Amor has the privilege of partnering with the UK based organization Urban Saints – which has been reaching out to children and young people since 1906 with the good news of Jesus Christ.  I have personally had the opportunity to see this firsthand in my visits to the UK over the past few summers.  They have about 30,000 youth throughout the UK involved in their clubs and have a goal of reaching a million youth with the gospel over the next 10 years.

The greatest blessing to us is their Rebuild program that has already brought 300 youth to Mexico with a plan to take 250 more to Mexico and South Africa in 2012.  We are also working with them to promote their Energize program in the United States.  Energize is a website that provides resources designed to train, support and equip leaders to reach this generation of young people.

We have a close tie in not only serving together, but praying for each other on a regular basis.  So it was my desire last week to ask them how they were being affected by the recent riots in London as their offices are relatively close to the city.  Mark Arnold, COO of Urban Saints, responded to my request on how we could be praying for them in this way:

“What breaks my heart though is when I see people on the TV here referring to the kids that are doing this as ‘feral rats’ and ‘scum.’  If we call our children by these names, how do we expect them to respond?

If as a nation we marginalise and subjugate a sector of our society, why are we surprised when they lash out in response?  When our whole culture is based on shopping and ‘it’s all about me,’ why is it a shock when some just help themselves?

The answer isn’t water cannon, rubber bullets, or the army.  The answer is to recognise how broken our nation and our culture is and to start to rebuild what we’ve lost.

Please pray for our nation, that this may be a turning point for us.  Pray that as a nation we choose ‘us’ and not ‘me;’ that we value people for who they are, not what they have.  Pray that in our troubles we call out to God and seek him as a nation once again.”

Blessings,

Mark

Does this sound familiar?  Could this happen in our own nation?

Gayla Cooper Congdon
Founder and Chief Spiritual Officer

For more information on this incredible organization visit their website at www.urbansaints.org.  If you would like to know more about Energize go to www.amor.org/energize/about.

By Gayla Congdon

“I thank my God every time I remember you.  In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray for joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, because he that began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:3-6

If I have learned anything over the past several years it is that we have a strong partnership with so many of you that is similar to the relationship Paul had with the church in Philippi.

We know that Paul and the church had a bond that ran deep and was reflected in the church’s financial support of his ministry.  And we know that his letter of utter and complete joy was written while Paul was in prison and that the church never wavered in its support of him.  No, they didn’t turn their back on a man that had been imprisoned.

Many of you that are reading this eNews have been the Philippian church to us.  You have felt our pain as we have faced the challenges of fears of going to Mexico, the economy and whatever plague might come our way.  What I know for sure is that just like Paul in prison knowing his friends in Philippi were praying for him, we know you have been praying for us.

And still, you continue to ask what you can do to support Amor!  So I’m taking this eNews to give you some ways that you can help Amor during this time as we seek to serve him together.  Because together we are better!

• Amor Store Online – The online Amor Store has had a facelift and we can’t wait for you to see it!  If every one of you reading this would purchase one item for yourself or as a gift, it would help us toward meeting our budget in 2011 during our financially challenging months.  Scott and I feel so passionate about the Amor Store because it helps support our Pastors in Mexico and the work they do.
• Project Hope – You can make a donation towards Project Hope to help support families in need.
• Come on an Amor Mission Trip – there is still time to sign up for a 2011 Group Mission Trip to San Carlos, Baja or Puerto Peñasco, Mexico.  You can also bring your friends or family on an X Project.
• Lion Chase 5K and Padres Baseball – Those of you in Southern California can join us in our first annual 5k on September 24th in Coronado, CA.  For a complete day of fun, we are also hosting a tailgate at the San Diego Padres vs. LA Dodgers game on the 24th as well.
• In 2012, we invite you to join us on the Amor Family Camp (June 16 – June 22) or the first ever Women of Strength Mission Trip (July 21 – July 28).

