Christian Alliance for Orphans Strategic Plan for Thriving Souls

Christian Alliance for Orphans

Strategic Plan for Thriving Souls

“Good fruit grows from healthy trees.”

No factor is more critical to the success of an organization than the health of the people within it. Why? Because, in the long run, the best fruit grows from healthy trees. Creativity, attentiveness, endurance, and myriad other traits essential to success rise naturally from a thriving soul. This health is about much more than productivity alone. Ultimately, it makes visible the vision we seek to effect in the world through our work.

Table of Contents

The Root and Fruit Principle

The Leader’s Most Critical Role

What we Lose if we Fail to Nurture Health

Intentional Investment in the Whole Person

I. Spiritual

II. Emotional

III. Intellectual

IV. Physical

V. Relational

Ongoing Accountability and Encouragement

How Does this Plan Fit with CAFO’s Overall Mission?

What Does it Mean that CAFO is a “Community of Christian Spiritual Formation”?

Is Placing Priority on Soul Care an Excuse for Ease?

The Root and Fruit Principle

“Every good tree,” says Jesus, “produces good fruit.” 1 When the roots of a person run deep and strong, the yield of their life will be fulsome as well. It is a law of human nature, as certain as gravity. 2

Certainly, we note exceptions in the short run. Manipulation, fear, greed and other dark motives can indeed drive immense effort and achievement. The fruit may appear good for a while. 3

But time proves otherwise. When people or communities are marked by exhaustion, irritation, and angst, their long-term prospects swiftly dim. Regular angst leads to pervasive anxiety; irritation to conflict; exhaustion to small and timid endeavors. As General George Patton observed, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”

But the opposite is also true. People and communities that evidence spiritual, mental, and physical health yield further health. Those whose souls are alive and well will produce…and what they produce will be of enduring value.

They dream big dreams and venture great risks. They persevere in disappointment, rejoice in success, and find reward even in the challenge of setbacks. Their undertakings flash with creativity, crackle with vigor, and ultimately give results of which others may only dream.

We can call this the “Root & Fruit Principle”: from the root of healthy souls, good fruit will rise in time.

1 Matthew 7:17. See also, for example, John 15:5, Matthew 15:18, and Proverbs 4:23.

2 This principle is a primary axiom of Scripture: what is deep within will inevitably give rise to external reality. A rich variety of metaphors paint the picture vividly – root to fruit (Matthew 7:17) … wellspring to stream (James 3:11-13 and John 7:38)

… soil to harvest (Matthew 13:1+). What is deep within matters most, because it will eventually spill out. “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.” (Luke 6:45) “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is wellspring of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) When there is health within – whether a person, a family, or an organization – good will ultimately rise from it.

3 Consider Psalm 73

The Leader’s Most Critical Role

This principle gives the leader a clear commission. The leader’s role begins with offering vision – a compelling picture of the future we seek and what must be done to achieve it. Without this shared vision, an organization or team or family has no direction or common undertaking.

But to be understood, a vision must be seen. Words and images help explain it. But ideas carry power, depth, and legitimacy only as they take on flesh. This incarnation of a vision must always start with the people working to implement it, first the leader and then also the team that joins in that work.

If the ultimate outcome we desire is transformed lives, some expression of that transformation should always be visible in the people working for it. The future we seek for others must begin in us.

The true leader leads first in this regard. Otherwise, we are selling goods we’ve not tasted, and our leadership will be shallow at best. Although we’ll never do it perfectly, the leader must embody the vision they seek to effect in the world. 4

Our own heart, character, and under-the-surface growth come first in this. But just as essential – and a primary outward expression of this inner reality – is our care for the people we lead.

To care well for these people is first an act of love. It reflects and reveals God’s love for each of us. This care would be worthwhile even if it carried no other benefit. But a pragmatic case can also be made for prioritizing this care. If we believe that the best fruit rises from healthy trees, then the thriving of those we lead becomes our most essential objective. The productivity and long-term yield of our organization will hinge on this more than any other factor.

