Reciprocity

The practice of exchanging information and resources with others for mutual benefit.

This is one of the key advantages of being in a network and one which we hope will be experienced in Micah Network.

Up and coming events, training, research: Micah Network seeks to be a megaphone for our members to ensure timely notice is given of activities being facilitated by members around the world. Please let us know of relevant events, training opportunities etc. that members would benefit from. Send details to events@micahnetwork.org and we will disseminate.

Reading, papers, articles of interest: have you come across an important discussion, paper, book that would benefit others in our network – why not let us know and we can share this with all. I always find it helpful to hear recommendations from others who have found a real gem of interest.

Case Studies: have you and your organisation been through an interesting experience that you could share with us all? We learn through one another’s experiences as we live out our desire to see integral mission practiced. Please do share case studies, testimonies, stories of change with us.
Send to: info@micahnetwork.org

Integral Mission and the Community - book: we are in the process of collating material for a book entitled Integral Mission and the Community. Many thanks to all who sent papers for the Global Consultation – we are using these to form parts of this book. If you would like to contribute to the formation of this book with a paper on this topic, please contact us and share what you would like to send in.

Up and coming Consultations:
1) Solidarity in Disaster Management
Dates: 16th to 20th September 2013
Location: Manila, Philippines
Facilitation: PCEC (Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches) are hosting this regional consultation in cooperation with Wheaton College HDI, Integral Alliance, WEA and Micah Network
Micah Network wants to invite all our members throughout Asia to join in this consultation and make the most of this opportunity to meet together and share experiences.

2) Integral Mission and the Community: partnering for change
Dates: 29th July to 2nd August 2013
Location: Côte d’Ivoire
Facilitation: Micah Network members in Côte d’Ivoire are hosting this event for the Francophone community and would love to have members from around Africa join us for this.

A number of national conversations are being planned – if you would like to see a conversation occur in your country and would be willing to help host this, please do let us know.
We can do so much more when we pool our energy – we look forward to multiplying our learning and sharing our gifts and knowledge with one another.

Micah Network will be what we make it together!

Grace and peace

Sheryl Haw
International Director

Diary of Up and Coming Events

Micah Network informs readers of events facilitated by members, known like-minded organisations and occasional events of thematic interest. Micah Network can only assist in registration to events that are facilitated directly by Micah Network. Please use links to the facilitator of the below events to find out more about each.

If you do attend, please let us know about what you learnt and share any information that would benefit us all (e.g. links to recordings of the sessions, material etc). We can make this available across the network.

Missio Dei Retreat

Dates: 17th to 18th May 2013

Location: Church of Christ, Great Francis Street, Nechells, Birmingham, B7 4QS, United Kingdom

Facilitation: UNOH (Urban Neighbours of Hope), in cooperation with Springvale College and Churches in Fellowship with Christ

Speakers: Ash Barker and Chris MacCartney

A two day discernment retreat for anyone who wants to create some solid space in their lives to explore what God may be calling them towards. The three main questions you’ll chew on are:
Where have I come from?
Where am I going?
Who can I go with?

Participants will be guided into a number of individual and group activities that allow you to invite God to speak into your life and shape your future.

More information: contact
Andy Vail  by e-mail or phone +44 7983864271

The Justice Conference

Dates: 16th to 18th May 2013

Location:  The Vine Centre. 29 Burrows Street, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Facilitation: The Vince Church, World Relief, The Justice Conference

The Justice Conference Asia is a two-day annual event designed to promote and encourage a conversation around the key justice related issues facing communities in Asia today.

For more information and to register see here

Interhealth Training Courses

Ethiopia:
Upcoming dates include:

Trauma & Psychological First Aid: 20th-21st May

Cultivating Personal Resilience: 22nd May

Cultivating Organisational Resilience: 23rd-24th May

Facilitation: Interhealth. See here for more information


Kenya
Upcoming dates include:

Family Liaison in a Crisis: 13th-14th May

Cultivating Personal Resilience: 15th May

Cultivating Organisational Resilience: 16th-17th May

Facilitation: Interhealth. See here for more information


See Interhealth website for the full course outlines and course fees.

