Care Journey | A Discipleship Pathway For A Caring Community
Join us for Decadent Care, November 8-9 in Winnipeg, MB:
Description
How can churches bridge the gap between spiritual mission and community care?
Johan Heinrichs and Wendi Park explore the innovative Care Portal technology, which merges church efforts with social services to support child welfare and community needs. They emphasize the importance of relational engagement and the impactful role of small community groups. The episode underscores the challenges churches face in mobilizing members and highlights the Care Journey, a small group resource offered by CareImpact, which encourages churches to deepen their discipleship and community involvement. The conversation touches on the broader understanding of poverty, the call for empathy-driven support, and the importance of awakening dignity in service, all aimed at fostering real, transformative engagement, reflecting the teachings of Jesus.
Time Stamps
[06:58] Helping churches become transformative through active engagement.
[07:58] Supporting churches with discipleship-focused resources collaboratively.
[12:26] Focus on transforming community, not information overload.
[15:20] Kairos Moments: divine interruptions and responding with faith.
[19:45] Trauma Care: Presence over rescue, presence matters.
[21:21] Showing respect and dignity in human interactions.
[27:04] Excited for church's role in social services.
[29:09] The harvest is plentiful, but workers few.
The Care Journey small group resource: https://careimpact.ca/carejourney
Other Links
Reach out to us! https://journeywithcare.ca/podcast
Email: podcast@careimpact.ca
Listen To Journey With Prayer - A prayer journey corresponding to this episode: https://journeywithprayer.captivate.fm/listen
or get both podcasts on the same RSS feed! https://feeds.captivate.fm/n/careimpact-podcast
CareImpact: careimpact.ca
About the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportal
DONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with children and families: careimpact.ca/donate
Editing and production by Johan Heinrichs: arkpodcasts.ca
Transcript
Imagine the whole church discovering their passion to care,
Speaker:one small group at a time.
Speaker:You're listening to this special podcast series, Care
Speaker:Journey from the Journey with Care podcast.
Speaker:Whether it was a mega church or a little micro church
Speaker:that people desired to care and there was a
Speaker:willpower to care. But sometimes there was a barrier
Speaker:to actually knocking on that door, responding to the
Speaker:needs in a way that would be relational.
Speaker:What if you were part of a community that's not just aware of the needs
Speaker:around them, but actively responds with compassion, empathy
Speaker:and practical support? Over the next five weeks, we're going to
Speaker:dive deep into the world of care journey. It's a transformative
Speaker:five week discipleship course designed for small groups. So if you're
Speaker:ready to embark on a journey of growth, compassion and meaningful service
Speaker:from a biblical perspective, join us for this podcast series. We're
Speaker:excited to talk about it, but before we get more into that, and I
Speaker:hand it off to Wendy, let me remind you that we have journey with prayer.
Speaker:It's a five minute devotional series to start off your week on Monday.
Speaker:It's on a separate podcast feed. You can find it right now on your favorite
Speaker:podcast player or head over to Journeywithcare CA. We're able
Speaker:to continue to produce great content because of the generosity of our
Speaker:listeners, donors and sponsors. If you want to help the podcast and the work of
Speaker:care impact in the community, we value your support, your
Speaker:partnership, and we would love to connect with new sponsors to
Speaker:help the podcast as well. You can find that in the show notes as well.
Speaker:Or go to Journeywithcare CA to find out how to get involved. So,
Speaker:Wendy, we've been getting a lot of churches asking about this care journey and
Speaker:signing up for a wedding list to get a hold of it in their hands,
Speaker:to do it with their small groups. So we wanted to give a little bit
Speaker:of an introduction on the podcast to talk about what it's all
Speaker:about, why we're doing it, just so that they have a little bit of information
Speaker:before they ask about it. So you want to maybe give us a little bit
Speaker:of history of how this all came to be? Yeah, no, I'd love to.
Speaker:Johan. It's been about five years ago that we
Speaker:introduced Canada, and we had a big party, a
Speaker:launch about the care portal, bringing it into Canada, and we've been
Speaker:canadianizing it. Which care portal, for those of you who are
Speaker:new to care impact, is a care sharing technology that that
Speaker:connects people in the community, particularly where we're focusing
Speaker:on equipping the church to respond to community needs. And how
Speaker:do we know those needs? How are they coming through the care sharing
Speaker:technology we call care portal? It's because we're building
Speaker:bridges with social services and frontline providers.
