So it's been 1 week.
1 Week of new things. Getting lost. Confusion. Heat. And more.
But thank God I have a roof over my head and I am making progress. Language, as expected, is a huge barrier to overcome. It makes even the simplest task a lot harder. The other day I spent 1 hour shopping for a small basket of groceries. There are no recognizable brands and I have to check carefully to be sure what I'm buying is what I actually want. Of course all the labels are in Turkish so that makes it even more difficult!
But I'm managing and the guys here are very helpful. I'm only on a small dialup connection, so I can't spend much time online yet. Hopefully I can sort out an ADSL connection soon. Then I'll be free to send more.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Thursday, September 01, 2005
The place of church in job creation
I've been bending my mind around some new ideas this past few weeks. It seems I have quite a bit of time to myself as I wait to go to Turkey and so I have been thinking. I know, "Don't strain myself!"
Some comments I have heard recently have caused me to think about the role the church (ie. body of Christ) has in building up a community. Years ago Wesley used to be actively involved in helping people to find employment. It was a hallmark of the early Methodist movement. Today we seem to have lost some of this.
Imagine with me a church geared towards helping those with ideas, bring them to fruition.
Say "Mary" has an idea to start a business embroidering clothes and material. She does not know much about running a business and really is afraid to step out on her own. There are too many risks.
But in steps the church. They offer her a place in the church hall as office and working space. They offer her an interest free loan to help her get the necessary machinery. They go into the community in search of jobless individuals who can be trained and apprenticed under Mary.
They then tap into the human resources of the church body. Provide her with a business advisor and mentor from amongst the many skilled businessmen and women in the congregation. Need an accountant? Again from the congregation at special rates. Auditors? Trainers? Computer specialists? You name it, we have it in our congregation.
In return Mary must pay the church rent for the space she uses in the form of a tithe from the business income. Soon her business is up and running and so the church helps her find her own office space somewhere to allow the business to grow.
Dream? Or can it be a reality?
Some comments I have heard recently have caused me to think about the role the church (ie. body of Christ) has in building up a community. Years ago Wesley used to be actively involved in helping people to find employment. It was a hallmark of the early Methodist movement. Today we seem to have lost some of this.
Imagine with me a church geared towards helping those with ideas, bring them to fruition.
Say "Mary" has an idea to start a business embroidering clothes and material. She does not know much about running a business and really is afraid to step out on her own. There are too many risks.
But in steps the church. They offer her a place in the church hall as office and working space. They offer her an interest free loan to help her get the necessary machinery. They go into the community in search of jobless individuals who can be trained and apprenticed under Mary.
They then tap into the human resources of the church body. Provide her with a business advisor and mentor from amongst the many skilled businessmen and women in the congregation. Need an accountant? Again from the congregation at special rates. Auditors? Trainers? Computer specialists? You name it, we have it in our congregation.
In return Mary must pay the church rent for the space she uses in the form of a tithe from the business income. Soon her business is up and running and so the church helps her find her own office space somewhere to allow the business to grow.
Dream? Or can it be a reality?
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