and organized by Ron Burdock.

There's a lot of fascinating material to explore and talk about.

At our next meeting we'll be looking at various key areas, including:

• A summary of the conference highlights
• Presentations on global helping by Ron Burdock of North Park and Bob Kline
• Local efforts to help in new ways by Jon Korkidakis of Village Green
• Some excellent resources for you and your team
• A panel discussion, to share ideas and experience.

As usual, our meeting will be fast-paced and interesting. There will be snacks and the opportunity to stay afterwards for some informal discussion.

We look forward to seeing you on March 3rd !

All are welcome!

The Helping without Hurting conference at North Park Community Church was a fantastic day of learning, great food, and community. The volunteers and staff made 500 of us feel welcome and encouraged to be sharing in Steve Corbett's learnings about helping those who are materially poor.

Please note: You can click on the photos to see a larger version.

I'd like to thank Ron Burdock for putting together an excellent conference, and the many thoughtful folks who joined Churches Together London to share this good day.

We'd like to encourage you to connect with us so that we can let you know about upcoming meetings and events, and to help us all keep the excitement and value of this conference moving forward in the coming months.

Please consider coming to our next meeting, on Saturday March 3rd, 9:30am to 11:00am, at Village Green Community Church. We'll be sharing ideas about the conference, and talking about ways to incorporate these learnings into our lives. It'll be a great event, so come on out!

	Ron Burdock (Director of Global Outreach at North Park) and author Steve Corbett. Churches Together London is one of North Park’s partners in this effort.
	North Park members, Donna Ballantine and Vicky Lozada helped organize the hospitality, which included delicious African food by the World Cooks.
	The conference is sparking lots of conversation about how to rework our charity efforts. Seen here are Paul and Sue Gowan from Village Green Community Church, which had a dozen members attending.
	Author Steve Corbett brought energy and encouragement, along with studies and techniques available for free at the Chalmers Center for Economic Development.
	Katie Jo Ramsey assisted Corbett by leading the discussion about helping locally. Ramsey stressed the importance of having people willing to walk together with people in need – a process that takes time and compassion.
	A resource area at the conference included books from the Navigators Resource Centre (thanks, Dennis Funk!), and information booths from Vision Ministries (thanks, Jay Gurnet!), International Justice Mission (thanks, Ed Wilson!), and Compassion Canada (thanks, Bill Coleman!). It was a great group of organizations to be part of.
	Rob Hueniken and James Kingsley at our booth. We had copies of the books we recommend and an overview of our group. The handout and display boards are available as PDFs below.
	Click on the image to see the PDF of the handout from the conference, talking about Churches Together London.
	Click on the image to see the PDF of the display boards.

The team at Churches Together London is partnering with North Park Community Church to help this conference be an amazing and insightful event.

Saturday, January 14th is the date to be at North Park for the Helping without Hurting one-day conference.

There are already 350 people signed up, so this is going to be an exciting and dynamic place to be.

New ideas will be shared, relationships formed, and partnering ideas starting to blossom. This conference has the makings of a landmark day for the Church in London.

Can you tell I'm excited? Our team will be there, with a booth, sharing our enthusiasm and passion for the good work we can do together.

Rob Hueniken

Thanks to all who turned out on November 23rd !

1) The meeting was opened by James Kingsley, who welcomed a fine group to the Resource Centre facility.

2) Leslie Damude talked about the book, "Toxic Charity", by Robert Lupton (read the summary here). The subtitle of the book is "How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse It)".

Special Offer: Dennis Funk of the Navigators is offering copies of "Toxic Charity" at 30% off the price! (Click here to get your copy of this excellent book)

According to Lupton, a lot of people's giving is about themselves, and not what is best suited for those they are trying to help. Leslie said that the book can be challenging to many, especially when one considers how long we've used the same, ineffective ways of helping others.

Real transformation requires a focus on a community's strengths, more than on its needs. It requires taking seriously the gifts and talents of the poor, and doing ministry "with them" in the community, rather than "for them". This is essential to protect and build people's dignity and the community's long-term success.

