We’re learning as we go and we’d love to share some of what we’ve learned.
Back and better than before – this has been our experience of our church reopening in-person gatherings after Thailand’s exapnsive COVID lockdown. Volunteer engagement is up. This isn’t just numbers, but also a renewed sense of excitement and buy-in that pulses through our teams now. A deep enthusiasm, that comes from knowing we’re part of… Read More Back Better
God has a sense of humour and sometimes we wonder just how quirky it is. Much like we chuckle when our own kids fumble forward in life, we imagine Him having a good laugh watching us rant, rave, and learn. By February 2020, life in Thailand was shifting as COVID was making it’s global debut.… Read More Pandemic Fruits of the Spirit
There is no modern playbook for a global pandemic. Current headlines will tell you that the spectrum is broad when it comes to opinions on whether we’ve handled this rightly or wrongly. Only time will tell and even then we probably won’t all agree! Within our NGO world, we saw the full gamut of responses… Read More All the Ones to Celebrate
After a year of tending to it, one night she went to get a glass of water and a wonderful fragrance caught her attention. There in the darkness, it had finally happened. Epiphyllum oxypetalum, the Queen of the Night, had bloomed. The flower was lovely and ornate and filled the space with a beautiful smell.… Read More Somethings Only Bloom in Darkness
“GET US OUT OF HERE” was the background narrative to everything we did back in 2006. On the verge of getting married, our sights were set on moving overseas. We wanted Canada in our rear-view and everyday our mantra was, “Europe or bust”. By mid-2007 we were married and we began 2008 in Slovakia. Mission… Read More The Sent Need the Senders who Need the Sent
Sitting with their windows open, our friend could hear the rain drops landing on the willow tree. If you didn’t focus, it was white noise, but when they tuned-in to those falling drops, they could hear the splashes, crashes, and drips of the many drops. Their thoughts turned to how God works in their life.… Read More Unpredictable + Consistent
Supporting Global Workers overseas is very expensive. It would be a better use of funds and energy if we only supported people from that cultural context. This is absolutely a valid argument for why one country should not send workers to another. It’s true, but not totally. The word “missions” is loaded and rightfully so.… Read More Front Line Fraternity
When you drop the “V” word around most charities, we find ourselves thrown into impassioned conversations about volunteer recruitment, volunteer training, volunteer retention, volunteer engagement, and volunteer liability. In this flurry of volunteer utilization / mobilization / optimization talk, we rarely hear the conversation turn towards personal volunteering. Beyond volunteers as tools, we’re left with… Read More Volunteerism
In life, there are going to be seasons of feasts, seasons of regular meals, and seasons of snacks. It sounds simple but this insight from John Caplin, an organizational coach who has encouraged us greatly, has shaped much of our thinking in recent years. We’ve used this lens in how we parent, how we engage… Read More Skimming
Matthew here to talk about a potential growth moment I’m navigating that started with my language class buddy dropping the class and then the country. We’ll call him Q (because, thanks to Bond, it sounds mysterious). Q and I have sat together in class for about 2 months now. We talk on breaks and we… Read More Why I’m NOT Writing my Language Exam