Speaker:They know where the needs of children and families are the most vulnerable.
Speaker:They're hidden in plain sight for us, however, with
Speaker:partnership with these organizations, they're able to, those social workers
Speaker:are able to put needs into the platform, and
Speaker:participating churches and community members and businesses are able to
Speaker:respond in appropriate ways. And so we're excited about that.
Speaker:But over five years, Johann, we've also learned some things. We've learned
Speaker:how canadian churches are doing. We have been listening to
Speaker:pastors and leaders, we have been sitting with people in the community,
Speaker:and we've been listening from the Pew what congregations
Speaker:are saying. How is the technology working? One good news
Speaker:I have is that care portal is a technology that is working.
Speaker:It is actually seeing children and families being served in very effective
Speaker:ways. But I'd be amiss to say that a technology
Speaker:would solve the social challenges and the barriers that
Speaker:we find in community. And so that is where I. We
Speaker:actually, last year we sat down with pastors and leaders
Speaker:and people within the churches for qualitative study, and we said,
Speaker:how are your churches growing? What are the challenges? What are the pain points that
Speaker:you're experiencing? You're utilizing this technology, but what is working,
Speaker:what isn't working, and how can we help activate the
Speaker:whole church? Because here's the thing that we were seeing over and
Speaker:over again, whether it was a mega church or a little micro
Speaker:church, that people desired to care
Speaker:and there was a willpower to care, but sometimes there
Speaker:was a barrier to actually knocking on that door,
Speaker:responding to the needs in a way that would be relational.
Speaker:What we often found was that there would be one or two
Speaker:people that really drove this for their church.
Speaker:But our desire is to see the whole church care. And
Speaker:so we sat down and tried to dig a little
Speaker:deeper. And for our listeners that have been with us for
Speaker:any amount of time, especially this summer, we just, we did a series called
Speaker:Summer Speedos, just kind of a little fun name, but we
Speaker:shared some of those care portal stories and the impact that they're really
Speaker:having on the community and that mutual transformation that we've talked about all the
Speaker:time, how doing the care portal and helping those in the
Speaker:community really is mutually transformative. And we talk about
Speaker:careport all the time. So here's a great opportunity for our listeners to
Speaker:go a little bit deeper into what we're talking about when we keep bringing up
Speaker:this care portal thing. So, yeah, and one thing, we've had a lot of
Speaker:inquiries across Canada. Our vision is for national expansion
Speaker:of the care portal technology. There's actually a demand for it.
Speaker:Many different cities are asking more questions, and.
Speaker:And really, that is the way forward. And how Canadians can
Speaker:communicate is through technology. And obviously, it's just a
Speaker:tool that can drive social action
Speaker:and drive relationships and connection, because otherwise, Canadians
Speaker:aren't going to know where the needs are. I used to work in social services
Speaker:and overseeing a community center, and the amount of our
Speaker:families, they were getting, like, five, six frozen turkeys. And I'm like, there's got to
Speaker:be a different way. Because they don't need frozen turkeys. They're
Speaker:vegetarian. They actually need a friend. They need a
Speaker:mentor. They need help with taking to a medical appointment,
Speaker:or they need help with some basic needs, steel toe
Speaker:boots so that his dad can get a job. And so that's really where
Speaker:the inquiries are coming. They're like, we need technology, too, to help
Speaker:drive social action, help us care better for our
Speaker:communities with people that are hidden in plain sight. So
Speaker:we have a lot of need, but we're still faced with a challenge. A
Speaker:technology does not change the heart of the church.
Speaker:We often have some old patterns of philanthropy
Speaker:where we. We want to do projects. We want to care
Speaker:in massive ways or in a kind of a one size fits
Speaker:all ways. But every situation that we've seen on the care portal is
Speaker:unique. There may be some commonalities here of youth aging
Speaker:out, needing a support system, of families
Speaker:needing some very basic needs, like beds or cribs, so that
Speaker:they can be reunified. But each family is so unique.