Scott and I would like to thank you in advance for supporting the ministry that God gave us the vision for over 31 years ago.  We need our partners to give significantly right now and would appreciate you doing that in whatever way God leads you.

Just like Paul and the church in Philippi, Amor is grateful for those that partner with us to move the gospel forward.  Together we are better!

Gayla Cooper Congdon
Founder and Chief Spiritual Officer

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40

Throughout the years we have developed close relationships with so many of our supporters.  Each one has come to us in a wide variety of ways.  Some have been participants, others have been Board members, while many have served on our staff or been an intern.  So many people have passed through the doors of this Ministry one way or another and each time Amor Ministries has been changed for the better.

I met Bill Miles in 1977 when he came to Tijuana, Mexico for a board meeting of the Tijuana Christian Mission.  I was 23 years old.  At that time Bill was the pastor at First Christian Church in San Francisco and Director of Urban Ministries Fellowship.

My first trip to San Francisco was when Bill called me and asked if I would come and help him out with his summer program for inner city kids called “Summer Fun in the City.”  Ok, he begged me to come up as he was desperate for someone that could speak Spanish!

That particular summer the program was bursting at the seams with kids and over half the children spoke Spanish and no one on the summer staff did.  The reason for all of these Spanish speaking children was because of a revolution taking place in Nicaragua.  Many families had fled the country and landed in San Francisco – specifically in the community of the church.

Bill and his summer staff had to rely on a 10 year old named Alex from Nicaragua that spoke both and English and Spanish.  They were concerned that they really had no idea what Alex was telling the other kids and they were definitely seeing that some things were getting lost in the translation!

That summer I worked with the program, a deep and abiding friendship with Bill Miles began until he passed away on March 16, 2011.  For some time after that summer Scott and I would go to San Francisco and help train the summer interns.  It was a place where I always learned more than I ever taught, especially from Bill.

Growing up in the church I have had the privilege of hearing sermons from some of the best.  But I mean this genuinely when I say that none of them can hold a candle to Bill’s sermon on Matthew 25:31-46.

Over the 34 years that we were friends I got to hear that sermon several times.  But I can remember as if it was yesterday the first time I heard it.  It was at the church in San Francisco and his insights into this passage were profound and they became the cornerstone for Amor Ministries.  For those of you that can remember that far back, we even had verse 40 on one of our very first brochures.

Bill lived out this passage better than anyone I have ever encountered.  He taught all of us to care for “the least of these.”  And it was through his actions, more than his words that he did this.

He helped us understand human frailties because he showed us his.  If we are being honest, seeing his was hard at times, and yet it taught us that God can restore us no matter what we have done.

When it came to making a hospital call Bill mentored me into the understanding that anyone could visit a sick person and pray with them, but to live out this passage you have to be willing to clean their bed pan.

He opened the doors of the church every Christmas day so that the poor could be fed as well as the rich and lonely and those who had been told they weren’t welcome back home because they were gay.

Because of Bill’s influence Scott and I knew what we had to do when a dear friend went to prison for 4 years.  In this Matthew 25 passage we are told to visit those in prison and over that period Scott and another Amor Team Member visited this man in a prison all the way across the country.  When all other Christians had abandoned this friend we knew that wasn’t an option if we were going to live out Matthew 25.

I definitely got more out of our friendship than I ever gave.  Bill was one of the best friends I have ever had and I learned more about my faith from him than probably anyone else.  My life was changed by an encounter with the Reverend Bill Miles who made me want to follow Christ by committing to be someone that embraced “the least of these.”

William Henry Miles was a husband, father, grandfather and a dear friend to so many.  He was a Cal fan off the richter scale! But most importantly he was a lover of God and “the least of these.”

A fond farewell to my dear friend Bill.  Your presence in my daily life will be missed but I will take the lessons I have learned from you and live them out as a person committed to serving “the least of these.”

