Thursday, February 18, 2010

Day 49 - the day I met Jacqueline Novogratz.

Day 49 and I spent time today being blown away with the guts, wisdom and vision of a lady called Jacqueline Novogratz. She had stayed in the same hotel as us in Nairobi, Kenya just three weeks ago and during that time one of our team had connected with her. Today I found out just how brilliant a woman she is.
Check out her TED Talks at www.ted.com/speakers/jacqueline_novogratz.html

Two sentences she said stood out for me:

"Dignity is more important to the human spirit than wealth"; and "when you've lived on charity your whole life its really hard to say what you mean."

As I listened to Jacqueline and could visualise the slums she spoke about - Mathare Village which is neighbor to the Huruma slum we partner in - it more and more pumped me to believe that poverty could be eradicated if the church stood up tall.

I am more convinced of this after a day listening, learning and merging my listening and learning into my theology.

My heart beat faster at the end of the day as we finished a strong staff meeting (if you're a part of Redeemer's Church you won't believe what we're dreaming up as the next stage in our history that God is nudging us towards - wow!) .....and alongside the powerful dreaming I experiecned came this powerful conviction of what can happen to poverty in Huruma, Jocotillo, Tijuana and elsewhere as Redeemer's Church gets it ...and what can happen globally as more and more churches get it.

So my intentional follow of Jesus today is to write in this blog a strong, bold challenge to all/anyone - play your part in bringing the Kingdom of God to earth. Share your faith, and play your part in sharing your resources to see poverty eradicated in our generation.

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