PaLM Engage series: DATE: Tuesday, April 15th from 7pm-9pm at All Angels Church on 251 West 80th Street. GUEST SPEAKER: Christine Lee who is the Director of Spiritual Development and Outreach at All Angels’ Church, an evangelical Episcopal Church. THEME: “Living Out the Gospel Across Racial and Socio-Economic Lines”
To register, contact: Peter Ong at peter[at]palmny[dot]org All are welcome to attend. ____________________________
“Living Out the Gospel Across Racial and Socio-Economic Lines” – Ephesians 2 says that Christ Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. So then as the familiar saying goes, why does 11 am continue to be “the most segregated hour of the week”? Come hear how one church - of professionals, families, students, artists, homeless men and women - has sought and struggled (and sometimes failed) to live out the reality of the gospel in community and overcome the dividing walls of race and class.
Bio: Christine Lee is the Director of Spiritual Development and Outreach at All Angels’ Church, an evangelical Episcopal Church on the Upper West Side. She attended the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and received her M.Div. and Th.M. at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. After seminary, she spent a year and a half serving as a short-term missionary in Bangkok, Thailand, teaching Thai and tribal students at the Thailand Evangelical Seminary. In 1999, she joined staff with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, first at the University of Chicago and then Columbia University after getting married to Jimmy Lee in 2002. Before coming to All Angels, she worked for Habitat for Humanity - NYC engaging the faith community in volunteering and advocacy around affordable housing issues.
On Tuesday, Feb 19th 2008, OneHouse in partnership with Pastoral and Laity Ministries (PaLM) launched their new monthly ENGAGE speaker series on social justice and community engagement.
This was the first of several upcoming ENGAGE talks that seeks to equip
the Asian American church in New York City through training and
volunteer opportunities to lay leaders.
Around seventy people gathered at Overseas Chinese Mission Church (OCM)
to attend a presentation by the Executive Director of Restore NYC, a
Christian start-up ministry that serves trafficked and prostituted
women who want to leave the sex trade.
The trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation is the
fastest growing crime in the world, generating $28 billion dollars a
year. NYC’s JFK airport is deemed by the Department of State to be a
major port of entry and transit point for trafficking. The sex trade in
Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs ranges from brothels, strip
clubs, peep booth shows, massage parlors, street prostitution, escort
services, bars, and private apartments. Restore plans to provide
programs and services to these sexually exploited women that will
assist them with their recovery and reintegration into society.
She shared how the mission of Restore was to nurture and empower
these women to make positive decisions in their lives through
counseling and services that can easily be met through volunteers
within our very own churches. Restore will provide a safe and secure
living environment, an off-site day program, job training skills and
on-the-job experience. Other assistance such as medical resources and
legal representation can be planned as needs arise.
The process of confronting a systemic problem as widespread and
seemingly invisible as international sex trafficking is certainly
daunting. The solution? The Gospel-driven church. The course of action?
Take small steps. Restore seeks to target a small group of two to four
women in their first year of operation, and utilize the pool of
willing-hearted volunteers at local churches to help these women grow
and overcome their past lives. The executive director further clarified
that the largest growing population of sex trafficked workers in NYC
were within the Korean and Chinese communities, and it was no
coincidence that she was reaching out to a community of Christians in
an energetic New York Chinatown. Translation services, grocery
shopping, and other basic living skills are exactly the things these
women need to become sustainable for their recovery. She also stressed
that the greatest responsibility for us as Christians is to understand
that these women need the love of God as much as their aftercare and
counseling.
Looking for two women to be Live-In Servants and share a
bedroom together in the South Bronx. This is a non-paid position
whereby a mature Christian professional offers their time for one year
to live with victims of sex trafficking in the house and model daily
living. We are seeking someone who can speak Korean fluently and is
familiar with Korean culture. Housing would be offered free (also
potentially most food costs as well). Respite care would be provided
as well as tons and tons of support from the community, staff, and
board. An ideal candidate would be a Social Work graduate student.
Willingness to host small dinners/events to raise support and awareness about Restore NYC.
