Compassion and Justice | Willow Creek Community Church

Room at Our Table-Hosts and Refugee families Share Their Experience

“I’ll never forget your family or this day.” Damon

 

Thanksgiving brings to mind turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce…along with the Mayflower and the Pilgrims who sought religious and political freedom. Willow Creek, in cooperation with Exodus World Service, challenged attendees to make room at holiday tables, hosting refugees who fled their countries to escape oppression, much like the Pilgrims.  Mark, a willow volunteer, decided to host a family from Bhutan near Nepal.

 

“There was fear initially in my own heart,” Mark shared, “and nervousness as to what to do.  I kept on thinking about what Jesus called us to do which is to take care of the poor and the oppressed.  While traveling to Roger’s Park to pick up my family, there was a sense of joy in my heart when I humbled myself at the feet of Jesus.”

 

Refugees Respond to Their First Thanksgiving

 

“Within the first five minutes of entering our home, I heard the beautiful music of laughter from the refugee family. Rather than stand around and try to figure out how to talk to a family where only one member spoke English, I took them to our family room where we have foosball and air hockey games. I showed them how to play and then built a fire in the wood stove.

 

“Fourteen days earlier this family existed in a refugee camp, but now they were laughing in our home. What a gift that was to me!

 

“I did some research and discovered three Nepali recipes online and prepared them. After the meal, my wife asked the son which food he liked the best. He said the Nepali dishes were their favorites. I’m sure the food reminded them of home, which made me grateful that we had taken the time to prepare their food as well. 

 

After dinner our friend Ruth, who spent three years in Nepal, sang a song they knew. We all tried to sing it following the beat with a tambourine…all while laughing.  

 

“My wife asked one of the refugees how he felt about coming to America.  He responded, ‘At first we were scared because everything in America is so new and different but now we are free. We are free.’  As the refugees gathered their belonging to go back to Roger’s Park, tears came to our eyes when the English-speaking refugee said, ‘I’ll never forget your family or this day.’ 

 

“We had just entertained modern day pilgrims crossing the ocean for freedom.”

 

All of us at Willow Creek can all make a difference this holiday season by reaching out to someone in our community. Be sure to check out our serving opportunities available through Just Christmas to get involved and bring joy to others this Christmas.

Built for Relationships-Serving at Riverwood Christian Center in the Fox River Valley

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another"…1 John 1:7

 

Sue Schuerr, a member of the Love Thy Neighbord Ministry, and a good friend enjoyed the beautiful fall day at the beginning of a recent Willow Creek Blitz Build at the Riverwood Christian Center.  The 80 acre campus is located on the Fox River in St. Charles and is a haven for young people.  The center has served youth from fifteen under-resourced communities throughout the Fox River Valley since 1977. Sue was greeted by many familiar faces from past Blitz Builds.  Beginning the serve with prayer, everyone got busy with the task at hand: finishing painting the interior of the dorm and building the framework for the numerous bunk beds required.

 

Serving at Riverwood  

 

During lunch, Steve, a volunteer, explained­­­ why he serves, “It’s a simple thing to do, but it has such a long term impact.  I enjoy working with my hands, using new power tools and seeing the result of my labor. We build camaraderie working together as we live out our faith through serving.  There are so many stresses in the secular world and coming to serve with no cell phones, emails or outside distractions gets a person fired up. It’s all about living out our faith.  Living life through Christ is a rewarding experience.” Steve’s words resonated with the entire team. It wasn’t difficult to imagine young people growing in Christ and fellowshipping with one another in the new dorms.

 

Riverwood Christian Center’s Mission

 

Full-time staff members are busy year round.  During the school year, they assist local under-resourced communities with mentoring, after-school programs, youth nights and Bible studies. In the summer, they provide youth from surrounding communities with a variety of camp programs and activities at Riverwood’s beautiful campus. The center has been an arm of the church by providing a place for young people to grow in Christ and to become the future Christian leaders.  Along with spiritual development, the goal at Riverwoods is to help students graduate from high school and prepare for college or get needed vocational training for future career opportunities.           