Examples include a food co-op instead of a traditional food pantry, and a free clothing closet transformed into a revenue-generating thrift store that teaches job skills.

The top three priorities given in the book for a healthy community are safety, decent schools, and a viable economy. Without these three ingredients, the author writes, community transformation is not likely to happen.

It is also important to have a geographically-focused vision and to use measurable goals.

Special Offer: Dennis Funk of the Navigators is offering copies of "Toxic Charity" at 30% off the price!

Click here to visit the Navigators' resource book store.

3) David Cottrill gave an overview of the recent CCDA event, which focused on three elements of education and poverty:

- Reconciliation
- Redistribution
- Relocation

In the US there are school boards that are rich or poor, based on taxes. People try to move from the poorer areas to the richer areas, leaving the poorer areas even poorer. David said that it is not as extreme here in Canada, but "It inspired me to see that there is so much that can be done."

David noted that there can be a lot of blaming of the school kids themselves, and that there are often few programs that the kids actually want to participate in. Instead, it is important to build relationships.

Some of the ways that churches can build relationships with schools are:

- Show that churches really want to work with the city and schools for the benefit of the community.
- Show that the goal is for churches to learn how to be more effective in serving their local communities and schools.
- Get to know the principal and teachers, along with the board members and the trustees, who are great resource people.
- Recognize that both churches and schools have answers that can be put together to help things get better.
- Be respectful and appreciative of contacts, and considerate of their time constraints.

David encouraged us to work on meeting people, and to ask for contacts. That leads to God opening doors and things happening. In David's case, he gets emails most weeks from teachers saying that there's something they could use help with.

David also encouraged patience and persistence, since principals each have their own style and focus. Sometimes one principal won't be interested in exploring help from churches while the next may be.

4) Bill Kinchlea gave an overview of his lengthy involvement (14 years) with churches helping schools here in London.

Bill reiterated that there needs to be a geographic sensibility, by having those helping be close to those being helped. He said that kids benefit from having a good meal, and it can actually reduce the number of students needing drugs such as ritalin. Bill says that it takes a lot of work and prayer, but it's worth it.

5) We had a breakout session, with 3 groups of around 8 people each. We talked about the themes of relationship, focus and perseverence. It was a spirited time of discussion and sharing. Afterwards, the groups reported some of their discussion, including:

- A challenge is to have people involved who truly love people, who are caring and focused on relationship building.
- Charity/help programs aren't always effective, including secular programs. It is important that the programs be helping, and not just giving the appearance of helping.
- There is a feeling that "something has shifted in London", with a growing interest in finding new ways for the municipality to work with churches.
- There is a shift happening in our society that many groups are experiencing, including the Occupy movement, of moving from a money-focused society to a relationship-focused society.
- Services need to be local, and not too far away for people to get to. There is a tendency with government to aim for efficiency and to have larger, "central" resource sites that many people can't easily get to. People need these hubs to be conveniently located and staffed by caring, knowledgeable people who want to build relationships, not just provide information.
- Homework clubs and reading buddy programs can be very helpful for the students.
- Everyone has talents that they can contribute.

5) We talked about the Helping Without Hurting event coming up at North Park on Saturday January 14th, 2012. (www.northpark.ca/whenhelpinghurts)

It is going to be a great day of learning and sharing, and we are encouraging everyone to attend. There is both a half day program and a full day program.

Update: The Royal Ball was a great success, with a fine turnout and wonderful community. Thanks to the guest speaker, Greg Paul, for an inspiring and uplifting talk.

Sanctuary London's next major event is

A Royal Ball !

Please join us on Saturday October 1st, 2011 at 6:30pm at the London Polish Hall (554 Hill Street), for Sanctuary London's official GRAND OPENING!

The evening will feature a great line up of desserts while we listen to our guest speaker, Greg Paul, founder of our parent organization Sanctuary Toronto.  Then we'll have professional dance lessons with instructors from "Ballroom Breeze",  as we dance the night away together with the young and the old, the rich and the poor, in a unity that can only be described as "a taste of the kingdom of heaven!"

All are welcome!

Please click here for more details.