For further information please email Leanne Kennedy

Short Courses: All Nations Christian College

Dates: July 2013

Location: Ware, United Kingdom

All Nations is offering four 4-day advanced courses in July, in integral mission, development management, leadership, and mission strategy. These are designed for professionals involved in areas such as education, health care, humanitarian aid, development or leadership, and who want a mixture of input and experience based discussion. They are also suitable for practitioners who are moving into these areas from other aspects of mission and NGO involvement.

For more information see here

Tentmakers 6th International Congress

Dates: 1st to 4th August 2013

Location: Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Facilitators: TI International

For more information see here

Call2Compassion and Justice Conference

Dates: 4th to 8th November 2013

Location: Mumbai, India

Facilitation: The Global Compassion Network

Call2Compassion & Justice will equip churches and ministries for compassion ministry by sharing and learning from and experiences of the transformational ministries already active in Mumbai, building upon them with response and discussion led by speakers from India and from global networks and organizations involved with Global Compassion and the Call2All Network. 

For more information and to register see here

Unpaid Work, Poverty and Women's Human Rights

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is inviting consultation and input that seeks to:

1) To analyse the impact of unpaid work - in particular care work - on poverty, human rights and women's economic empowerment;

2) To clarify the human rights obligations of States with regard to unpaid work; and

3) To provide recommendations to States and other on how to recognise, reduce and redistribute unpaid care work, with a view to realizing the human rights of women and tackling their disproportionate vulnerability to poverty.

The Special Rapporteur welcomes the submission of research studies or reports on this topic, particularly those examining how unpaid work impacts on the human rights of women, as well as their vulnerability to poverty. For more information see here.

Deadline: 31st May 2013 send contributions to: Special Rapporteur

Solidarity: A Call to end racism in Sri Lanka

Rev. Jason J. Selvaraja, one of our Micah Network members has alerted us to the petition they are making and have asked us to invite members to review this and if in agreement to join the call to end racism and segregation in Sri Lanka.

To read this petition and sign see here.

Courses on Integral Mission

Micah Network would like to collate a list of all the courses our members are running or that are known of that cover: Integral Mission, Christian social responsibility, holistic approaches of Child development, poverty and injustice, etc.  Please could you let us know if you are running any such courses and or if you know of colleges, seminaries, training institutes that are.

We would like to make a report on this and share this information within the Network so as to create opportunities for people to link to these courses.

Secondly, we have queries from training organizations that would like to offer such courses or develop courses for their context and we would like to create a platform to share information.

Send your information to: info@micahnetwork.org

Woman to Woman Network (W2W)

News update on the Woman to Woman Network, an initiative of Micah Challenge.  They are very excited that the video and toolkit for the Your Call campaign are now available to watch/download. They are working with Raise Hope for Congo on an action tool which will allow you to send a direct message to your mobile phone provider calling for a conflict-free phone.

Your Call focusses on women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo who are victims of rape as a weapon of war. Conflict in the DRC is often related to the mining and illicit trade of precious minerals such as coltan, found in every mobile phone. W2W wants to put a stop to the silence on this issue.

Your Call
- Watch the video
- Download the toolkit
- Read more about the campaign (includes links to both video and toolkit)

We now need your help in getting the word out!

Vacancies

Restored are advertising for a Training Manager ideally located in the UK. For more information see here

Open Doors are advertising for a Director of Church Relations. For more information write to Open Doors

Justice

What exactly is the role of the local church in the work of Justice?

A question Micah Network is often asked. How would you answer this?

Integral Discipleship approach: an essential role of the local church is to help frame and inform every area of our lives with the Gospel. By equipping believers with a thorough understanding of Justice (a core characteristic of God), through facilitation of dialogue around current issues of injustice within their own community, nation and globally, and encouraging engagement in social action the local church plays an essential role in the work of justice.

An integrated Response: though it may often not be possible for each local church to develop their own specific programmes and campaigns to address injustice, they can cooperate / partner with organisations established to do this. They can encourage their members to get involved.

Engaging: There are times when the local church as a whole will want to stand as one against a specific issue. This is a powerful and often prophetic role we are called to in our communities – solidarity! At the very least the local church should be seen as listening and caring for their community, being present. The Gospel is not a call to social quietism. Its goal is not to take us out of the world but to put us into the world as salt and light.

An example of integral discipleship with regards to Violence in the Home: the incidence of violence in the home is very high. Restored has developed a tool kit to help churches be aware of the issue in their community and train their members to recognise and respond to this. The Ending Abuse Toolkit for Churches can be downloaded here.