Speaker:And what we really carry in our heart as care impact
Speaker:is saying, how can we help? Not only how many children and
Speaker:families can we help, but how can we help the church grow?
Speaker:How can we activate the church so it doesn't become a project,
Speaker:a shoebox drive, but that it becomes transformative,
Speaker:mutually transformative. And we realize that
Speaker:we want to continue with the technology, we want to expand the technology.
Speaker:But when we sat down with our experts of the church,
Speaker:the pastors, the leaders, the people that are part of the church, and we asked
Speaker:them, what's working? What are your challenges? Where are the things? What is your
Speaker:vision for the church? Whether it was megachurch or micro
Speaker:church, they were saying a lot of the same things. We desire.
Speaker:We need our church discipled. We need to get out of this
Speaker:culture shift of coming, showing up for Sunday mornings, and
Speaker:having professional christians. You want us to help the community? Yeah,
Speaker:we want to help too. It's in our mission statement. It's a mandate of
Speaker:the church. But we can't even get people into
Speaker:volunteer for our kids program, and now we're supposed to do
Speaker:that. We understand that. But it was actually adding more fuel to a
Speaker:frustration they were already feeling. And we just
Speaker:really wanted to come alongside and listen to these
Speaker:churches, these leaders, and say, well, what if we created a
Speaker:resource that would be supportive of your goal for
Speaker:discipleship? So the care journey. Actually, yes,
Speaker:we're training churches to utilize the care portal, but
Speaker:there's a huge discipleship piece that can be peer to peer
Speaker:led and that they can work together. Listening to God. What is God
Speaker:telling us? And who has God created me to be? What are
Speaker:the things I need to be paying attention to that God is grabbing ahold
Speaker:of me? And how do I respond? And how do we
Speaker:respond? Because it's not just about the expansion of care
Speaker:portal and we're not just handing it out to anybody that wants it. And
Speaker:it's not just about fulfilling people's needs in the community. It
Speaker:really is about learning to be the hands and feet of
Speaker:Jesus. Because, like a church can send an Amazon card to a
Speaker:family and fulfill a need, but that's not going to cause any transformation.
Speaker:That's not going to cause any connection. Because as I say, care portal
Speaker:connection changes everything. And we really believe
Speaker:that connecting with people's hearts and seeing the faces of those that
Speaker:we're serving and being the hands and feet of Jesus, we want to get
Speaker:close. We don't want to be the saviors. We want to be the
Speaker:hands and feet of Jesus. We want to be more like him. We want to
Speaker:be discipled, and we want the church to reflect the heart
Speaker:of Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. And the care journey really
Speaker:is good news for all. It's good news
Speaker:for those who are receiving care and
Speaker:timely supports. But let's not miss the fact that it's
Speaker:good news for the church as well. In Matthew 25, when
Speaker:did we see you naked? And when did we see you in prison? When did
Speaker:we see you hungry? When we serve others, we
Speaker:actually are experiencing Christ in the community
Speaker:in how we, we are treating people with dignity
Speaker:and experiencing God in new and fresh and
Speaker:needed ways within the church. When I ask a
Speaker:congregation, do you want more of Jesus? Of course
Speaker:hands will go up and say, yes, we want more of Jesus. That's why we're
Speaker:worshiping. That's why we're here this morning. That's why we hunger and thirst
Speaker:after the righteousness of God. And that's why we're listening to the word of
Speaker:God. But my challenge for Canada is if you want more of
Speaker:Jesus, yes, continue to seek that place of worship. But
Speaker:we sometimes are seeking the wrong places. And we actually need
Speaker:those in the community that are going through suffering, those that are
Speaker:oppressed and marginalized and going through difficulties to
Speaker:experience Christ, because that's where Christ is. And
Speaker:we need to be learning together and mutually
Speaker:transformed in community. And that's not going to happen just on a Sunday
Speaker:morning in a pew, listening to something amazing from the pew.
Speaker:We need to figure out how does care portal help
Speaker:transform the church? And that's actually what we've been looking at. Can we track
Speaker:growth and vitality within church when people care?