Contemporary management research affirms this paradigm. Thriving employees produce dramatically better results for companies. These outcomes range from higher customer satisfaction and quality metrics to increased long-run profitability. 5

The health and engagement of team members depends on many things, of course. But evidence suggests that a holistic approach does it best. Financial compensation alone, in fact, is notably less important than other factors. 6 The robust engagement and effectiveness of team members flow from a “whole life” health – everything from workplace culture to exercise, vacation practices to strong marriages. 7

Again, our first purpose in caring for people is not merely productivity. It is love. But like all expressions of love, well-tended souls yield much other good fruit besides

4 See, for example, John 13:14-15; 1 Corinthians 11:1; Philippians 4:9.

5 An immense volume of business literature confirms this point. See, for example, the work of the Gallup corporation on employee engagement. (https://www.gallup.com/workplace/231581/five-ways-improve-employee-engagement.aspx).

6 See, for example, https://hbr.org/2017/01/what-matters-more-to-your-workforce-than-money

7 Again, we often observe exceptions in the short run. High pressure sales environments, for example, squeeze impressive “results” from both their salesforce and buyers. The numbers – measured solely by immediate sales growth – can be superlative. But over time, results appear more alloyed, often including low satisfaction among both employees and customers, high turnover, and breakdown of relationships and systems. In time, these negative indicators ultimately take a toll even on the “bottom line” of profits. In contrast, consider the long-term success of companies built on the opposite ethic – like In-N-Out Burger, Chick-fil-A, Herman Miller, or Southwest Airlines. Not only are employees and customers grateful and loyal, but their profits – over time – tend to outpace their industries considerably.

What We Lose if We Fail to Nurture Health

The stakes in all this are especially high when our work involves deep emotional expenditure and other sacrifices. This is true whether our job is considered “formal ministry” or not.

All ministry is, at its essence, a pouring out. 8 Like a law of spiritual physics, if a person regularly pours out more than is poured into them, they will soon run dry. Such a pattern tumbles inevitably toward exhaustion, then burn-out.

The costs of burn-out are immense. For individuals, it is disillusionment, anxiety and frustration, the loss of joy, and the inability to care about our work or for others. For organizations, it is high turnover, decreased employee engagement, loss of talent and continuity, and sometimes even worse.

The consequences are equally tragic for those served by a ministry. When an organization is marked by burnout, its staff increasingly find their hearts grow callous. The people served sense that their presence brings little joy or delight. Regardless of what is given to them or said, the fear that all humans feel at some level seems to be confirmed: they are not loved nor worth loving. An organization the conveys this ethos cannot rightly be said to be a ministry, whatever its metrics.

Thankfully, this need not happen. When those who serve are fed by strong, steady sources of nourishment, they can continue to pour out. Their outward flow is matched by an inward flow. They can persist in service, even amidst very difficult circumstances, growing all the while in creativity, competence, and care. They persevere. Even more importantly – much more importantly – they continue to love well as they persevere. Those whom they serve are indeed loved…and they can feel it.

Cultivating this fruit first in and then through the people he or she leads is the leader’s greatest role. This is also the one essential quality of any organization that hopes to produce lasting good.

Intentional Investment in the Whole Person

If all this is so, the wise organization will be every bit as intentional about nurturing the health of the people within the organization as it is about its external mission. The latter, we trust, will flow from the former.

This commitment should be written down for all to see and follow. Just as good organizations create a strategic plan for their external mission, we can create a strategic plan for this internal priority.

CAFO’s “Strategic Plan for Thriving Souls” maps out the key plans and practices we intend to prioritize to live out this commitment together. To be a member of the CAFO team is to lead and serve in ways consistent with the commitments in this plan. We do this first with and for one another. Then, each in our own sphere of focus, we seek to care for and build up the “champions” we serve – from those serving in member nonprofits…to church ministry leaders…to foster and adoptive parents.

Critically, this vision is not limited to tending just one facet of a human being, whether spiritual, intellectual or otherwise. Rather, it is about seeking to enable the whole person to thrive.

