Hatchery LA: Coaching and Training Program

Greetings everyone!

We have been so busy around here!  In the business of innovation you have to keep moving and keeping walking into the future, always anticipating shifts, movements, growth and opportunities!  With that being said, we just launched our first round of our Phase 2: Coaching and Training program for three churches in the PSWR.   This is a five-month, customized program we have developed where we walk pastors and their teams through a process in which, what we call, a Minimum Viable Benefit is developed, tested and launched.  At Hatchery we define a MVB as the following:

The Minimum Viable Benefit offers a unique value proposition by fulfilling a discovered need and creating transformation around that need.

Working within the ecosystem of your context, a hypothesis is developed and tested around a perceived primary need that is informed by:

• Cultural and economic realities

• Mechanisms of connectivity

• Models of sustainability authentic to your audience 

Developing a Minimum Viable Benefit out of a Spiritual Entrepreneurship framework empowers embodiment of agency not propped up by former models.  Rather it is released from constraints that hinder iteration and innovation.

We have just launched this curriculum for the first time after much research, development and processes of Human Centered Design to ensure that we offer our pastors with the best innovative practices for producing spiritual transformation around a felt and discovered need while also addressing issues of theological, organizational and financial sustainability.  

We have a beautiful online learning platform that allows each team to interact with each other and us no matter where they are.  We lead with a small teaching video at the beginning of the week, then there is a task to complete and the week ends with a live coaching call from one or more of our team members.

We are thrilled to be doing this ministry of innovation in the PSWR!  We believe in the future of the church, we believe in the future of the PSWR and this is our contribution to the building and rebuilding, the forming and transforming, the figuring and refiguring of things God and faith to come.  We look forward to the journey with you!

Maria French and the Hatchery LA Team   

SUMMER CAMP SCHOLARSHIPS UPDATE

We have dreamed of achieving a level of sustainability in camp ministry that would allow all campers to attend camp at a very low cost. The PSWR and so many individuals have been tremendously generous in helping move us closer to achieving this dream. However, as expected, the operational costs of camp continue to rise each year. Likewise, the need for scholarship monies also increases as more folks attend camp. 

To move us closer to our goal to provide support for all campers who need help, Loch Leven has absorbed the cost of much of our summer camp operations, spreading the financial assistance to all who attend summer camp. This year, instead of inviting folks to fill out a scholarship application, Loch Leven is inviting each registrant to pay the amount that best meets your financial situation. This means no additional paperwork is needed to receive a scholarship. Simply register online for camp through CampDoc and select the payment option that best suits your family. 

We hope that simplifying the scholarship process will help us all engage mindful stewardship, working together to honor those who truly cannot afford camp. We ask that as you select your payment options during registration that you will give prayerful consideration to the impact you can make in the lives of other young campers. 

Without a doubt, Summer Camp is one of the most valuable ministries we all provide young people in our region. We are proud to be able to partner with you in securing the future of camp ministry through your contributions, whatever the amount may be. 

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” – 1 Peter 4:10

To donate to our camp scholarships fund, click here and indicate “Camp Scholarships” in the comment section.

For a full list of camp dates or to register, visit our camp page.

Mile Marker #111: The Circle of Life

By Rev. Don Dewey and Rev. Susan Gonzales Dewey, Co-Regional Ministers

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13 

The season of Lent is upon us. It is a time of remembering who we are and whose we are. It is a time to again acknowledge our fragility, our vulnerability, and our finiteness. Lent is a journey inward where we once again travel the road of our imperfect faith, acknowledging our own brokenness and discover our need for healing.

Lent prepares us to be ready to embrace new hopes, new dreams, new possibilities, and new life. Yet first we must let go of all those things, ideas and ways that hold us back or burden our hearts in order to experience what might yet be. In other words, in order for us to truly experience a resurrection, there must be a death.

Therefore, in many Christian traditions, this season begins with Ash Wednesday. A time where we remember we are dust of the earth, and to dust we shall return.

I was reminded of this very personally recently in the passing of my mother a few weeks ago. At age 87, she had lived a good, full life and yet it was over sooner than we would have liked. As the case with most of us who lose a loved one or parent, we grieved and were flooded with so many memories of her love, faithfulness and self-less presence in our lives.

At her memorial service, I had an experience both of the sadness of loss, but also of resurrection hope as Susan and I held our twin grandsons, now just five months old. As the service was going on and memories were being shared about my mom, I felt the joy of a squirming young life in my arms, so full of potential and hope and possibilities, that my tears were coming from a deep place of gratitude for all of it.

