It's been several months, so I guess an update is in order. The latest in this endeavor to uphold masculinity has taken an interesting turn in that I am now involved in outreach and ongoing counseling to girls who are in or coming out of the Sex Industry. An email I composed to my network of close friends says it best:
"My
friends, I know I said I would update you as things develop. But they
are actually developing quite rapidly so I haven't been able to really
get the word to you unless I've seen you. M and S have seen my
excitement a
little bit.
You
know how I (privately) sent a link about Christians ministering by going into the
sex industry areas where people are trafficked? Well, be aware that
one international activist, Danielle Strickland, who does just that will
be our weekend speaker at the Vineyard on November 17 and 18.
I
was able to get in touch with the local outreach to sex workers ministry here. I was able to
attend their training - as were others from the Vineyard, because God
enabled me to get the word out. Bless him for his faithfulness that he
HAS begun to send workers into the harvest. There are others who
wanted to attend the training but were not able, so we will see what we
can do about publicizing the next one to be held in the spring. I have
had a meeting and loads of encouragement from one of our staff pastors. The local
outreach is called Cherished and is modeled after Treasures.
http://iamatreasure.com/
They have an amazingly gracious and restorative approach
to women in the sex
"industry." The local ministry has been looking for a therapist to
co-facilitate their support groups, so I'd appreciate your prayer about
that.
I
have been able to connect with a local man who is spearheading the
prevention/awareness/education aspect of anti-human trafficking here.
He has just arrived from Thailand with this being an area of heartfelt
concern. He has the statistics that some 300 girls in Palmdale are
being trafficked - so this is a big deal here in our community. He is
starting from the ground but seems to be very good at networking.
I am excited and energized about very obvious moves of God that I am seeing.
Nobody
was able to show up that one Monday to close out "For Women Only" -
the main reason we haven't finished the book together. After summer, it
just was impossible to coordinate our
schedules.
My expectation has been that the group would start off with you, women I
feel safe with and accountable to. However, I have only seen that as a
starting point to validate men. I didn't set out to make it a marriage
group or focus exclusively on sex. Oddly - I can't get away from the
intersection of spirituality and sex, but that is not the point. I have
a sensitivity to cultural influences of "castration" ie having a form
of godliness but denying its power. I believe men (surprise!) do too.
(smile) If I as a woman don't like to feel emasculated, I can't imagine
what it's like for the guys. That has been my frame of reference since
starting the group. It has been the basis for my sometimes overbearing
insistence that forms of
worship are not as important as making bridges that draw people into the
heart of worship. Sometimes, that means going back to the drawing
board of how we conceptualize what church is, or who it is. I've been
thinking that becoming a home a haven where you guys can bring your
husbands and just hang out over a drink (whatever your choice and faith
allows) to discuss ideas of culture and faith would be a great adjunct
to participation in the larger organization. We exist as the church at
different levels of organization. Both more and less organized, I
mean. God is challenging me to learn hospitality to a greater extent.
With the holidays fast approaching, Roger and I have been talking about
doing Crazy Love (Francis Chan) after the new year, like on Mondays, but
we can look at
Thursdays, too as time gets closer. We'll let you know when we set a
date.
Love and miss you all!!!"
At this point, I believe we will aim to reconvene group, hospitality, fellowship in the month of March. Stay tuned. . .
