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Trip to India!
My name is Matt. This is my FIRST POST on the CAN website! It's a biggy for me because I'll actually be joining the CAN team next year working for Compassion at their Newcastle Head Office.
So, what better way to get started then to log an action! Before I start my new job in January I'm taking a trip to India to visit the orphanages run by Manna Ministries India. Our Church (the Grainery in Newcastle) has been working with these orphanages for over 10 years!
This trip we're taking some medical professionals and assessing the progress of 5 new orphanages that our church has begun partnering with. (On a less serious note, I'll also be playing lots and lots of cricket with the locals and making sure I sample all the curries!)
A little bit more about myself. I have always been confronted by the injustice in the world. Growing up I couldn't find an answer to the questions I'm sure many of you have asked yourself. Why they inequality? Why the hunger? Why the bondage of modern day slaves?
Then, I heard about Jesus and his radical, counter-cultural call to 'die to ourselves' and follow him to fight injustice. I soon realized that this Jesus, who came over 2000 years ago was actually hear to 'break in' the kingdom of heaven to begin Gods rescue mission for the world. What's more I realized that he plans on doing this through his people, people like me and you. I was sure that I wanted in!!!
I dropped out of a law degree, volunteered in SE Asia after the 2004 Tsunami, came back saved up and went off again, this time to South America for 5 months as I tried to understand how God relates to this world.
Since then I've completed a degree in International Studies, been a leader in youth movements, interned with Micah Challenge and worked with World Vision in their Advocacy team. Last year I was lucky enough to travel to Nepal to film for the 40 hour famine and I was able to share the stories of the kids I met there to thousands of young Australian's this year. I've worked on issues covering child labour, maternal health, climate change and ethical consumerism. I've been dressed as Gorrilla to protest against Cadbury, marched on the frontlines of rallies for Climate justice, met politicians in Parliament House and connected with thousands of other Australian's passionate about fighting injustice.
And now I'm coming to COMPASSION!!! (I'm a bit excited about that if you haven't already noticed!)
Poverty doesn't budge unless we expose it for the injustice it is and are willing to personally do something about. That's what I see CAN as. A vessel for love, action and hope. A stake in the ground that says, "Enough is enough, it's time to do something about this!"
So, it's nice to meet you all! Next stop India. Keep posted for some updates and I look forward to joining together with the rest of you CAN advocates side by side as we change this world.
Matt
Comments
RE: Trip to India!
Hey Matt! I'm going to take a guess that you are the guy my friend Tim Middlemiss told me was starting with Compassion? Welcome to the CAN! Look forward to meeting you!
RE: Trip to India!
Can't wait to have you on board Matt. Enjoy India.
RE: Trip to India!
Welcome, Matt!
Have just been back from India myself so looking forward to discussing your trip!
Have just been back from India myself so looking forward to discussing your trip!
RE: Trip to India!
"God is going to use India to send out believers to change the rest of the world!"
After my first trip to India I would have been highly skeptical of this claim made by a local pastor to me yesterday. During my first trip to India in 2008, the only church service I visited was a Baptist service, lead entirely in English by 2 Indian Pastors who'd trained in a Baptist College in Adelaide. It was almost identical to the church service I attend back home.
2 songs - announcements - 2 more songs - prayer - sermon - another song - done.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was... well too nice, too middle class, too comfortable, everyone had smiles. It was what I expected from Church in Sydney's wealthier North Shore suburbs but far from "Indian." I was almost depressed.
India is a land of sharp contrasts and often comical contradictions. Glistening skyscrapers tower over derelict slums, new Japanese cars compete on the highways with ox pulled carts, the rich get richer whilst the poor get poorer.... but the opposites don't stop there. When you step into the slum, play cricket with the orphan, hold the scared hands of a woman suffering leprosy, something else hits you and makes you fall back.
These communities are not wallowing about their situation but enjoying an unbreakable solidarity with their neighbors, the orphan cannot stop laughing joyfully and the woman with leprosy is singing praise and worship that "Jesus loves me and is coming back for me."
Back to the Indian church service I attended in 2008. By contrast was bland, lifeless and too sanitized... it was too "Western". It wouldn't work for this country and I couldn't see how it would become relevant to the people living in the slums or the poor rural communities.
Enter Manna Ministries who have been hosting us this trip. A thriving, dedicated team of entirely Indian followers faithfully being the hands and feet of Jesus across India in a distinctly Indian way. Fill a local church in a backwater town with over 1000 local Indians dressed in colorful Sari's and then imagine worshiping to gospel songs that sound more like Bollywood hits and have all the moves to match it! Then stay with the Pastors (who live off next to nothing themselves) and visit the orphanages they run, the schools they have built, the leprosy refuges they've opened and the clinics they administer to provide free health-care to the community. The best part. They're not doing it with healthy bank accounts, guaranteed incomes or full offering bags. They serve before they know how they're going to cover it, they sacrifice before they know if they will have enough for themselves. They rely on God and you can see that he truly relies on them to do his work.
So back to the comment the Pastor made to me about how "God is going to use India to send out believers to the rest of the world!" Do I believe it now? Absolutely.
Incredible India, who would have thought!
After my first trip to India I would have been highly skeptical of this claim made by a local pastor to me yesterday. During my first trip to India in 2008, the only church service I visited was a Baptist service, lead entirely in English by 2 Indian Pastors who'd trained in a Baptist College in Adelaide. It was almost identical to the church service I attend back home.
2 songs - announcements - 2 more songs - prayer - sermon - another song - done.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was... well too nice, too middle class, too comfortable, everyone had smiles. It was what I expected from Church in Sydney's wealthier North Shore suburbs but far from "Indian." I was almost depressed.
India is a land of sharp contrasts and often comical contradictions. Glistening skyscrapers tower over derelict slums, new Japanese cars compete on the highways with ox pulled carts, the rich get richer whilst the poor get poorer.... but the opposites don't stop there. When you step into the slum, play cricket with the orphan, hold the scared hands of a woman suffering leprosy, something else hits you and makes you fall back.
These communities are not wallowing about their situation but enjoying an unbreakable solidarity with their neighbors, the orphan cannot stop laughing joyfully and the woman with leprosy is singing praise and worship that "Jesus loves me and is coming back for me."
Back to the Indian church service I attended in 2008. By contrast was bland, lifeless and too sanitized... it was too "Western". It wouldn't work for this country and I couldn't see how it would become relevant to the people living in the slums or the poor rural communities.
Enter Manna Ministries who have been hosting us this trip. A thriving, dedicated team of entirely Indian followers faithfully being the hands and feet of Jesus across India in a distinctly Indian way. Fill a local church in a backwater town with over 1000 local Indians dressed in colorful Sari's and then imagine worshiping to gospel songs that sound more like Bollywood hits and have all the moves to match it! Then stay with the Pastors (who live off next to nothing themselves) and visit the orphanages they run, the schools they have built, the leprosy refuges they've opened and the clinics they administer to provide free health-care to the community. The best part. They're not doing it with healthy bank accounts, guaranteed incomes or full offering bags. They serve before they know how they're going to cover it, they sacrifice before they know if they will have enough for themselves. They rely on God and you can see that he truly relies on them to do his work.
So back to the comment the Pastor made to me about how "God is going to use India to send out believers to the rest of the world!" Do I believe it now? Absolutely.
Incredible India, who would have thought!
RE: Trip to India!
Love it Matt - great to hear.
RE: Trip to India!
:)
RE: Trip to India!
Welcome to the team Matt!
RE: Trip to India!
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RE: Trip to India!
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RE: Trip to India!
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