 

For information about volunteering with Willow Creek’s “Love Thy Neighbor Ministry,” contact Anne Rand at Extension Ministries arand@willowcreek.org

Riverwood Christian Center is looking for committed followers of Christ to serve by working with under-resourced youth in a camp setting. Roles include counselors, teen directors, activity directors and more.  For more information call 630-584-2222 or see their web site www.riverwoodchristiancenter.org

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another"…1 John 1:7

 

Sue Schuerr, a member of the Love Thy Neighbord Ministry, and a good friend enjoyed the beautiful fall day at the beginning of a recent Willow Creek Blitz Build at the Riverwood Christian Center.  The 80 acre campus is located on the Fox River in St. Charles and is a haven for young people.  The center has served youth from fifteen under-resourced communities throughout the Fox River Valley since 1977. Sue was greeted by many familiar faces from past Blitz Builds.  Beginning the serve with prayer, everyone got busy with the task at hand: finishing painting the interior of the dorm and building the framework for the numerous bunk beds required.

 

Serving at Riverwood  

 

During lunch, Steve, a volunteer, explained­­­ why he serves, “It’s a simple thing to do, but it has such a long term impact.  I enjoy working with my hands, using new power tools and seeing the result of my labor. We build camaraderie working together as we live out our faith through serving.  There are so many stresses in the secular world and coming to serve with no cell phones, emails or outside distractions gets a person fired up. It’s all about living out our faith.  Living life through Christ is a rewarding experience.” Steve’s words resonated with the entire team. It wasn’t difficult to imagine young people growing in Christ and fellowshipping with one another in the new dorms.

 

Riverwood Christian Center’s Mission

 

Full-time staff members are busy year round.  During the school year, they assist local under-resourced communities with mentoring, after-school programs, youth nights and Bible studies. In the summer, they provide youth from surrounding communities with a variety of camp programs and activities at Riverwood’s beautiful campus. The center has been an arm of the church by providing a place for young people to grow in Christ and to become the future Christian leaders.  Along with spiritual development, the goal at Riverwoods is to help students graduate from high school and prepare for college or get needed vocational training for future career opportunities.           

 

For information about volunteering with Willow Creek’s “Love Thy Neighbor Ministry,” contact Anne Rand at Extension Ministries arand@willowcreek.org

Riverwood Christian Center is looking for committed followers of Christ to serve by working with under-resourced youth in a camp setting. Roles include counselors, teen directors, activity directors and more.  For more information call 630-584-2222 or see their web site www.riverwoodchristiancenter.org

Medical Trip to Samfya, Zambia

Over the Miles

 

On Mike Marschke’s fourth medical missions trip to Samfya, Zambia, he lead a medical team of five.  Enduring three days of travel, including a nineteen hour flight, and an eight hour drive to reach their destination, their medical skills make a huge difference in this tiny African village.

 

The Clinic

 

Last year, medical teams from Willow set up a small clinic for residents. This most recent team spent their time at the clinic teaching, caring and treating all who needed assistance. Their work is difficult since residents struggle with basic human needs…nutritious food, clean water, and regular medical treatment.  The top killers of Samfya are malaria, infectious water and malnutrition. 

 

Dr. Mike and others also make hut calls – seeing some of the poorest people, many without any way to get food, many sick with HIV.  Inadequate government aid means patients are often without their medication, which means they only get sicker and the HIV gets stronger.

 

Success Stories

 

Despite the challenges, many successes have been attained.

 

Last year, Gilgal was very sick with AIDS and struggling to support her four children after being widowed.  She received medical treatment and a microloan of thirty dollars.  With the money, she was able to start a kitchen farm to feed her family. Now happy and energetic, Gilgal made one hundred dollars profit her first year.  