When we use the term “soul,” we refer to the totality of a human being as God designed us: body, emotions, intellect, relationships, and spirit. The soul, when healthy, integrates all that we are. 9

This view of the soul rejects the “dualism” that presents spirit and body as disconnected. It also spurns the gnostic view that immaterial things are higher and better than the material. 10 Rather, we believe Scripture’s clear affirmation that all that God made was “very good.” 11 He crafted each part of us to operate as an integrated whole. God also intends that we, as whole beings, live in vital relationships with other whole beings, just as the Trinity itself.

All aspects of a whole person – emotion, intellect, body, relationships, and spirit – are intertwined and mutually dependent. These parts constantly interact and impact all the others in ways that modern science is only beginning to grasp. 12 When one part of us withers, all parts suffer. When one is refreshed or strengthened, all grow in vigor. Full health requires well-being in each of these five facets of our whole person.

With this holistic vision before us, we commit ourselves to the following plan:

9 One hears this sense of the word “soul” in the distress call, SOS. Those on a sinking ship who send an SOS pray for rescue not of just their spirits, but of all that they are: Save Our Souls.

10 This view of the body, evident throughout the Old Testament, is unequivocally affirmed by the incarnation: God became flesh. Significantly, even after his resurrection, Jesus could be seen, heard and touched, broke bread and ate fish.

11 Genesis 1:31

12 An immense volume of research in recent decades reveals more and more ways in which the seemingly separate aspects of a human being intertwine and profoundly impact one another. Consider, for instance, recent research indicating that the experience of social isolation and loneliness increases inflammation in our physical bodies. Or how a person’s sense of emotional/psychological well-being carries dramatic impact on the strength of their immune system Or how the very physical experience of holding a warm cup of coffee can cause us to feel emotionally warmer toward the person we are with. Or how positive emotional states – including the laughter of watching a silly video of penguins – makes one more intellectually sharp. Or how even small amounts of physical exercise decrease anxiety and depression, and increase feelings of emotional well-being. Or how the regular use of words like “joyful,” “glad” and “jolly” highly correlates with both emotional and physical health Or how emotional stress impacts the physical health of our digestive tract, and vice versa. Or how feeling down emotionally affects our physical vision and the way we see certain colors. Or how simply seeing the color red (a physical experience) measurably decreases performance on an IQ test (our intellectual functioning). Or how eating fruits and vegetables boosts emotional health. Or how feeling burnout at work doubled the chances a person would develop COVID and tripled the chances that its symptoms would be severe if they did. Or how nodding one’s head affects our sense of intellectual confidence in judgements we’ve made. Or how involvement with and helping care for one’s grandchildren appears to make people physically healthier and live longer. Or how even small amounts of regular physical exercise can, over time, measurably alter one’s personality to become more agreeable, conscientious and open to new experiences, along with other social, emotional, and intellectual benefits. Or how simple physical activity like walking makes us more intellectually creative and more resilient to emotional strain. Or how eating fruits and vegetables decreases ADHD symptoms. Or how lack of sleep – a very physical experience – can severely impact our intellectual capacity and emotional well-being and even how we feel in relation to others. Or how food we eat can significantly affect short- and long-term moods both for good and ill, from a 40% increase in depression risk from a diet high in foods like cake, processed meat, and fast foods…to significant decreases in depression from even small steps to eat more fruits, vegetables, and legumes. Or how conflicts in our relationships with family can disturb our sleep patterns. Or how health in our spiritual life – especially a sense of deep connection to God and assurance of His salvation – actually help us sleep well amidst straining experiences. Or how eating certain foods can decrease depression and increase feelings of well-being. Or have having a strong sense of purpose in life lowers the risk of heart disease by nearly 20 percent. Or how having a strong sense of purpose significantly benefits many aspects of physical health, including decreased risk of early death. Or how creative activities (an intellectual and physical experience) stimulates a measurably higher level of emotional well-being the next day. Or how just one conversation a day (social) can notably boost mood and decrease stress (emotion). Or how holding the hand of a loved one (a physical experience that also is highly social/relational) can measurably lower emotions of stress/anxiety and also decrease pain, and even serves to synchronize both brainwaves and heartrates of the two individuals. Or how simply pointing to your head (a physical act) makes your decision-making more logical, whereas pointing to your heart makes subsequent decision-making more emotion-focused. Or how feelings of social isolation and exclusion dramatically decrease intellectual capacity. We could go on and on.

