Ep. 31 : From the Archive #5: Advocacy with Corey Park

We know we've been talking a lot about advocacy this season! So, we thought it would be helpful to have an episode dedicated to introducing this topic well. Today we will hear from Corey Park, and this content is what she shares with every NSO class to help introduce advocacy as an MPD concept. Now you can be in the know, too!

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Michele Davis: 0:19

Welcome to The Cru MPD podcast with Katie Johnson and Michele Davis. We love that the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. We are driven to equip and inspire Christian workers to be Christ centered, fully funded, and financially faithful, so that missionary staff can come alongside all people to help them to know Jesus. This process is more widely known as ministry partner development, or MPD, for short.

Katie Johnson: 0:53

Hey, everyone, welcome to another episode from the archives. Today, we have Corey Park talking about advocacy. This is her intro to advocacy talk that she does for our New Staff Orientations. Enjoy,

Corey Park: 1:07

Hey, new staff. My name is Corey Park, and I serve on the MPD team, as the Equitable Systems and BIPOC MPD coordinator. And I get to talk to you today a little bit about advocacy, which is absolutely one of my favorite things to talk about. When I think about advocacy, I think about the bigness of our dad, I think about the infinite nature of his resources. And I don't know about you, but when I'm in the midst of MPD, his resources don't feel very infinite to me, they feel limited. And I start to believe all these lies about who God is, Is he really going to provide for me? Does he really have enough for me? And then if I begin to think about other people, I'm thinking well, does he really have enough for me and them. And if he's limited, if his resources are limited, then shouldn't I keep those resources that I have to myself. And so when I have this view of God that is limited, all of a sudden, it affects the way that I relate to the body of Christ. One of my favorite passages in all of Scripture is Acts 2, and this is right after the disciples have received the Holy Spirit. We've had the big for lack of a better word revival at Pentecost, and and acts as describing the early church. And this is what it says in Acts 2 starting in verse 42, it says, And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching in the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, and awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs are being done through the apostles, and all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were all selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. They received their food with gladden generous hearts, Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day, those who are being saved. I just want to close my eyes for a minute. And think about what that must have been like to be part of that community, where we're they understood the vastness and the power of God in such a way that, that it caused them to be completely selfless with everything that they had.

Unknown: 3:40

I know that a lot of the times we look at this picture as one that is antiquated. Well, that was that worked back then. What in the world does this look like? Now? Let me point to a couple of really significant things that happened in this passage. One, I came on every soul as they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and preaching, miracles happened. And then they were compelled to share everything, possessions, money resources. This one might be my favorite, though, through that sharing as as they gave, they develop targets of thankfulness. Their generosity caused them to be more thankful for what they had been given. And ultimately, the Lord added to their number. I mean, isn't that why we're all here? We are all here. Because we believe in this beautiful, amazing gospel message. Because we are in love with Jesus. And we want other people to know him too. Advocacy is attractive, you guys. Advocacy shows people that we love one another. And it also shows them that we really do believe that God is as big as he says he is. So when we talk about advocacy, what is it that we're actually talking about in context of MPD, we define advocacy as a community of people who commit to building strong mutual relationships, and leveraging their God given resources in such a way that empowers everyone to flourish. So let me break that down a little bit. First of all, advocacy must be about building strong mutual relationships. In the absence of relationship, giving, because it becomes an obligation in the eyes of the giver, and charity in the eyes of the receiver becomes an obligation in the eyes of the giver and charity in the eyes of the receiver. You know, this picture that we just talked about in Acts, there was no obligation, there was no charity, it was a mutual community who deeply loves one another, and wanted to be part of a community where everyone felt whole. And so they shared everything. Secondly, advocacy involves leveraging our God given resources, you know, each of us come to the table with very different resources. And I'm not just talking about contacts or access to Christian resources, I'm talking about a bigger picture of, of what God has for us. And so a resource might be having access to a vehicle during MPD. It might be being a prayer warrior, it might be calling somebody who's struggling with MPD every day and encouraging them. And we all have God given resources that we can bring to the table on behalf of other people, both financial, relational, emotional, spiritual. And when we all bring our God given resources to the table, then that allows for that last part to happen, which is that everyone is empowered to flourish, if the giver is flourishing, but the receiver feels shame or a sense of being beholden. It's not really advocacy, if the receiver is flourishing, but the giver is feeling stressed or unappreciated or frustrated about giving. It's not advocacy. Advocacy, is this beautiful picture of when a community loves and cares for each other so deeply, and believe so deeply in the power and provision of God, that they bring what they have to the table. Now, we're not asking you to go into an Acts 2 community where you're sharing everything that you have in some big massive bank account. But the question I do want to leave you with today, and I hope that you'll think about before we talk on Friday, is how might God use me in someone else's MPD journey? What are those God given resources that I have that he might be calling me that he might be stretching me a little bit to bring to the table in a new way?

Katie Johnson: 7:46

Thanks for listening. As you listened, you probably noticed that this was a short introduction, and you may want to learn more about advocacy. Make sure to like and follow us on social media and to subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts so that you can hear future episodes about advocacy and how you can play a part. Thanks for tuning in.