 

Some assistance isn’t solely medical!  Bupe, born two year ago with spina bifida, needed spinal surgery. Willow’s medical team connected with Cure International - a group of American Orthopedic Surgeons and Neurosurgeons who repair congenital defects - that opened a new hospital in the capital of Zambia last year. Willow’s medical team raised funds on Bupe’s behalf and, just prior to their visit, she had surgery on her spine and leg.  She is doing great; with a little work, the hope is to get her walking!

 

Responding to the need

 

• Pray for the teams going to Samfya, Zambia.  Special prayers are needed for: Chandra, a young widow, who along with her eighteen month old son, was recently diagnosed with HIV.  She has six other children to support as well.  

 

• More volunteers with medical experience are needed.  Doctors, nurses, massage therapists (Samfyian women often have back problems from carrying their children and water.), optometrists, EMTs.  The medical team’s future plans include a used eyeglasses drive.

 

To learn more about the Medical Missions Team, access their blog at: http://missionsamfya.blogspot.com/

 

 

Learning Spot: A Hand-out, Hand-up or Harmful???

A tsunami hits Indonesia with devastating effects.  Millions are without food, clothing, shelter or medical assistance.  In Chicagoland, a growing homeless problem exists.  People are also without basic human needs.  Both problems appear similar.  But are they really?

 

Both groups require the same items; deeper issues make the situations unique.   Providing basic human needs may actually harm in some situations.  To prevent this, determining whether relief, rehabilitation or development is the appropriate intervention is critical.

 

How do you spell “Effective Relief?”

 

Relief is the urgent and temporary provision of emergency aid to reduce immediate suffering from a natural or man-made disaster.  In the tsunami illustration, people are nearly or completely helpless - experiencing plummeting economic conditions.  The key feature of relief is a provider-receiver dynamic in which the provider gives assistance – often material – to the receiver, who is largely incapable of helping himself at that time.  Effective relief is seldom, immediate and temporary.

 

But what about the others?

 

Other people in need require different assistance.  Relief becomes harmful when rehabilitation is needed.  The key feature of rehabilitation is working with, not for people to restore them and their community.  Rehabilitation must be consistent with the long-term goal of poverty alleviation.  It involves the affected population in the assessment, design and implementation of the assistance program.  The target population uses wise decisions to shoulder the responsibility of their own restoration.

 

Development helps those in need fulfill their calling of glorifying God by working and supporting themselves and their families with the fruits of their work.  The key feature of development is promoting an empowering process in which all people involved – both the “helpers” and the “helped” become more of what God created them to be.  The entire goal of development work is for local people to take charge of their individual lives and communities.

 

Providing only relief can undermine the development of individual and communal stewardship, responsibility and competence.  If the recipients have the capacity to participate in their own recovery, they should always do so.

 

Not all poverty is created equal

 

A one-size fits all approach to poverty elimination does not exist.  Careful assessment is needed so relief efforts do not prevent healthy rehabilitation and development.

 

• If you are in need of relief, please call the church at 847/765-5000 and ask to speak with the Pastor on Call.

 

 

Extreme Home Makeover—Church Style

“I now have a vision of what the church in action looks like.  It is a thing of beauty to see the selflessness of a group of virtual strangers manifest to bless the felt needs of a child of God.”    Ivan Garcia

 

 

In Lake Zurich over 300 volunteers worked diligently to provide a home for Rajean, her two young sons and her parents.  After a difficult divorce, Rajean, financially strapped and emotionally drained, didn’t know where to turn. Her parents came to the rescue and spent their life savings on a foreclosed home in Lake Zurich.  Unfortunately, the home had so many unforeseen problems that it had to be torn down. 

 

Looking at possible homelessness, Rajean turned to her church, Willow Creek, for help.  Bryan Kidd, Willow’s Blitz Build leader, teamed with leaders of a parachurch organization called Love, Inc.  With the strength of the two organizations, both skilled and unskilled volunteers rallied for a Blitz Build during the first week of October.  The generosity of the volunteers who donated their time and energy to build her a new home overwhelmed Rajean.

