Kingdom Causes Long Beach
August 2011
Dear Kingdom Causes family and friends,
It’s been awhile since you have received an official greeting and update from us; so we first and foremost we apologize for not keeping in better touch with you. We value and cherish these connections, collaborations, and partnerships; but most importantly, we love these relationships. Thank you for opening up your email and inviting us back into your lives.
We have amazing updates on what God has been doing with our team as well as the city of Long Beach! Here is a quick update and summary that highlights our journey thus far and shines some light on our current activity.
Transition: In April 2011, our Executive Director and Founder, Brad Fieldhouse, transitioned out of formal leadership with Kingdom Causes Long Beach into a more regional role with our Kingdom Causes network . This transition has led the Long Beach team to truly take a look at what our roles within the city and the organization will look like in the future. We are now in a season of stewardship as we navigate the months ahead and continue to build on the foundation and relationships that Brad has already established in the city. We are thankful for his years of leadership; he has set an amazing example of Kingdom-minded service to our City.
Homelessness: We are still collaborating with churches and other non-profits in caring for our homeless neighbors! We finished our Atlantic Corridor grant that trained new Homeless Hospitality Teams around Long Beach, participated in the most recent Long Beach Vulnerability Survey, acquired a warehouse to store donated furniture, facilitated Homeless Assistance Trainings (HAT) with over 15 congregations, and helped move in over 40 of downtown Long Beach’s homeless residents. For more detailed accounts of these stories please read our blog.
Neighborhoods: We continue to actively pursue thriving neighborhoods in Long Beach and currently have two AmeriCorps members, Scott Jones and Reggie Galloway, who work to transform neighborhoods through asset based community development (ABCD) in which community strengths and resources are connected and developed for community betterment. There are many amazing, on the ground, stories rising out of each neighborhood every week, so please read our blog to connect to the Atlantic Friendly Neighborhood Coalition and Willmore City Neighborhood.
“The Church of the City”: Jesus’ prayer in John 17 still keeps us up at night and we just cannot shake the picture that Jesus paints of a unified church in function and purpose. It is what we are longing to see: “The Church of Long Beach” continuing to grow into a more realized expression of Jesus’ prayer. After the change in the Long Beach Minister’s Alliance leadership, we have shifted our monthly pastor’s gatherings under the direction of the Wayne Chaney and the Long Beach Minister’s Alliance. We want to continue and merge these meetings to build ownership for those pastors in shepherding “The Church of the City.”
Human Trafficking: We are starting a task force around Human Trafficking happening in and around Long Beach. "What is the faith based response to this issue?" and "how can we unite and collaborate around this issue?" are two questions that drive our conversations. We currently have five congregations, non-profit partners, and the Long Beach Police Department on board. Kingdom collaboration has never been an easy task, but we intend to persevere and bring awareness and education around this issue. To read a task force member's account of the emerging Human Trafficking Task Force, please read our blog.
Education and Training: We provide, teach, facilitate and lead workshops, trainings, immersions, round tables and cohorts regarding the topics of community transformation, theology of the city, city faith (understanding how to live out your faith in the city), what collaboration can look like, etc. to any local non-profit, community group, local church, individual, etc. We are still committed to engaging, educating and empowering catalytic leaders. We believe in the power of shared learning, the need for collaboration and the value of practical tools for community transformation. So, please join us as we host Brian Fikkert, co-author of When Helping Hurts, for a day of training on August 30, 2011. Please visit the Kingdom Causes, Inc. website for more details.
New Website: We have changed our website address. Please now visit us at kclongbeach.org. It’s a great place to find our most recent stories, happenings and contact information.
Social Media: We are now more active with our social media campaign. Please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Engaging social media as a tool has been a lot more fun that we thought. We post and tweet responsibly; you will find some kingdom inspiration, quick updates, and holy verses. It is the quickest and simplest way to keep tabs on what is on our collective hearts and minds.
Involvement: We want you and your church to be involved and let us collaborate with you.
We are sure there are more questions to be answered and more information that can be given. It can be a lot to comprehend. So we are committed to trying our best to steward these relationships with integrity and honesty with our limited staff capacity.
Thank you for your continued support, guidance, participation, wisdom, prayer and love. Kingdom work can be a slow work and very difficult to measure, so your patience is appreciated. Please contact jeanettec@kingdomcauses.org if you are interested in any of these task forces or causes or if you have any questions.
Godspeed.
Jeanette Cheng
Operations Director on behalf of the Kingdom Causes Long Beach team
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Just Dance!
Neighborhood Mother's bust a move in Willmore City Neigborhood
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First 100 Days
Reggie shares his 1st 100 days with AFNC
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Kamikaze Warriors
Long Beach Connection Vulnerability Index
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The Beginning Question
This is Part I of the beginnings of the Human Trafficking Task Force by a key task force member, Jenny Mavity
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When Helping Hurts Workshop
Join us and Brian Fikkert, co-author of When Helping Hurts, for a symposium and workshop based upon his book
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