13

SPIRITUAL

I. SPIRITUAL

Inner life rooted in vibrant relationship with God

CAFO is committed to the local church as the primary community for each individual’s spiritual life and growth. However, as followers of Jesus on mission together, we believe that we can and should act not merely as co-workers, but as fellow disciples of Jesus, living and growing in him together. This is why we view CAFO not only as a place of missional work, but also – before all else – as a community of spiritual formation.

13 Our commitment is not first to a “cause,” but to grow together to become more like Jesus each day as we engage the work God has given us. Toward this end, our shared commitments include:

• Bi-annual Solitude. Every staff member is encouraged to take two times in solitude each year of at least 24 hours if possible. CAFO provides one day of paid leave annually to support this commitment. Staff is asked to schedule these days at the start of each year, with freedom to change if needed.

• Annual Team Retreat. Each year, the CAFO staff retreat includes not only strategic planning and team-strengthening, but also exploration and engagement of practices of spiritual formation.

• Personal Spiritual Disciplines. We speak openly of and encourage personal habits of spiritual health and formation, including prayer, study, memorization of Scripture, Sabbath, and other historic practices of God’s people.

• Deepest Commitments. CAFO culture is built on 7 “Deepest Commitments,” the foremost of which is a focus on spiritual life and health. Each week, the “Shield Award” celebrates specific expressions of CAFO’s “Deepest Commitments” modeled by teammates that week. On an annual basis, each employee evaluates his/her own practice and growth in light of these commitments and processes their reflections with their team leaders or another colleague.

• “Prayer Pairs.” Every week, each member of the team is paired with another for prayer together over important life issues they are facing.

EMOTIONAL II. EMOTIONAL

Love, joy, peace, & other positive feelings & desires

CAFO strongly encourages patterns of work and rest that nurture peace, joy and other expressions of emotional health. This doesn’t mean all aspects of life are always perfectly “balanced.” Indeed, we gladly embrace seasons of intense labor. But over time, we seek to ensure ample space for refreshment, play, worship, creative expression and more. We notice especially that a human thrives with rhythms of expenditure-and-rest, much like those of a heartbeat, breathing, day and night, and the seasons. Toward this end, we desire to establish habits that can be sustained – and can sustain us! – for a lifetime in daily, weekly and yearly rhythms. Of course, these habits nurture not only emotional health, but also health of body, intellect, spirt and relationships too. CAFO work culture seeks to enable the following:

• Daily Rhythm. We observe that trying to give attention to multiple things at once is ineffective and wasteful. 14 It results in poor work, restless rest, and feeble engagement with many of the most important things in life, including relationships. To counteract the powerful gravity toward distraction, we encourage “block scheduling” of workdays and as a general approach in life. This includes blocks of time in morning and evening devoted fully to non-work priorities, as well as adequate time for sleep at night. 15 We also encourage each staff member to create a personal or family “Tech Rule,” setting the place and boundaries of technology (both work and personal) in their lives.

• Weekly Rhythms. We strongly encourage a 24-hour period of Sabbath each week in which both CAFO and personal work is decisively avoided in order to give ourselves fully to rest, worship and play. Work-related communication on Sundays is discouraged except when truly necessary.

• Annual Rhythms. Staff are encouraged to schedule their full allotment of vacation days at the start of the year to ensure all will be used, with flexibility for change as the year progresses. 16,17 An additional vacation day is provided to encourage the planning of at least one full week in the spirit of the Old Testament “Pilgrim Feast” – leaving all normal work behind for a time of rich refreshment of body, mind, and spirit. Team members are always encouraged to be 100% “off the grid” when on vacation, avoiding work email completely and reachable only for true emergencies.

• 7th Year Sabbatical.18 In addition to vacation time, CAFO offers a one-month sabbatical to all staff every seven years. We also offer one-week “short sabbatical” each 3.5 years of service. This time is kept free from work-related tasks (i.e. study or writing). It is required only that the time not be used for other forms of work, but rather kept for life-giving activities of rest, refreshment, worship and play.