At a recent Regional Board meeting, a conversation centered on congregations that have closed and what happens to the property if it is Regionally owned. There seems to be some who still think that the Region is closing churches. The truth is, the Region does not close churches, but churches do close.

Everything has a life cycle, a beginning and end. Congregations make the decision to close their visible ministry for a variety of reasons. Some find themselves unable to financially continue their ministry; others experience enough decline and aging that there is no longer leadership to support an ongoing ministry.

What the Region does do is come along side the congregation and help them discern the necessary steps to both close the congregation and determine how best to honor its legacy.  

When a congregation makes the decision to close its ministry, the Regional staff explores all possibilities for repurposing the property with a new Disciple ministry. In the last ten years or so, we have had 16 congregations close. We have been able to repurpose half of those facilities with new Disciple ministries.

When repurposing isn’t possible, we do a thorough evaluation of the property by consulting the Region’s Property Trustees, our Broker, and often our Region’s attorney to determine the best course of action for the property. In that assessment, we often discover years of costly deferred maintenance issues that prohibit a new start to be sustainable. We also discover that these aging facilities are no longer located in the best places for new ministry or are not right-sized any longer for growing a new congregation.

When this is determined, a proposal is brought to the Regional Board to consider marketing the property so that the assets of this resource can once again be used for developing life-giving ministry.

Again, in the last ten years, Regionally owned properties that have been sold have allowed the Region to support our growing ministry. Resources have supported our camp and conference ministry, allowed staff hires (like a full time Regional Youth Pastor) and increase support for our Associate Regional Ministers. These resources have increased the work of our New Church Development Committee as they work with over a dozen congregations in formation and have just launched three new church starts, with more on the way. It allowed the Region to launch new ministry opportunities through the Hatchery, Transformation grants, Leadership grants, Vision grants and the Acts 2 Project that supports eight pastors and five congregations/ministries.  

We were also able to purchase a retreat center in the San Diego area that will serve many of our congregations whose ministry is developed and grown through a retreat model of leadership development.

These resources have also allowed the Region to provide scholarships to our youth and young adults to attend General Assemblies, NAPAD, Convocation and Convención gatherings as well as Global mission trips and much more.

This is the life cycle of the church. We honor the legacy and build the future. Just as we grieve the loss of a loved one, we also grieve the closing of a church. Yet, we also celebrate and rejoice in the new life yet to be – the promise of resurrection. We are people who have hope in the future because of Jesus our Christ and his resurrection!

As I sat there in the memorial service for my mom, surrounded by family and friends, I had a deep sense of hopefulness for the future; reflecting on all the love, support, prayers and cards I received and looking into the face of my grandson I could rejoice in the goodness of life with a grateful heart.

Friends, as we make our way through this season of Lent, letting go of those things that keep us from fully embracing the sheer goodness of life and moving past the grieving of what was, to what is yet to be; may we experience anew God’s gracious and unending love that invites into a new and glorious future.

Together on the journey,
Don and Susan

The Tohoku Projects: Commemorating the 8th Anniversary of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

Tohoku Projects (2011 ～ 2019)

Following the great disaster of March 2011, Global Ministries has supported the following projects in northeastern Japan.

Emmaus Center (Sendai, Tohoku Kyoku-Kyodan)

Disaster relief for tsunami survivors for first several years after disaster. This includes equipment for mud removal, food and lodging for volunteers. Once survivors moved into temporary shelters and then into government sponsored housing, the focus has been on accompaniment and community building. Disaster Center activities to end in March 2019.

Izumi (Sendai, Tohoku Kyoku-Kyodan)

Started in 2013 to aid families who live with the fear of radiation. Izumi provides free thyroid testing every month to 50 to 100 families so that they can keep their own records. They also provide counseling services (medical, legal, spiritual) as well as opportunities for peer support. Fresh-air camps have allowed families to travel to Okinawa and Hokkaido to spend time away from areas with high radiation.

EIWAN (Empowerment of Immigrant Women Affiliated Network, Fukushima, RAIK)

Supports immigrant women living in Fukushima. They run Japanese language classes for mothers and after school tutoring for children in three locations. They aim to support these foreign women and their children, to bring together bicultural families, and to make them a visible presence in the wider society in order to build and nurture a community that celebrates diversity.

Aizu Radiation Information Center (Aizu, citizen’s movement)

Following the nuclear disaster, local residents in Aizu came together with a common purpose to protect the lives of children in Fukushima. Their base of operations is a former kindergarten building owned by the Wakamatsu Sakaemachi Church (Kyodan). They aim to 1) gather and disseminate information, 2) build a support network for local people, and 3) advocate for those who continue to suffer under oppressive conditions in Fukushima.