Update: The CCDA conference was well attended by Londoners, including David Cottrill and the team at North Park. We look forward to these learnings finding their way into our programs and mindset as we work together with community and municipal leaders. For more information, please visit www.ccda.org.

Each year, the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) National Conference draws over 3,000 people from around the world to share in best practices of Christian Community Development. Experts and scholars teach workshops around relevant themes. Practitioners find support in networking with others facing similar challenges. Advocates bring attention to issues affecting people at the grassroots. And provocative speakers challenge our assumptions about what it means to embody Christ’s love to the poor in our communities.

Many people from London have attended these annual conferences and been encouraged. Please consider coming to the conference!

Two videos were played at our March 26th meeting, to help bring perspective, and to show that other church communities are experiencing a shared desire to help in their neighbourhoods.

	Rediscovering the Art of Neighbouring (4 minutes: 13 seconds) This video is about how a group of pastors joined together to make a difference in their community, and to help ensure that no-one falls through the cracks of society. They brought the mayor into the discussion, along with input from city administrators. The result has been a focus on being a community of good neighbours.
	Collaborate (Rather than Compete) (1 minute:41 seconds) This video speaks to the value of participation – of walking around in your neighbourhood, seeing what's going on, and seeing where your heart is stirred. It shows the power of people getting together to share in good efforts for their community.

The second Churches Together London meeting was held on March 26th, 2011 at Hillside Church, and was attended by 55 people.

Two neighbourhood/contribution videos were played and five 5-minute presentations were made on the topics of Parish, Third Place, Conversation, Shalom and Partnership. A breakout session on the five topics resulted in lots of good discussion, ideas and contributions by all. Overall it was a great success, and very encouraging as we move forward in having churches working together in our community

Steph Card led the presentation on Shalom. More than just peace, Shalom encompasses safety, soundness, rest and harmony.

In her Shalom presentation, Steph Card helped us think about the many facets of helping, including via the church, community, and social services.

David Cottrill, of North Park, talked about Parish, and gave historical perspective to the compassionate and diverse involvement of the parish community in the lives of people.

James Kingsley showed two videos, about Neighbouring and Contributing. He also gave the presentation on Third Places – the important public spaces, such as coffee shops and grocery stores, that are central to local participation and community vitality.

Sue Boddaert, Leslie Damude and Bill Kinchlea presented the importance of Conversation, and the efforts of Gateway Church and Trinity Presbyterian in the Limberlost area of London.

Gil Clelland, of Sanctuary London, talked about Partnership and the importance of building relationships. He said that poverty is not a disease of lacking wealth but of lacking connection. Said Gil: "If I'm connected to my friends then they will not go hungry."

Following a 20 minute discussion breakout, each group shared some thoughts on one of the 5 topics. Here Jay Gurnett, a founding member of Churches Together London, summarizes his group's discussion.

Pieter Pereboom, of London First CRC, in discussion with Leslie Damude.

After the meeting, most people stayed on for further, informal discussions. Seen here in white is Darryl Reckman, one of the founders of Churches Together London and Sanctuary London.

The success of Churches Together London lies in the shared efforts and ideas of London's churches. This meeting was both encouraging and inspiring. We look forward to further discussions, connections and being our Lord's hands in good works here in London.

Churches Together London is about people working together, and I am greatly enjoying working with the team on this. Here's me (Rob Hueniken) with James Kingsley, showing some of the joy of working together on good things.  I encourage you to browse our site and share the idea with your own parish and friends. Let's find ways to work together!

Welcome to Churches Together London!

Churches Together London brings people together to help in London's neighbourhoods. Started in 2010, this group believes that churches are making a positive difference in our community, and that by listening and collaborating we can help good things happen in London.

Our second meeting, on March 26th, was a great time of sharing and dialogue. We had 55 people attend, hearing 5 quick and interesting presentations, exchanging ideas, and sharing Christian community.

Thanks to all who presented and came out!

Please explore our site, including our Resources, Articles and a summary of our meeting on March 26th, 2011.

Come back to this site soon to share ideas and encouragement.

To contact Churches Together London, please send an email to info@churchestogetherlondon.com.