Josh, Maria, Shaun, Kaory and Jeremy
We just finished our first full year cycle of teaching through the 6 *postures (*trainings: Listening, Submerging, Inviting, Contending, Imagining, Entrusting) with NeiuCommunities our missional/sending community here in San Diego.
NeiuCommunities is a community of believers that trains young committed believers to live a missional lifestyle and then sends them to wherever/whatever we discover God’s calling for them to be. Maria and I are on the staff that shepherds, teaches, mentors, disciples, creates, ministers and gives cross-cultural experiences to the process of learning. We do this on both sides of the border. FUN!!
We ended this year with Imagining and Entrusting knitted together. Imagining is basically a time that we get our apprentices to “Imagine” or envision what their particular ministry walk with Jesus looks like, and what their particular passions, strengths and aspirations are. We actually cap that time by having everyone write a vision statement. After a time of refining those statements which includes getting feedback from the whole community we then slip into the next posture of “Entrusting”
Entrusting is when the apprentice learns how to entrust God and His people with getting them into their vision statement. This is when we start to send our learners out. I want to share some of the steps/initiatives we have either started taking or are about to take as some first steps in the sending process.
SOCCER league. David and Chaz invited a few neighborhood teens to refine their soccer skills. Thirty teens later they are starting to get to know these kids better and will take the steps to invite little groups to their home to eat and share their Gospel inspired lives.
COFFEE shop with a community missional emphasis. Golden Hill neighborhood does not have a great place to hang out. Matt and 4 others of us can already taste great cup of coffee and see a cool environment and a place where a community hub is created to do events ranging from immigration discussions to live music to worship nights to any topic that impacts our lives, to you name it. Staffed by mostly NeiuCommunities apprentices we can see this impacting the business community as well as all those that live in the vicinity allowing God to speak through a different venue to an unreached crowd.
YOUTH center. In Golden Hill there is a secular non-profit youth center that offers an after school program of tutoring and fun. A bunch of us NeiuCommunity people are in the ‘background check’ process now that will allow us to volunteer. Mostly the poorer Latino kids use this center. Our goal is to help tutor yes, but more so get to know the kids and their families that live mostly under the radar due to their shaky immigration status. Ultimately, we’d like to form a youth group out of this experience, letting the Gospel have its place.
CRASH.inc is a rehab center for women recovering from substance abuse in Golden Hill. Several of our women have been simply walking with these women once a week. The next step is to actually enter their group home and teach some life skills like conflict resolution and communications while deepening relationships. The goal is to form trusted relationships and let God ultimately speak.
INTERMEDIATE Discipleship (Ok, I admit, we need a better name for this). There are new believers and curios onlookers that have come about as a result of God’s work through NeiuCommunities. As a result several of us can see the need to form a group to start the process of discipling these curios non-believers and new believers to what a walk with Jesus looks like and who He really is. That’s exciting.
Grupo, Mexico women have learned to listen to their community, see needs/opportunities and respond in the most loving ways that express the Gospel in life giving ways by serving the poor, reviving the local church and creating small growth groups.
PUBLIC works in developing countries. Nick builds hospitals here in the States. He really would like to create and empower teams that could build hospitals, schools, clinics and childcare in developing countries…works that benefit the community as a whole. He will be traveling to Mexico to join a work there and learn. Then he plans to take a team to Haiti to actually build a public work this year. Wow. How cool is that?
INDONESIA. John and Bri have a heart to mobilize Latinos to reach Muslims. We sent them to Frontiers Missions. They are currently building a team with Frontiers Mission and another missionary couple that spent many years in Mexico. They hope to be in Indonesia with a team of Latinos in late 2011. It’s happening.
Misc.: Poor Tijuana women selling their artisans through a NieuCmmunities outlet enabling them to fed their children. Mentoring young Mexican men in the Home for Boys in Tijuana. Offering Life Direction Discovery seminars in Spanish empowering people in Baja.
Those are some of the place/initiatives we are sending our apprentices too as they become more and mare ready to “GO”. Maria and I get to carry our years of experience, our personal passions, our God given gifts/talents and our own visions into NeiuCommunities in order to help others become “sent”. All I can say is what a privilege and honor to serve in His Kingdom this way.
What would make us much more effective would be moving to the neighborhood of Golden Hill next to Downtown San Diego. We are the only one’s on our team that don’t live there. Housing for a family of 5 is a real challenge. We have been trying for over 10 months to rent or buy but so far we have only found one of these rare affordable beasts and someone else beat us to the punch. Prayer needed.
Shaun for Maria, Jeremy, Kaory and Josh Sheahan
January 1-8-11