By Gayla Congdon

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.  That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers. Psalm 1: 1-3 (NIV)

I remember an older and more mature friend in the faith explaining this passage to me at a retreat in the late ‘70s.  She said that basically we need to be careful who we listen to.  From that day on I made it my quest to listen with a critical ear instead of just accepting what others said.  (My parents, if they were alive today, would say that I came out of the womb that way!)

So it baffles me that so many people just turn their minds over to others and quit thinking for themselves.  And when that happens – well shame on us!

For 15 years I had the privilege of teaching at Hope International University in the area of Urban Ministry.  In the first class of each semester I would tell the students that they didn’t have to agree with me.  They could challenge me and each other.  As a matter of fact I encouraged that type of discourse.

What I was looking for from the student was his or her own thoughts.  Not the thoughts of their parents, their pastor or youth minister or some book they had read or conference speaker they had heard.  I wanted to know that their beliefs came from a personal study of the subject matter.  In the end we might not have agreed but I respected them more if I knew that they had come to that conclusion on their own.

So with all of this in mind you can understand why it frustrates me that so many people believe what they hear in the media without even questioning it.  Or when someone hears a respected pastor’s thoughts and just believes them without examining for themselves whether it is biblical or not.

An example of the former was when I was in Indiana speaking at a church and a lady came up to me and told me that martial law had been declared in Mexico.  Now that was a surprise so I sent a text to one of our staff members to see if I had missed something on the news.

Then I turned to the lady and asked where she had heard this bit of information and she said –are you ready for this –she heard it from Geraldo Rivera!  Are you kidding me?  Isn’t he the guy that opened the secret vault that had been owned by Al Capone to a national television audience because he believed there were human remains only to find nothing but debris?  When did Geraldo become a reliable news source?  Shame on us!

But before I criticize others, let me tell you when this giving our minds over to someone else became real to me.  Our son Jordan has traveled to different parts of the world by himself.  He’s worked in Mexico and South Africa.  While he was a student at USC he led a team of students down on skid row in Los Angeles and now goes into Newark, New Jersey about twice a month to work with World Impact.

None of these activities have made me worried for his safety.  But something pretty ridiculous did.  And I know I got so freaked out because I was constantly listening to the news and to what others were saying that I became almost obsessed with Jordan’s safety.

So what could it be that took over the mind of a person that prides herself on trusting God and believing that the safest place on earth is to be doing the Lord’s work?  Be ready for a big let down as it was nothing more than the weather reports coming from the east coast about the area experiencing the worst snow storms in history!  My baby boy who was born and raised in California could not drive in that and I drove him crazy making him call me when he left and when he arrived somewhere.

So you see, I am also susceptible to allowing someone or something to take over my mind causing me to abandon all rational thought!  Shame on me.  (Jordan and I have now agreed “mutually” that I will quit obsessing about the weather and that he no longer checks in every time he has to drive in the snow.)

Just recently we had a discussion at Amor on what it means to be a critical thinker.  Andrew Flavin is one of our younger team members but gave this incredible insight.  He said a critical thinker is someone that can have two opposing thoughts at the same time.

We are so grateful that many of you have done that by continuing to serve with us in Mexico in spite of what you are hearing.  A couple of years ago, a group of families came all the way from Michigan for the Amor Ministries Family Camp.  They were told multiple times that they should not be going to Mexico because of the swine flu.  They even had to defend their decision in their local paper after comments were made that they should not have been allowed back into the country because they could have been exposed to the swine flu.  But they thought about it critically and felt safe knowing they were doing what God called them to.  In the end, the swine flu was more hyped up than it should have been.  We are so thankful for those families and participants that stand up to the thoughts of others and make the decision to continue to live out God’s call.

Over the years I have learned to not just listen to those I agree with but to challenge myself daily to hear out those that have informed opposing views, to surround myself with those that are wise and can give good counsel.  Some of the best counsel I have received over the years has come from those that have completely different theological and political beliefs than I do.  And I don’t mean Geraldo Rivera!