• Culture of Gratitude. Each week, “Gratitude Friday” awards are publicly awarded, chosen via nominations by fellow staff members – encouraging mutual appreciation, celebration and thanks. 19

14 An apt phrase to describe the default mode of modern life is “continuous partial attention,” coined by tech writer and consultant Linda Stone – more on this here (https://lindastone.net/2009/11/30/beyond-simple-multi-tasking-continuouspartial-attention/).

15 While sleep can be an indulgence, the average person today gets much less than would allow the optimal operation of their mind and body. This diminishes memory, creativity, positivity, the immune system and more. Adequate sleep is God’s intent for His people. As expressed in Psalm 127:2, “In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat. For He grants sleep to those He loves.”-

16 Research finds immense benefits from vacation. One recent study in Germany found that even a short (four day) vacation had “large, positive and immediate effects on perceived stress, recovery, strain, and well-being.” Significantly, the effects of reduced strain and increased wellbeing were still detectable 45 days after the vacation. Another truly stunning study found that vacation-taking impacts us not only in the near term, but even appears to extend the length of one’s life! Men that took three weeks of vacation annually were 37 percent less likely to die than peers who did not.

17 Remarkably, as the Harvard Business Review reports, taking one’s full allotment of time off carries a wide range of benefits that appear to accrue both to the employee (including a greater likelihood of receiving a promotion the next year) and the employer (including greater creativity and engagement by employees.)

18 Many studies – primarily from business schools – have shown “wide-ranging benefits of sabbatical, and their impact on employee well-being and organizational effectiveness.” From Fortune Magazine to the ReWork blog, business sources affirm that smart employers get more from their team – and for longer – when they provide Sabbaticals.

19 Many studies confirm that simple practices of expressing gratitude impact health and well-being in significant ways. Remarkably, they can increase sleep quality, reduce anxiety and depression, boost one’s mood, and even decrease fatigue and inflammation. For more, see https://dailyhealthpost.com/gratitude-rewires-brain-happier/

INTELLECTUAL

III. INTELLECTUAL Deepening wisdom, knowledge, & skills

CAFO leadership encourages staff to consider and engage intellectual and/or professional development, especially in areas of strong personal interest. This includes:

• Growth Goals. Annually, each employee is encouraged to write 2-3 personal and/or professional growth goals they hope to accomplish in the upcoming year. Leadership encourages team members throughout the year in pursuit of these goals and provides resources and flexibility, to the fullest extent appropriate, to accomplish them.

• Financial Support for Learning. Staff may request funds to cover up to 90 percent of the cost of books, courses, training or other opportunities for growth in knowledge and skill. While higher-cost investments are generally limited to skills/capacity directly related to the individual’s role within CAFO, smaller and/or partial investments are also made in growth that will benefit the staff member more broadly spiritually, intellectually or otherwise. (See staff handbook for details).

PHYSICAL

IV. PHYSICAL Health of Body

CAFO seeks to encourage and help facilitate the physical health of team members. This includes:

• Workday Movement. Recent studies indicate that very little is more harmful to physical health than long periods sitting each day. 20 With this in mind, each member of the CAFO team is given a Fit-Bit. Team Fit-Bit contests/challenges each month encourage get-out-of-your-chair movement and build enjoyable team competition and connection.

• Healthful workspace. CAFO is willing to pay for a standing desk and/or other office equipment to enable staff to work standing and/or other beneficial alterations to typical sitting-work situations.

• Life rhythms. The daily, weekly and annual rhythms described under “Emotion” are highly significant for physical health as well. Healthy patterns of daily work and rest/play, weekly Sabbath, and annual vacation all offer profound benefits for the body over time. Likewise, exercise and physical activity are also shown to have an immense impact on emotional well-being and mental health as well. (In fact, all dimensions of a human being affect all the others, often in ways science is only beginning to understand.)

• Gym membership. CAFO will reimburse staff for 75 percent of the cost of a gym membership, up to $30/month, provided the membership is used at least 5 times per month.