Invite Restore NYC to come and speak at your church! Contact: info[at]restorenyc[dot]org or 646.713.4319
Once the Restore safehouse is operational, we’ll need volunteer
support in the areas of English translation, job skills
mentoring/training, cooking meals, recreational and creative arts
activities, etc.
This yr’s line-up begins with a series of
ENGAGE topics once a month from February til May. We will then
culminate the Spring series with our large worship event in June at a
soon-to-be-determined venue. See you at ENGAGE and stay tuned!
February Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008.
7-9pm @Oversea Chinese Mission (OCM) church in Chinatown
154 Hester St. on the corner of Elizabeth St. (map here)
To RSVP, contact Peter Ong at peter[at]palmny[dot]org
Description:
Pastoral and Laity Ministries (PaLM)
is excited to announce our Spring 2008 Season of ENGAGE Speaker Series
to provide training and networking opportunities to lay leaders. This
Spring, we will focus on a series of talks/conversations concerning how
church leaders can think about social justice and community engagement.
The series is held on the third Tuesday of every month at
various venues throughout the city. We hope that it will serve your
congregation leadership as a resource for some training and teaching.
This Spring Speaker Series program is in partnership with OneHouse,
an Asian American ministry that seeks to unify and mobilize the body of
Jesus Christ through worship and intercessory prayer to bring social
justice to global and local communities and to honor Christ’s love for
the oppressed.
This month we will have the Executive Director of Restore NYC
share about the issues facing our community in the area of sex
trafficked workers. She will share some insight on this often neglected
issue in the Asian American community and some thoughts on how to
engage this community.
The trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation is the
fastest growing crime in the world, generating $28 billion dollars a
year. NYC’s JFK airport is deemed by the Department of State to be a
major port of entry and transit point for trafficking. The sex trade in
Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs ranges from brothels, strip
clubs, peep booth shows, massage parlors, street prostitution, escort
services, bars, and private apartments. This presentation will provide
an overview on the issue of sex trafficking from an international, as
well as a local NYC-based level, providing specific and concrete ways
for the Christian community to serve and fight this injustice in our
communities.
OneHouse '06: Unity. Worship. Social Justice. This year, unity finds its purpose.
On October 21, 2006, the second annual OneHouse concert of prayer was held at the Society for Ethical Culture Auditorium in New York City. People of all ages - working professionals, college students, and youth - gathered together to hear the message of unity, worship and social justice. OneHouse raised approximately $4000 in donations for World Vision and Bread & Water
through the evening, and connected eager sponsors to an ongoing group of
children from a World Vision village community in Mozambique. Bread & Water also
presented their mission and current projects in the global community
that are open to contribution and participation.
Through the presentations by Peter Ong, World Vision musical artist Neah Lee, and co-founder of Bread & Water's Ying Chan, we were all able to better understand the important commission of upholding social justice in local and global communities. We were able to see that God cares for mercy and justice for the poor and marginalized of the world. The presentations helped to surface a necessary awareness movement of social justice in our Christian communities and spark an urgent call for action.
Neah Lee's music and testimony helped us to perceive that this 'action' does not always require waiting for a huge social upheaval or changes of policy amongst the masses. Rather, 'action' starts with the individual - that we are all capable of making a difference for someone else less fortunate. Ying Chan stood as just one of the many who saw this urgency of God's heart for the poor and acted by jump-starting Bread & Water's mission to provide simple necessities of life to the countless people groups of the world. Peter Ong reinforced the call for Christians to 'think outside of the box', considering God's heart for justice as one of utmost priority, and advising us in prudency as we grow in our faith as mission-minded Christians. Lastly, the attendees had a chance to respond through the act of musical worship and prayer. As 2006 comes to a close, the OneHouse committee has again been humbled by what God has shown us this year. We live in a broken world. But we are not defeated, because we can overcome it. Together through Christ.
Thank you for all of you that participated in OneHouse 2006!! We look to 2007 as exciting new doors open for the ministry. If you are interested in helping out for OneHouse 2007 through volunteering, leadership, or partnership, please contact onehousenyc@gmail.com for information.