 

October was unseasonably cold and rainy; but weather never damped the spirits of those who served.  Although the Blitz Build has officially ended, the house is not yet complete and volunteers continue to serve. One anonymous volunteer captured the spirit of the week in poetic form.

 

“Mud head to toe, sweat coming through my layers, smiling faces, joking new friends, arms and back sore, willing workers, new faces,  fun.”

 

Student Impact makes an Impact

 

Lake Zurich Student Impact leaders Carlos and Emily Hernandez heard about the project and encouraged their high school-age team to serve.  These dedicated Christ-centered students assisted with purpose and joy.  Geoff said, “I came thinking I knew how to swing a hammer; I left knowing how to swing a hammer.  I learned so much in a short amount of time. Everyone is very friendly and forgiving.”

    Others chimed in saying, “We learned how to put in insulation and we are all very, very itchy but happy to work with friends.”

    “All I cared about was someone was getting a new home,” said Andy, “Not just someone, but a child of God.”

 

For more information on how to become involved in the next Blitz Build, contact Anne Rand at arand@willowcreek.org or Bryan Kidd at BKIDD@searshc.com

No Price Check Needed - Working for the Hungry

 

On Wednesday, October 14, a group of Motorola employees descended on Willow’s Care Center in Hoffman Estates.  They weren’t there as part of the 33,000 visits made to the care center this year.  Nor did they need any of the more than 2 million pounds of food that the center will distribute in 2009.

 

Volunteers Assist Care Center’s Mission

 

Their visit was coordinated by Jeff Walker, Willow Creek attendee, Care Center volunteer and Motorola employee, in conjunction with Motorola’s Global Day of Service.  The Schaumburg-based company uses the day to encourage employees to give back to the community.  For four years in a row, Jeff has organized a team to support the Center’s goal of feeding the hungry.  Their assistance was especially appreciated this year since the need for the Center’s services are up 89% over 2008.

 

Learning the Process

 

To start the day, the volunteers experience the client-intake process.  This includes a brief glimpse at the computerized check-in procedure, perishable (bread, eggs, milk, meat) selection and finally bag distribution to the client.  Volunteers learn that Care Center patrons can receive food one time per calendar month.  Two bags are needed to feed a family of four for a week.

 

Benefit Gained

 

The 22-member volunteer team, comprised of both Christians and non-Christians, are then given their choice of four tasks – making premade bags filled with food and paper items, restocking shelves, breaking down cardboard boxes or cleaning the warehouse.  Each person picks their task for the day, working alongside their coworkers.  The goal of the day was to assemble 600 bags, store the bags on shelves and break down the empty cardboard stock boxes.

 

“Many Motorola employees,” said Jeff, “volunteer at the Care Center year after year. This year, we had 5 new volunteers, the rest were returnees.  We’ve also had individuals who found their work so meaningful that they became permanent volunteer members of a team.  All of the participants are very thankful to be contributing, even in a small way, to alleviate hunger in this area.”

Teaching the Basics without the Basics in Samfya, Zambia

In June 2009, the Willow Creek Teachers Team spent 10 days in rural Samfya observing classrooms and presenting workshops to local teachers. After visiting four elementary schools and one high school, the Teachers Team discovered four main obstacles face Samfyan schools: attendance, educational policy, resources, and cultural constraints. These obstacles, mostly beyond the control of the Samfyan teachers, seriously impede their ability to teach.

 
No Roll Call or Homework
 
Many students would relish no attendance requirements or homework assignments, but a school without either is barely a school. No laws regulating school attendance exist in Zambia. Children often miss school for two to three weeks at a time. Since agriculture and fishing are the primary sources of income, educational pursuits come second behind farming or fishing. The result is children are frequently absent for long periods. Homework and make-up work do not exist in Zambia, so there is little opportunity to catch up. Illness and poverty also contribute to absences. With a shortage of antibiotics and good nutrition, recovery from sickness is slow. Also, some families cannot afford the nominal tuition fees.
 