RELATIONAL

V. RELATIONAL

Thriving marriage, family, & friendships

The daily, weekly and yearly rhythms, screen technology habits, and all other practices encouraged by CAFO are intended not only for the health of the individual, but also for the health of their marriage, family, and other relationships. In addition, specific investments in these relationships include:

• Serving Together. Serving at Summit provides a unique window into the heart and mission of our daily work. For couples, CAFO covers full airfare for spouses who wish to volunteer, and half of airfare for spouses who desire only to attend. For singles, CAFO covers full airfare for a family member who wishes to volunteer, and half of airfare for one who desires only to attend.

• Marriage Retreat. CAFO will cover the registration costs and half of lodging for a Family Life “Weekend to Remember” or similar marriage retreat for each couple once every two years. For singles, CAFO will cover similar costs for an equivalent retreat experience once every two years.

• Paid Leave. CAFO provides paid family leave to employees following birth and during health emergencies to support them in caring for children and loved ones in life’s most significant moments. If family needs extend beyond the paid period, employees can work with supervisors to arrange long-term unpaid or part-time options. (See staff handbook for details.)

• Being Present. CAFO enables employees to work remotely at the home of family members during times of special joy (i.e. summer break, holidays, etc.) as well as crisis (i.e. health problems, death, etc). Extended periods that may involve significant distraction require a supervisor’s approval and appropriate mitigation, but we bias toward accommodation whenever possible.

• Empowering Parents. For primary caregivers who desire to work part-time, CAFO provides extraordinary flexibility in location, work hours, and other job elements. Remote work should not be seen as an opportunity to save on childcare by working and parenting simultaneously. But CAFO’s flexibility enables parents to contribute to a compelling global mission while also being present for their children when needed most. It also allows CAFO to enlist superlative talent that could not serve apart from this flexibility.

• Teammate Time. CAFO team members live in diverse cities and rarely work in the same space. This provides flexibility and freedom, but also means missing some of the camaraderie and creativity of shared spaces. To build relationships – and recognizing that funds are saved by not paying for office space – CAFO will pay reasonable flight costs once/year for a staff member to travel to work together with another staff member for a week or longer.

Ongoing Accountability and Encouragement

To encourage and support ongoing spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical, and social health, each staff member annually takes the “Soul Health Self-Assessment” 21 questionnaire tool. This tool provides an opportunity for personal reflection, a year-by-year review of trends and progress, and also discussion/ processing with one’s supervisor.

To be clear, these conversations not a performance review and have no bearing on employment, raises, etc. They are engaged with a spirit of grace and no hint of judgment. They aim only to help each staff member better see, articulate, prioritize, and pursue the health they desire.

To complement the annual self-assessment, supervisors also hold with each staff member a conversation mid-year to offer encouragement and advice, help individuals identify their challenge areas, and plan ongoing actions to care for and build up the staff member in every aspect of their soul.

A modified form of the “Soul Health Self-Assessment” is also used for interns at the start and closing of internships.

How Does this Plan Fit with CAFO’s Overall Mission?

Peter Drucker –the founder of the science of management, and also a committed follower of Christ –rightly observed, the ultimate purpose of any nonprofit is “a changed human life altogether.” As the Christian Alliance for Orphans, transformed lives are indeed our great purpose. We seek the restoration and thriving of vulnerable children and families in crisis. Just as much, we desire transformation for the people serving in this field, for their families, and for their church communities.

If we sought only to change laws or deliver physical goods like food, medicine, or shelter, we might focus on fundraising or lobbying. These things certainly have value. But the greatest needs of children run deeper. To truly thrive, children need love, nurture, and belonging. These things cannot be produced or delivered en masse. Rather, they can only be provided one caring relationship at a time.

We believe God calls His people to offer this care, just as He does for us. He invites us to upend our lives by opening them to the hurting in hospitality and self-giving love. This is no small undertaking. That is why CAFO’s work must be foremost a vision for discipleship. Most of all, we seek to help followers of Jesus Christ to know him more fully, love him more deeply, and reflect his character more comprehensively in all life.

We call those who seek to live this life “champions.” They are people whose hearts have been roused by God’s love and now desire to reflect that love in faithful service to vulnerable children and families. Champions are adoptive and foster parents, ministry directors and staff, pastors and lay leaders, advocates, mentors and more.