The Fukushima Children Evacuation Lawsuit (Fukushima, citizen’s movement)

1400 parents and their children have sued Fukushima Prefecture for the right for children to study in a safe environment. The Japanese government claims that it is now safe to study in public schools in Fukushima, despite the fact that local citizen’s groups have pointed out areas with high radiation in and around the schools. Families have moved away because they do not feel safe sending their children to public schools in the prefecture. Citizen’s movements such as this have depended on financial donations to allow families to return to Fukushima to attend the hearings.

Mile Marker #110: THE UNIVERSAL FORCE

By Rev. Don Dewey and Rev. Susan Gonzales Dewey, Co-Regional Ministers

“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
- 1 Corinthians 13:1-8

Perhaps the month of February could boast of having the fourth or fifth most recognized holiday of the year; giving way to Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween and Mother’s Day! Valentines Day, celebrated on February 14th is noted for its focus on LOVE.

This holiday, named after St. Valentine who was beheaded for secretly helping couples wed, celebrates that universal experience. Like most holidays, Hallmark, candy companies and floral companies garner a huge business with endless ways to say, “I love you” to someone we care about.

While love is a universal experience for all humanity, it is also at the very heart of our Christian experience. St. Paul perhaps has captured it best in that famous 13TH chapter in 1 Corinthians. A passage that is often read at weddings and other such occasions where loves ideal is lifted up.

In the late 1980s, Lieserl Einstein, the daughter of the famous genius, donated 1,400 letters, written by Einstein, to the Hebrew University, with orders not to publish their contents until two decades after his death. This is one of them that he had written to her on The Universal Force of Love.

“When I proposed the theory of relativity, very few understood me, and what I will reveal now to transmit to mankind will also collide with the misunderstanding and prejudice in the world.

I ask you to guard the letters as long as necessary, years, decades, until society is advanced enough to accept what I will explain below.

There is an extremely powerful force that, so far, science has not found a formal explanation to. It is a force that includes and governs all others, and is even behind any phenomenon operating in the universe and has not yet been identified by us. This universal force is LOVE.

When scientists looked for a unified theory of the universe they forgot the most powerful unseen force. Love is Light, that enlightens those who give and receive it. Love is gravity, because it makes some people feel attracted to others. Love is power, because it multiplies the best we have, and allows humanity not to be extinguished in their blind selfishness. Love unfolds and reveals. For love we live and die. Love is God and God is Love.

This force explains everything and gives meaning to life. This is the variable that we have ignored for too long, maybe because we are afraid of love because it is the only energy in the universe that man has not learned to drive at will.

To give visibility to love, I made a simple substitution in my most famous equation. If instead of E = mc2, we accept that the energy to heal the world can be obtained through love multiplied by the speed of light squared, we arrive at the conclusion that love is the most powerful force there is, because it has no limits.

After the failure of humanity in the use and control of the other forces of the universe that have turned against us, it is urgent that we nourish ourselves with another kind of energy… If we want our species to survive, if we are to find meaning in life, if we want to save the world and every sentient being that inhabits it, love is the one and only answer.

Perhaps we are not yet ready to make a bomb of love, a device powerful enough to entirely destroy the hate, selfishness and greed that devastate the planet.

However, each individual carries within them a small but powerful generator of love whose energy is waiting to be released.

When we learn to give and receive this universal energy, dear Lieserl, we will have affirmed that love conquers all, is able to transcend everything and anything, because love is the quintessence of life.

I deeply regret not having been able to express what is in my heart, which has quietly beaten for you all my life. Maybe it’s too late to apologize, but as time is relative, I need to tell you that I love you and thanks to you I have reached the ultimate answer!”
- Your father, Albert Einstein

Sometimes today it can feel like hate, bigotry, fear, greed and all kinds of destructive behavior and attitudes are “winning.” However, it is important to remember that no matter how dim the light nor how deep the darkness, the light of love is in the world and no amount of darkness can extinguish it. Each human being carries within them this universal spark of divine love and our task is to fan its flame.

Einstein wrote, “If we want our species to survive, if we are to find meaning in life, if we want to save the world and every sentient being that inhabits it, love is the one and only answer.” St. Paul reminds us that “Love never ends.” I pray that we begin with ourselves to tap into the energy of that Universal Force of Love, which we know to be our God, and trust is redemptive and transformative power to change us and our world.

Together on the journey,
Don and Susan