Speaker:What's that doing to the congregation? And what is the desire
Speaker:of the church? It is to grow. It is to see disciples within
Speaker:their congregation. It's not just the pastor, that one person
Speaker:going out and doing good service, but people, the
Speaker:congregation becomes alive when they get involved
Speaker:in these service opportunities. Now, we're not going to have
Speaker:a super long episode here, but we do want to get into what some of
Speaker:these sessions could look like. We've already had a few churches
Speaker:take the care journey and we've had some great feedback so far.
Speaker:Again, it's not just about head knowledge, like becoming the hands of
Speaker:feet of Jesus. There needs to be a contemplative piece to this
Speaker:where it needs to find our way into our prayer
Speaker:lives. Like this is really made for a house group, small
Speaker:group in your church. We don't just want to present information. We really want to
Speaker:see transformation, spiritual transformation. So there's always a
Speaker:prayer piece to this. And it's so much more fun to do it in
Speaker:community, in groups. That's so much more effective than
Speaker:just reading a booklet, reading a manual on how to
Speaker:do the care portal, on how to do these things. Well, well, can I
Speaker:just mention, Johan, that we have information overload in
Speaker:our society today. We no longer are looking
Speaker:for more information. We're looking for transformation
Speaker:here. And that's what when we go, actually, when we're signing up
Speaker:a church to utilize the care portal, we're
Speaker:saying, show us your smallest form of community.
Speaker:Currently, we're not telling you how to run your church, but where is your
Speaker:smallest form of community? Where do you have a place where people
Speaker:congregate? Is it a small group? Is it a coffee time? Is it
Speaker:a prayer group? Where's your watering hole. Where
Speaker:are you finding life in your congregation? Here is a
Speaker:peer to peer led resource that can be added
Speaker:nutrients to that conversation, nutrients to that smallest form of
Speaker:community to mobilize them. Yes, we want community and
Speaker:that cohesiveness together, but we also want to drive
Speaker:that smallest form of community into action, into their community, so that
Speaker:they can utilize what they're receiving, what their
Speaker:Bible knowledge and their community, they're including other people
Speaker:into it. So it is peer to peer led. There's a video
Speaker:component, there's an easy guide to follow. And we're actually
Speaker:saying if you want to be active in your community through the care portal,
Speaker:we're asking you to do this together. Because how can you be community
Speaker:out there if you can't do it together and grow together
Speaker:through this experience and be accountable to each other? You're not doing us a
Speaker:service, you're not volunteering for us. We're wanting to add life and
Speaker:vitality to your congregation and help
Speaker:lead you into active service. But before we
Speaker:get into those details, what about those communities that don't want to do
Speaker:care portal? Or they don't. It hasn't even been on the radar.
Speaker:Could they take the course and still get something out of it? What do you
Speaker:think? I think they could, yeah. No, I definitely
Speaker:think you don't need to wait till care portal is in your community
Speaker:to be activated. This is a biblical
Speaker:command. We're not serving care portal. Care portal is simply a
Speaker:tool to actually maximize your impact. So I'm still
Speaker:a huge fan of doing collective
Speaker:impact and doing it in a smart way. However,
Speaker:any community, I'd love to dive into what
Speaker:the modules look like because I think people will
Speaker:realize that there's something here for everyone. Yeah, because really
Speaker:that fifth module is the one where you get into the practicals of how to
Speaker:use care portal. So the first four modules I think anybody
Speaker:would benefit from for sure if you wanted to do with your small group. So,
Speaker:yeah, so that first week, it's a five week course.
Speaker:So that first week we titled this Kairos
Speaker:moments. Now we're not going to go into deep detail what that means, but
Speaker:you want to give us a quick overview of what Kairos moments looks like.
Speaker:Yeah, we're looking at how does God interrupt our lives?