CAFO’s external mission is to inspire Christians to become such champions and then to equip them to labor effectively as champions. Through CAFO, 200+ member organizations and a global network of churches labor together in well-coordinated initiatives to this very end.

As champions grow in strength and skill, transformation ripples outward. No one is left the same. Children are changed as they experience love and belonging. The champions and their families are altered, too, as they open their hearts and homes to welcome hurting children and families. From there, entire churches begin to grow and deepen as they support and serve and pray for one another. In all this, a watching world sees, perhaps for the first time, the Gospel made visible through God’s people. This is our prime objective…our theory of change… and our highest hope and prayer. 22

What Does it Mean that CAFO is a “Community of Christian Spiritual Formation”

CAFO’s mission is rightly understood as an undertaking of justice and mercy. We desire to see the world’s most vulnerable children experience protection, nurture, and love – just as God intended at Creation.

Our identity, however, is not found in our outward mission. Rather, our mission flows from our identity. When a person or organization flips that, seeking to find their identity and sense of worth in their mission, everything goes askew. Our identity is always hanging in the balance. When we’re succeeding in our mission, we feel secure; when our results are not all we hoped, our identity and value are in question. But when our mission is simply a natural outflow of our identity – especially who we understand ourselves to be in Christ – we know who we are in both the highs and lows that inevitably come with work of justice and mercy.

Before anything else, we are beloved sons and daughters of God, saved by grace, and desiring to grow daily as disciples of Jesus Christ. This sense of identity and purpose define us as we join together in the work of CAFO.

This is why we view CAFO not first as a justice organization, a movement, or a cause – although CAFO’s work certainly includes these things, too. Our primary identity is as a community of Christian spiritual formation. 23

This means that our first commitment is in seeking to grow more like Jesus together each day. While we know we’ll never do this perfectly, we aim to embody the life in Christ we seek for others: generous and joyful, calm amidst trial, grateful in all circumstances, bearing the light yoke of self-forgetfulness, kind and patient, fully present and attentive to each person before us, steadfast and hope-filled, rich in love. Indeed, why work to grow this fruit in others if it is absent in ourselves?

The members of the CAFO team voluntarily unite as followers of Jesus, under the authority of Scripture and led by the Holy Spirit, endeavoring to live in ways that will most enable us to:

A) Grow to reflect the character of Jesus more each day; and

B) Join in God’s restorative work together, especially by strengthening champions whose skillful care can help vulnerable children and families to flourish.

This identity is not to the exclusion of professionalism or work ethic. Far from it. We aim to give the very best that we have to the mission we share. It is simply that we see clearly that we are most able to do that when our souls are most alive. When God is steadily transforming us into His image, both as individuals and as a team, our external work becomes transformative as well. We are more visionary, creative, energetic, perseverant, and effective. Good trees will produce good fruit.

The “Strategic Plan for Thriving Souls” articulates the commitment of CAFO’s leadership to nurturing a culture that supports and sustains a whole-life journey of spiritual formation. Alongside this organizational commitment, as individual members of the CAFO team, we voluntarily pledge ourselves to the following “Commitments of Spiritual Formation.”

By God’s grace, under the authority of Scripture and led by the Holy Spirit, we desire to see the character of Jesus Christ increasingly reflected in our spirit, body, emotions, intellect, and relationships. Toward this end, we will endeavor:

1) To spend time with our heavenly Father each day;

2) To receive the gift of Sabbath each week;

3) To experience extended solitude with God at least once each year, along with other spiritual disciplines we may choose to engage;

4) To participate actively in the life of a local church

There is much flexibility in how each team member endeavors to engage these commitments. There is much grace and no judgement of one another in our efforts to apply them. We simply seek to do our best to keep them as God gives us to understand them. We also encourage and pray for each other along the way.

Most of all, we desire that by God’s grace, Christ will increasingly be “formed in us” 24 – that our thought life, desires, and loves would increasingly reflect his. Our daily work through CAFO is simply the outgrowth of this internal formation. Meanwhile, this daily work is also one important means God uses to deepen our life in Him as well. Every action of faithful service to God and others, no matter how small, contributes to the steady formation of a soul to share the character of Jesus.

