In Part Two of our series, The Rough Guide to being an Ordinary Radical, we heard from Caroline Burns, Bolivia coordinator for Food for the Hungry. Caroline spoke passionately about her experience of following a call to Bolivia, where she spent several years working outside her comfort zone to promote nutrition and basic health, while at the same time overhauling the management and finances of the project she was leading there.
She made no apology for speaking boldly about her faith and the part it has played in her journey into becoming an Ordinary Radical. For Caroline, believing and trusting in God played a vital role in her decision to embark on such an adventure. As she described it, "to be ordinary is to operate in your own ability; to be an ordinary radical, is to reach beyond what we can achieve by our own strength and operate instead by faith".
She made no apology for speaking boldly about her faith and the part it has played in her journey into becoming an Ordinary Radical. For Caroline, believing and trusting in God played a vital role in her decision to embark on such an adventure. As she described it, "to be ordinary is to operate in your own ability; to be an ordinary radical, is to reach beyond what we can achieve by our own strength and operate instead by faith".
Like Wendy in last month's cafe session, Caroline urged listeners to discover their passion through talking to others and then to embrace opportunities to get involved with that passion. In other words, learning to say "yes". You may not know where that yes will lead, but Caroline encouraged us with a verse from Proverbs: "Trust in the LORD with all our heart and lean not on your own understanding."
In this way, she also encouraged us with the words of Oswald Chambers, not to dwell on the scale of the challenge ahead but rather to draw inspiration from what has already come to pass:
In this way, she also encouraged us with the words of Oswald Chambers, not to dwell on the scale of the challenge ahead but rather to draw inspiration from what has already come to pass:
"The needs are so enormous, and the conditions so difficult, that every power of the mind falters and fails. We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all [efforts to foster peace and justice] is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost [a response to the saving sacrifice] of Jesus Christ."
Join us next month for the third and final session in this brilliant series, when we'll have the fantastic Mr Ash Chafe sharing his experiences of life as an ordinary radical living on a local estate. That's Wednesday 21st November at Coffee Republic in N Finchley from 7:30pm.
Do also join us for our pub session on the 7th November, when we'll be discussion how we Look Out to invite and include new members into the network. We have a vision to be a community of thirty to forty people regularly coming together to be inspired and equipped to change the world (plus plenty more connected into us via email, Facebook and the website). Come along to share your ideas for expanding our reach and get some tips on how to talk to others about JM. Full details to follow shortly.