No Resources and Limited Participation
 
Schools in Samfya face additional challenges. At the grade school level, learning is impeded since it is not uncommon for 10 to 12 students to share one textbook. Ninety percent of the students cannot read at the appropriate grade level; other students cannot read at all. Individual help is rare; teachers have from 30 to over 100 students in a class. Another difference is the teaching style of teachers in Zambia, which is culturally driven. Unlike Western schools, where students are called on to answer questions randomly, only students who raise their hands are called on in the Zambian schools. For fear of embarrassing a child unable to answer, the same four or five children answer all of the questions and control classroom participation.
 
Teaching Hope
 
Despite these educational obstacles, there is hope. Book drives at Willow Creek the past two years have provided high school textbooks, which have resulted in improved test scores. Also, after only two trips to Samfya, the Teachers Team is addressing educational obstacles and supporting the teaching staff. The team recognizes teachers in Samfya need to be applauded and encouraged for their efforts.  And the Teachers Team, whose assignment is "Education is a path away from poverty," is up to the task.

Celebration of Hope: Water Update

Since Willow’s May Celebration of Hope (COH) focus on Food and Water much has transpired. The deep conviction and generous outpouring of the Willow Creek congregation shows hearts transformed by the tender concern for all people modeled by Jesus. Matthew 25 was taken seriously and the result is action.

 

Global Connections partners with local churches and church networks in Latin America and Africa. These partnerships have developed into friendships with a together mind set and are vital to our compassion and justice efforts. It is not us and them, but rather we. Working in concert, pastor and leadership training was provided, ongoing short-term teams were sent, and of course, nutrition, food, water, and other desperately needed life-enhancing resources were supplied.

 

Water is Flowing

 

After COH, several ministries with an expertise in water, including Water Missions International and Healing Waters International, were contacted.  The most pressing water needs are boreholes, wells, catchment devices, repair of existing equipment and water filtration systems. With the assistance of these ministries and others, we identified the most desperate areas and are installing systems in the following locations.

 

Total: 28 water filtration systems

Kenya       1 system

Honduras        2 systems

Zimbabwe 7 systems

Dominical Republic 5 systems

Guatemala     3 systems

Malawi   4 systems

Zambia   6 systems

 

The following boreholes were also provided:

 

Total: 99 boreholes & wells:

Zimbabwe 6

South Africa    26

Zambia   65

Malawi   2

 

Because of your amazing generosity, over 200,000 people will have access to clean water for the first time!

 

Renewed by the Body of Christ

 

A small team just returned from Zimbabwe where they visited a community hospital identified as having the greatest water need. This hospital typically is without water for three weeks each month. When the hospital is dry, surgeries can not be performed and babies are delivered without water. Through COH, funding rehabilitated a near-by borehole.  A pump and on-site distribution systems, including a Water Missions chlorinator, insure the ready availability of clean water.

 

Additionally the team visited three remote villages where boreholes were recently drilled.  The close proximity of clean water provided by these boreholes means that young girls no longer need to walk miles to collect dirty polluted water.

 

Providing easily accessible water ensures real life change for villagers, but also for those who gave to make this possible. This is the beauty of the body of Christ.

Rockin’ with the Lord

Dan lacked hope.  Imprisoned in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, America’s largest maximum security prison, twenty-nine years of his life had slipped by.  Located in Angola, the prison houses violent felons and has a parole rate of less than 10%.  Odds against him, Dan gradually abandoned thoughts of release. 

He did everything he could to help himself.  Jailed for killing his wife in an alcohol-fueled rage, Dan’s time inside was spent improving.  He was a model prisoner, becoming a trustee.  He also learned carpentry, creating beautiful wooden pieces. Still every parole hearing resulted in a denial.