Speaker:We have no time, we're busy and sometimes we want to
Speaker:curate our faith. We choose when we're going to, especially
Speaker:Christmas time. Everybody loves to be caring and hearing the voice of God then,
Speaker:and caring in specific ways. But God breaks in on a Monday morning
Speaker:as well, God breaks in on a Thursday afternoon in the middle of
Speaker:summer, even though we're going camping and we're looking at
Speaker:those Kairos moments, when God invites us into a moment that
Speaker:we didn't curate, but God has interrupted us. And you're gonna hear
Speaker:Harold and myself, our story of the times that God has broken
Speaker:in and saying, God. We said to God, like, surely you know that we're busy
Speaker:doing the Lord's work, and yet we had somebody at our doorstep and where we
Speaker:were invited to receive them in, and they were exactly who
Speaker:we needed to be with. And so we're gonna talk about those chiral moments of,
Speaker:what do we do when God interrupts us with
Speaker:opportunities or thoughts or callings on our life? And we
Speaker:say, paying attention to how do we hear God's voice?
Speaker:How do we hear God's voice together and become vulnerable together and
Speaker:accountable in the body of Christ and supportive of each
Speaker:other through those Kairos moments, and then how do we respond? Because faith
Speaker:without actions is dead. And so I believe that
Speaker:everybody in the church has multiple Kairos moments where we're
Speaker:invited in. And, yes, it's disruptive, but, boy,
Speaker:does God work through those moments. And how do we respond? And
Speaker:so you're going to be hearing some stories about that
Speaker:and walking with each other through those opportunities,
Speaker:and we're going to be introducing you to ways that God can break in, even
Speaker:through care portal stories. And how do you respond to that? And
Speaker:just to bring clarity, you and Harold are coming on for the next
Speaker:podcast episode. Your story's not shared in that first
Speaker:module. Okay, so what about week number two? We
Speaker:titled this one rethinking poverty. I think
Speaker:we often have a preconceived idea
Speaker:of what poverty is. Usually it has to do
Speaker:with financial poverty or resourcing
Speaker:poverty, housing poverty. And
Speaker:all of those are part of it. But we're really unpacking the
Speaker:theology of poverty and suffering and looking at the many
Speaker:ways that we can experience poverty. And really, at its
Speaker:core, is a relational element, a relational poverty
Speaker:that is more identifiable to everybody in Canada
Speaker:than we actually make it out to be. And let's
Speaker:identify that with our own poverty in the areas that we have
Speaker:deficits as well, and so that it doesn't become an us and them,
Speaker:those that have and those that have nothing and those that have. And there's a
Speaker:prosperity gospel that we have to be cautious about that. Oh, if God
Speaker:has been providing and we're doing well, then we can go
Speaker:rescue those that have less. Actually, can we sit with the
Speaker:core. Can we be with and understand our own sense
Speaker:of poverty and grow together more in a mutually
Speaker:transformative way? And we're going to bring groups into
Speaker:that understanding. And in this episode, in the subsequent, in this series, we're
Speaker:going to actually talk about some stories and introduce you to
Speaker:some poverty training and experiences that you could bring
Speaker:into your congregation. So that's going to be exciting as well.
Speaker:Awesome. So that third week, the topic we entitled
Speaker:radical presence in hard places. So what do we mean when we say
Speaker:radical presence? You don't have to look far.
Speaker:Maybe you're looking on the news or you're
Speaker:hearing somebody's story or you're at a meeting.
Speaker:And we can see that there's a lot of
Speaker:trauma, a lot of difficulty that people are going through.
Speaker:You might even be experiencing it in your own family. And there's
Speaker:a lot of people going through a lot of hard times. And one
Speaker:of the things that we've observed is that as we're introducing
Speaker:people to the care portal and they're being introduced to people's
Speaker:stories, whether they're a newcomer struggling to
Speaker:get their feet on the ground, or a youth aging out
Speaker:or a family that is desperately trying to work together, these are
Speaker:hard stories that we're introducing people to. And it's not foreign
Speaker:to anyone. They have hard stories around them, but it can be
Speaker:paralyzing for the church. There's like this separation
Speaker:from what they know biblically to be true to. How do
Speaker:we practically care for others in these hard places?
Speaker:So we're going to be unpacking a little bit some basic principles
Speaker:of trauma care. And what does the Bible say about helping
Speaker:people in their distress? Being with the radical
Speaker:presence is often just being with and knowing how to
Speaker:be good at being present with other people's suffering
Speaker:without the need to rescue them or fix people.