As the Christian community we need to sit before counsel of the wise and not be so willing to turn our minds over to anyone.  We need to be better than this so that God’s desire in housing the poor throughout the world can continue to go forward or – shame on us!

By Gayla Congdon

Christians all over the world are preparing for Easter Sunday when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The story of the empty tomb is powerful.  But would the story have died if the Church had never been established?

My parents raised me and my brothers in the church and I have a deep love and affection for it.  I stand in awe of the men and women that sacrificed their lives so that the Church could be birthed.

For me the Church was a place of acceptance.  Where a chubby little eight year old wearing cat-eye glasses could flourish.  That was why I wanted to be a missionary – so I could tell others how great it was to follow Jesus and that being in the Church was the best part of my life.  I thought there was nothing better than being a Whirlybird or Jet Cadet for Jesus!

I recently visited a church and the theme of the particular service I attended was about the staggering statistics of young people leaving the church or showing no interest at all.  It is sad to think that they are not finding the same deep love for the Church that I had at a young age.

So what has happened?  What is causing these young people to leave?  Warren Wiersbe in the book, The Integrity Crisis, says “We are facing an integrity crisis.  Not only is the conduct of the church in question, but so is the very character of the church.  Those outside the church are asking, ‘Can the church be trusted?’ and how we answer is as important as what we answer.”

Is the Church losing people because they do not think it can be trusted?  Are we beginning to lose the Church as an establishment?  Will we soon be facing the loss of stories as powerful as the empty tomb?

Throughout his public ministry Jesus gave us road map to follow and I wonder what the Church would look like if we really did follow that map?  Because it was really his nature and character that is the gospel message.  And that gospel message can certainly be trusted.  As Wiersbe said, we still need to show how the Church can also be trusted.

Let’s look back at how Jesus answered if he could be trusted.  He cared for the poor and marginalized.  He showed compassion towards the tax collectors as well as the prostitutes.  Jesus touched the lepers.  Some of his disciples were lowly fishermen.  And he intentionally went through Samaria and talked with the woman at the well.  Jesus told us to love our neighbors and said that our neighbor was anyone in need.

Jesus despised exploitation and that was why he overturned the tables of the moneychangers.  In Matthew 25 he compels us to love the least of these saying that when we have done it to them, we are doing it to him.

In The Jesus I Never Knew Philip Yancey says, “As I now reflect on Jesus’ stories of the kingdom, I sense that much uneasiness among Christians today stems from a confusion of the two kingdoms, visible and invisible.  Each time an election rolls around, Christians debate whether this or that candidate is ‘God’s man’ for the White House.  Projecting myself back into Jesus’ time, I have difficulty imagining him pondering whether Tiberius, Octavius, or Julius Caesar was ‘God’s man’ for the empire.  The politics of Rome were virtually irrelevant to the kingdom of God.

Nowadays, as the US grows increasingly secularized, it appears that church and state are heading in different directions.  The more I understand Jesus’ message of the kingdom of God, the less alarm I feel over that trend.  Our real challenge, the focus of our energy, should not be to Christianize the United States (always a losing battle) but rather to strive to be God’s kingdom in an increasingly hostile world.”

How, in an increasingly hostile world can we prove the trustworthiness of Jesus and his Church?

This spring I worked with a church that said their pastor was preaching a sermon series on, “It’s not what you believe, but how you live.”  The church was simply trying to explain that as Christians we may have different beliefs from each other, but no matter what, we should all live out the character of Jesus.

In the spring, more than any other time of the year I get to see thousands of people with a thousand different ways of living out their faith, come to serve with us and build a home for a family.  To me that is people living out the faithfulness and character of Jesus Christ and his Church.

As we celebrate this Easter season may we strive to answer how Jesus would want us to live – following the map of Jesus’ love and trustworthiness.  And then, just maybe the Church would be seen as I saw it as a little girl.