Surrounded by Bitterness

The reason was simple.  Louisiana’s parole board consists of three victim-rights champions who must vote unanimously.  Dan’s two sons, Shawn and Gavin, were raised by their aunt, whose anger towards her sister’s murderer still raged.  Her bitterness taught them to hate their father.  Forming their own tribunal, they came to every parole hearing with one simple request:  Don’t let this man out – ever.

Turning to God

Wendy and Tom Horton, members of Willow’s Prison Ministry who travel to Angola several times a year, knew where to turn when you can’t do it for yourself.  They befriended Dan encouraging him to turn his parole over to God.  To enlarge the prayer circle, Tom asked Dan to make two rocking chairs for Koinonia House; a post-prison housing and aftercare ministry located in suburban Chicago.  “Carve one son’s name into each of the rocking chairs. We’ll ask anyone who rocks in the chair to pray for that son.”  People rocked and prayed; prayed and rocked.

Restoration

Nervous as his next parole hearing approached, Dan asks Tom and Wendy to be witnesses to his life-change.  A relative was no longer available since a sympathetic aunt recently passed away.  

Gavin rises to address the parole board, who expect the same resentment.  Instead, Gavin makes a surprise, impassioned plea for Dan, saying, “My bitterness is useless.  I want my father paroled so I can rebuild my relationship with him.” Shawn is absent as his wife is giving birth, but sends a letter with the same message. One by one, the parole board members announced, “I vote for parole.” 

The power of prayer can wash away a lifetime of bitterness. It was sweetly exemplified within the jaded confines of the prison when Gavin and Dan embraced and cried in one another’s arms.

Open Door, Open Hearts: An Extraordinary Way to Share Thanks

For the Robert Gorman family of East Dundee, Thanksgiving means sharing their blessings with others. Last year, due to a partnership between Exodus World Service and Willow Creek, they hosted a Bhutanese family for Thanksgiving dinner.

 

This year, church attendees will again have the opportunity to share their Thanksgiving meal with refugees relocated to the Chicago area.  As the Gormans are quick to point out, anyone can do this; you don’t have to be perfect to demonstrate hospitality.

 

Lives on Hold

Marched out of Bhutan by the King due to racism, the Lhotsampan family hosted by the Gormans spent seventeen years in a UN refugee camp – no jobs, no home, no future and facing a hopeless future. Fortunately, they were part of the approximately 10,000 refugees welcomed by the United States each year.

 

“The UN issued 1 ½ pounds of rice and sugar per family each week.  Dad got odd jobs to keep us clothed, but with no housing, we had to huddle under the few available tarps during the rainy season,” the family recalls.

 

Life in America is easier, but refugees face the daily challenges of language differences, changes in food, bewildering customs, homesickness and financial concerns.

 

Small Effort, Huge Impact

The Gormans knew their guests were experiencing a bit of culture shock as they enjoyed a typical American turkey dinner. “Eight weeks earlier, this family was in a refugee camp,” said Robert with tears in his eyes.  Keeping with a Gorman tradition, everyone at the table shared what filled them with gratitude.  As hearts opened, barriers dissolved and a feeling of family was created.

 

Daughter Katrina found some native music and before the evening ended got everyone dancing.  Mom Tona Gorman’s heart was overwhelmed by the bounty Americans take for granted.  “I think of women walking two miles to get water for their families, knowing that the water is dirty.”  Before driving the family back home, the Gormans invited their guests to return for Willow’s Christmas service and another family dinner.

Create a new Thanksgiving Tradition

“For such a small investment, we can have a huge impact.  All you need is an open door and an open heart for people,” the Gormans explain. 

 

Your companionship can heal wounded hearts and replace loneliness.  Consider opening your home at Thanksgiving to a refugee family.  American hospitality and Christian love will bless both you and your guests.

 

If you would share your Thanksgiving with a family, plan on attending a mandatory orientation meeting at 6:45 p.m. on November 17 at Willow Creek - South Barrington.