Speaker:People are not projects to be fixed, but people to be with. And,
Speaker:and God has such good illustrations in the Bible
Speaker:that we can learn from. But I think what we're trying to do in this
Speaker:module is unpack that. What does it actually mean
Speaker:when I see that care portal request? What does it actually mean when
Speaker:I read the news? What does it actually mean when I'm sitting with somebody in
Speaker:my congregation that's going through a hard time? And what is a
Speaker:biblical response? What is a faithful and obedient response
Speaker:to that? And I think people will feel enlightened and that burden lifted,
Speaker:that they don't have to save people, but that their presence
Speaker:matters. And again, like each of these sessions has
Speaker:a time where they can really reflect and meditate on
Speaker:scripture, go contemplative and hear from the Lord for themselves.
Speaker:So the feedback we've got is, everybody loves that part of it.
Speaker:So our fourth week, which is the last, if you are not doing
Speaker:care portal, and we called that one awakening
Speaker:dignity. You want to tell us a little bit about that one?
Speaker:Yes. Awakening dignity is really about
Speaker:showing respect and dignity when we're responding to the
Speaker:needs of others, when people have invited us into their sacred
Speaker:spaces and challenging spaces, how do we do that?
Speaker:With mutuality and respect, human to human
Speaker:caring for each other. And I think this is an
Speaker:important aspect that we all desire
Speaker:to give dignity to others. But sometimes even in
Speaker:our unawareness of what we're projecting or unawareness of
Speaker:our presence, what we bring into their story, we can actually
Speaker:induce shame and cause more
Speaker:friction or cause more harm than good,
Speaker:even when our intentions don't mean to. And so we're talking about how do
Speaker:we bring dignity into the stories of others
Speaker:when we go to their doorstep and respond to the need that they've invited
Speaker:us into? What does it look like to give dignity to social
Speaker:workers who are part of a system much bigger than themselves?
Speaker:And yes, it's imperfect, but how do we show dignity and love
Speaker:and compassion and see the human side of them? How do we show
Speaker:dignity to officials and leaders? And how do we people,
Speaker:well, as the church, and I think sometimes we can get into this
Speaker:us and them mentality where we have this church
Speaker:culture, where we were really caring and supportive. When you're in the
Speaker:culture, you get it, but it's really hard to integrate into the
Speaker:community. And sometimes it comes out weird and indignifying.
Speaker:We're not bashing the church over the head at all, but we're just saying,
Speaker:here's some simple tools. It's actually easier than you think. You can drop the mask.
Speaker:You can actually be human with other people. You don't have to be perfect. In
Speaker:fact, in our imperfection, in our vulnerability, we are actually
Speaker:drawing people in and connecting with people in a really mutually
Speaker:transformative way. And so this is simply a tool to say, you know what? It
Speaker:might be easier than you think. And here's some great biblical examples. Here's
Speaker:some great tools for, for prayer and contemplation so that you can say,
Speaker:hey, lord, when I go into my day today,
Speaker:how can I be fully present? How can I provide dignity to
Speaker:those I interact with, whether it's a homeless person at a streetlight
Speaker:or it is somebody in my workplace or somebody I
Speaker:don't even get along with. But how do we give
Speaker:dignity as image bearers of Christ serving image
Speaker:bearers of Christ? Yeah, because if that knowledge doesn't make it into
Speaker:our daily lives, our prayer lives, or spiritual lives, it's like that seed that falls
Speaker:on that hard ground and just dies and shrivels up. Right.
Speaker:Such an important part of this course. But we do have that
Speaker:practical part of this course where we walk you through the care portal. And this
Speaker:is obviously for those that want to get care portal into their
Speaker:churches. Week five, we call them meaningful care portal
Speaker:connections. So what does that look like, Wendy, on that? Week five, it's
Speaker:very practical. We'll bring one of our staff in and work with
Speaker:the congregation, with the small groups that have
Speaker:gone through the training, and they are committed to wanting to
Speaker:serve because faith without actions is dead. So we don't want to just make it
Speaker:a. Oh, that was really nice. That was very powerful
Speaker:and really not see action. We're actually tracking that and saying,
Speaker:okay, as you've learned these things, how has it
Speaker:actually translated into meaningful compassion in your
Speaker:community? And so for the churches that have said yes to care portal,
Speaker:we're saying, can we help activate at the small group level?
