Kingdom of Heaven:
Peacemaking, Community Shaping at DEA
How can a "Kingdom of God" peacemaking strategy pursued and lived out by House Moms at DEA shape the wider residential program?
Preparations: Study more deeply what Action Research is and the cycles it goes through to understand more deeply the processes.
Permissions: Take permissions from appropriate parties. Kids Alive International, Kids Alive Lebanon (both Board and Director), House Moms
See if we can find an off-site location for sessions. Is there a room available weekly at ABTS for these small group sessions? 2 hours for first session.
Phase One:
Gather House Moms at "neutral" location. Create the structure of the first meeting. "The Kingdom is like...Its people are like..." Take a week for processing and analysis. Meet again to share results of first session, and with those results see where we should go together.
QUESTIONS?!
When presenting what I'm doing...do I say, "I see a need for blah blah... and that's why we're doing this"? How do I present that I observe the opposite of the kingdom in their relationships? How do I lead them to learning about MASKING = LYING and all that stuff? And that its a humongous stumbling block to our ability to love well and live in peace?
PHASE ONE Questions: "What is the Kingdom of God?" Have one of the ladies write it down on a board or flipchart. Look at some scriptures together (parables: mustard seed, etc) Then ask the question, "What are the Citizens of the Kingdom of God like?" and have the ladies write it on the board. Have them bring up scriptures they think of. "What are relationships like in the Kingdom of God?" Think of scriptures... but encourage them to think into
I want hospitality to be a part of this... but HOW? If action research is kind of out of my hands... there is no way I can make sure it goes where I hope it will go!
Using different aspects of hospitality
Discovering the impact of hospitality in an Arab organizational context towards peace...peacemaking.
Using different elements of hospitality in an Arab organizational setting in resolving conflict, towards bringing shalom to an organization or organizational structure.
These are goals kids alive has for the kids they serve. how about for the staff who work with the kids?
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What is my opening question!?!?!?
First, I want to thank you all so much for accepting to help me with my studies! I think you are all amazing and unique, each with different, but part of the same Body. I am so grateful to God for each of you, and He knows how I have lifted you before Him in prayer as individuals and as a group. Though this is an academic study, this is very much born of my own journey with Jesus as he develops me as a peacemaker - which all of us are as His children - and I am convinced this journey we will take together over the next few weeks will be transformative for all of us and for the community we live and serve in.
Problematizing
Rene's daughter Kiki might need someone to watch her for our sessions.
If a DEA child gets sick, who will be on "back up"?
What is peace? Have them define it in their best words, one can take notes on a board. What is "shalom" peace? "Wholeness, safety, Completeness". What are Bible verses that have informed this understanding? What is Biblical hospitality? Where do you think hospitality can be used in "seeking peace and maintaining it"?
Introduce notebooks/journals for reflection? Have them use voice notes? How can I measure change... What would an initial survey look like?
SARA Constantly check in and make sure you are understanding what the ladies are saying.
We need to all be on the same page in our definition of peace, and our definition of hospitality in order to answer the question.
DO I CONFRONT THE ISSUE HEAD ON?! DO I ASK THE QUESTIONS STRAIGHT UP?! This is where I am ANXIOUS because I don't wanna mess it up!!!
1 - Face the Truth 2- Feel the Pain 3 - Response 4 - Forgiveness 5 - Self Care
Peacemaking - more specifically, inner peace and community peace. MEANING, conflict resolution.
What is peace like in the Kingdom of God? If Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and His
Should I try and keep it to a certain "realm" of peacemaking? Inner peace? Community peace (within the house moms), Community peace the wider community? Should we think SUPER broadly, even to the pressures of country and economy? How do we arrive together to a place where we can look at hospitality and peacemaking? How can I, as a facilitator, instill HOPE in the process? How can we instill HOPE in the process? I imagine MANY of them have stopped pursuing peace...and are maintaining a less-than-kingdom-like "peace".
Reactions to authoritarian decisions:
Anger, apathy, avoidance
ACTION REseARCH PLAN
1 - House mothers of Dar El Awlad. These four amazing women love Jesus, participate in their churches and are each in charge of a unit-full of challenging boys from ages 5-18. Each has a different personality. Three of them have biological children also living with them and the "unit boys". There are organizational challenges they face which have not helped their growth nor health, some of which include not enough break-time for rest and renewal. Anger, apathy and avoidance have all been expressed at some point by each lady. On top of organizational stressors and authority pressure points, different personalities also come into play. Wounding, whether intentional or not, caused walls to be built. Unresolved conflicts, continuing conflicts, lack of trust in some areas. I think its safe to say not one trusts another 100%. There is a learned culture of "untrust". The HMs still visit one another, drink coffee together, help one another. I do not know how conflict-resolution is currently practiced. As an organization with Christian values, the expectations are high that there would be love, acceptance, honoring of one another, forgiveness and trust, and various HMs have mentioned how they have seen competitiveness, envy/jealousy, and dishonoring among one another. (No one says, "I've done this and I'm wrong and I'm working on it.")
So what is the change we wish to see? And how to we get there?
I want to phrase the question in such a way that the ladies dream BIG for what PEACE, SHALOM PEACE: wholeness, safety, completeness CAN look like among them. AND for them to dream about what that change could mean for all of their kids!
While my research so far has been centered around hospitality, is that the most essential question to ask the women, when it comes to peacemaking?
Which is why I think the Kingdom of Heaven question makes so much sense. How do we create a "Kingdom of Heaven" atmosphere among the HMs? Can they dream of it? It's so hard to shake ourselves out of our routine...
A Biblical pursuit of peace means we pursue peace in the relationships around us so that nothing is broken and nothing is missing.
How long do I let them sit in the uncomfortable questions???? If they've never faced each other in a small group with the awkward "I don't trust you"-ness, how in the world could I bring it up?? Obviously (to me) you have to face the bad in order to