Speaker:Can we activate these groups to show acts of kindness and respond to
Speaker:needs through the care portal? So the. The actual module will be
Speaker:very practical. How do you show up? It's like telling my teenager, how do
Speaker:you answer the phone? Right? How do you have a phone conversation? We're doing that
Speaker:with churches because we're. We're realizing that while there is a
Speaker:desire to care for the community, there's actually some social
Speaker:skills and social development that needs to happen on a practical
Speaker:level to remove some barriers that people are feeling like.
Speaker:Canadians don't just show up at somebody's door. Right? Canadians don't
Speaker:just work with social services. Canadians don't necessarily work across
Speaker:the sectors. But we're saying, you know what, church? You can do
Speaker:this. And we're going to show you how. Don't go by yourself. Here's some best
Speaker:practices. Here's some things to do when you. You have an encounter with
Speaker:others. Just some very basic things that help
Speaker:people. People well. And not only that, the technology
Speaker:is working great in Canada, I have to say, and give kudos to the care
Speaker:portal team in the US who have partnered with us.
Speaker:We're the first to take it out of the. Out of the country and into
Speaker:Canada. And the technology works well, but we're teaching
Speaker:congregations how to use technology. You know, everybody knows how
Speaker:to use an Uber app. I think most people do. Or Uber eats or
Speaker:these technologies that allow us to get food or other
Speaker:products. We know how to use Amazon prime, that doesn't seem formidable,
Speaker:but sometime within the church, we actually need help to use technology, saying,
Speaker:you mean, I could actually, in a similar way, use an app to
Speaker:be able to see needs in real time. And if I click this button,
Speaker:I can actually be connected with that social worker to coordinate
Speaker:that care so that we can make sure mom gets baby home safe and
Speaker:sound. So we're actually just helping handhold that
Speaker:process so that everybody can care
Speaker:in meaningful ways. It's absolutely brilliant
Speaker:technology and care portal itself. Like, it's amazing
Speaker:that the church actually found a way to connect with social
Speaker:services. Like, that is not an easy
Speaker:thing to happen. If any of you work in social services, you know that
Speaker:the church and social services don't tend to work together very
Speaker:closely. Now, I'm really excited about that. And one of the things I've
Speaker:learned about over the five year journey, bringing care portal, introducing
Speaker:it into Canada, and seeing how will it respond
Speaker:in different sectors within our canadian sector, is that
Speaker:social service is ready for it. If it was just for even
Speaker:secular, if social service, it was up to them, we would
Speaker:be, like, rampant across Canada. But we have to go at the pace of
Speaker:relationships in building up the church to be able to respond, to
Speaker:put it on the peripheral, put it in the vision within the church and
Speaker:denominations to say, you know what? We actually have a space here. Child
Speaker:welfare isn't just a government issue or,
Speaker:or the nonprofit that we give our support to once a
Speaker:year. It's actually the whole church can, it can be part of this
Speaker:caring capacity. And so we're really going at the pace of
Speaker:the local church, and we're going at the pace that cities
Speaker:across Canada have developed networks. And so one of
Speaker:the joys I get to have right now is working with different city
Speaker:leaders that they're saying, we have this vision to see our
Speaker:churches work together. We have this vision to see the churches
Speaker:work with the social sector. And so we're going at that pace and
Speaker:are able to. So the good news is we're able to work with them and
Speaker:give them technology and the training and some of these resources like we're
Speaker:talking about today to help cities take
Speaker:leadership in these same ways. And we're here to walk alongside, and
Speaker:it's the joy of my life is walking alongside city leaders
Speaker:as their grappling with building these bridges. That's
Speaker:such a beautiful picture, having the church work side
Speaker:by side with social services to serve the community,
Speaker:to help those kids aging out of care. And that moment that is in
Speaker:danger of losing her children because of lack of
Speaker:resources. To have the church partner with social services so
Speaker:that those things can be alleviated is amazing,
Speaker:unheard of. And I'm just excited about the future of the church,
Speaker:and that's why we're doing this care journey. Right? Well, and the verse that comes
Speaker:to mind when you're saying that, Johan, is the harvest is
Speaker:plentiful. There's actually ample ways that the church is
Speaker:being invited in across the sectors to work with children
Speaker:and families and those most vulnerable in our cities. But the
Speaker:workers are few. And that is a challenge to the church that
Speaker:we were sitting with pastors in the beginning saying, what is helping your churches
Speaker:grow? What are some of your frustrations and friction points that
Speaker:prevent the whole church from caring well for their community?
Speaker:And we're all sitting with this and saying, what if there's some
Speaker:resources that anybody in the congregation could lead
Speaker:a small group? They can gather people around the table. They can bring people into
Speaker:their living room and grow closer to God and to each other
Speaker:and challenge each other and keep each other accountable and grow together in
Speaker:loving their neighbor. Well, the workers are few. We can only grow care
Speaker:portal. We can only grow it as the church in
Speaker:caring for our community in these meaningful ways, as much as
Speaker:the workers are developed and disciples and nurtured.
Speaker:And one of the beautiful things that I see is this isn't
Speaker:about like roping people in when
Speaker:I see somebody that originally was just a Sunday
Speaker:Christian, and yet all of a sudden they discover those Kairos
Speaker:moments and God is speaking to them and saying, you know what? I'm, I've
Speaker:created you in this unique way. I've given you these
Speaker:passions. I've wired you in this specific way. I've
Speaker:created you for community. And when they discover their God
Speaker:given identity, which is part of this whole care
Speaker:journey process, they light up, they become
Speaker:alive. And I think that's what we want for our congregations. We don't want
Speaker:to just see people out in the communities transformed.
Speaker:We want to see the church revitalized, and that's going to be
Speaker:through discipleship and community.
Speaker:And we want to share those stories right here on the podcast. So
Speaker:we want more churches involved, and we want to see more of those stories encouraging
Speaker:the church to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We don't want this to
Speaker:sound like an infomercial for something we're wrapping up to
Speaker:sell or anything. So Wendy, for those churches that want to get their hands on
Speaker:it, we actually made this resource free at the moment. You
Speaker:can go to Careimpact ca
Speaker:carejourney. No spaces in there. That's Careimpact ca
Speaker:carejourney. There's a form there to get you on the waiting list for your
Speaker:church. Again, it's no cost unless you want us to get
Speaker:some printed color booklets for you and your group. But there is
Speaker:a leader's guide and there's, there's workbooks that will be sent to you
Speaker:digitally PDF if you want to print it on your own. Again, that that part
Speaker:is free, but if you want it printed through us, we can do that for
Speaker:you. And one of the caveats with that, I'll just add, is
Speaker:that we want to learn with you what is working, what is transforming
Speaker:your group. And so you'll. You'll have opportunity for your participants
Speaker:in your small group to be able to give some responses on how it
Speaker:is impacting them. We are wanting to, to grow this, um, and
Speaker:so by you, um, utilizing our resources,
Speaker:we also want to be learning with you and from you. And so we
Speaker:would love for your participation. So if you're part of a congregation
Speaker:and you're part of a small group and you're eager to discover how
Speaker:to bring compassion into action, we invite you to
Speaker:follow along in this series. You will be inspired by the stories we share
Speaker:and possibly you could consider taking the care
Speaker:journey. Thank you for
Speaker:joining another conversation on Journey with care
Speaker:inspire curious Canadians on their path of faith and living
Speaker:life with purpose in community. Journey with Care is an initiative of
Speaker:Care Impact, a canadian charity dedicated to connecting and equipping
Speaker:the whole church to journey well in community. You can visit their
Speaker:website at CareImpact CA or visit Journeywithcare CA to
Speaker:get more information on weekly episodes, journey with prayer, and
Speaker:details about our upcoming events and meetups. You can also leave us
Speaker:a message, share your thoughts, and connect with like minded
Speaker:individuals who are on their own journeys of faith and purpose.
Speaker:Thank you for sharing this podcast and helping these stories reach the
Speaker:community. Together we can explore ways to journey in a good way
Speaker:and always remember to stay curious.