This, for us, is what it means to “seek His Kingdom” above all else. Sin has tangled every thread of creation. But in Jesus – and now through His people – God is at work to rescue and renew. Someday, all that is wrong will be set right. But even now, God’s Kingdom breaks forth wherever broken lives are healed, broken relationships reconciled, and broken situations mended.

Together, we join God in this work of restoration, with special focus on orphaned and vulnerable children. It begins in us and then spills outward through us. To be a small part of this work in our beautiful, broken world is among the greatest joys a human can know.

Is Placing Priority on Soul Care an Excuse for Ease?

Investing in the care of souls could be perceived as self-service. It is not. Rather, it reflects a realization that true leadership must first embody the vision it calls others to pursue. To do this, we must organize our lives in ways that allow for practices and rhythms that nurture the transformation within us that we seek for others. We must prioritize our downward growth into Christ above the upward growth of achievement, even in very worthy undertakings.

This kind of leadership recognizes that the most valuable gifts we can offer to others rise from transformation and health within our own soul. What others most need from us – whether our clients, staff, family, or friends – is not merely well-run programs, articulate statements, or skillful management, important as these things are. What others need from us most of all is simply this: to encounter the loving presence of Jesus Christ in and through us.

We can never hope to offer the grace, attentiveness, and tender care of Jesus if we are not being steadily transformed into His image. This change within is the wellspring of all other aspects of Christian leadership as well, from vision, creativity, and wisdom to sacrificial service and bold risk-taking.

To be clear, the point is never that leaders have any excuse to live pampered lives. True Christian leadership models sacrifice and self-denying service, even to death itself. The CAFO ethos is woven of focus, self-discipline, and hard work. Like Paul, we want to pour all that we are into the mission God gives us – “straining toward what is ahead, I press on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of me.” 25

At the same time, we are not timid in establishing commitments and habits that nurture the health of the soul. This is not, at its heart, about “self-care.” Merely caring for oneself will never yield the vitality and strength one needs for a lifetime of pouring out. No, this vision is fundamentally about receiving God’s care. We simply turn with hands open to our heavenly Father, who alone can sustain us.

Our boldness in creating a strategic plan like this is rooted in this and this alone: our deep and abiding confidence in the goodness of God and His desire to care tenderly for us. This marvelous truth shimmers on every page of Scripture – from the Law26 and the prophets27 to the Psalms28 to the Gospels29 and Epistles.30

He is our Good Shepherd and we are the people of His pasture.

25 Philippians 3:12

26 Consider the “mandate” that God’s people enjoy the rest and celebration of feasts and festivals throughout the year (including the Passover, Weeks/Pentecost and Tabernacles/Tents – see Leviticus 23:1-2), or God’s requirement that even beasts of labor be provided opportunity to eat while working (Dt. 25:4.) Perhaps even beyond all this, Jews regard the supreme example of God’s care and provision to be the “festival” we are invited to celebrate every week, a weekly Sabbath.

27 The prophets, even in moments of terrifying judgment, continually express an invitation to return to God’s forgiveness, provision and care. As Jeremiah expresses it, “If you repent, I will restore you…” Perhaps no prophet captures this vision more poignantly than Isaiah, “[God] tends His flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads those who have young.” (Isaiah 40:11).

28 The Psalms overflow with expressions of God’s tender mercy and care, from his shepherd-like nurture of his people – making us lie down in green pastures, leading us beside still waters, restoring our soul (Psalm 23) – to his concern for all living things. “The Lord is good to all. He has compassion on all He has made.” (Psalm 145:9)

29 Jesus invites us always into his care and rest. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). He modeled this in the compassion he felt and expressed for those around him – continually feeding and healing, comforting and encouraging, and inviting the disciples to “come away with me…and rest.” (Mark 6:31) Jesus also conveyed this care in poignant metaphors of his relationship to his followers, ranging from shepherd to husband to mother hen.

30 Like the rest of Scripture, the Epistles speak frequently and movingly of God’s tender compassion and care, both directly and through His people. We see this from the images of Christ as our loving bridegroom to Paul describing his work among the Thessalonians as “like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.” (I Thes. 2:7).

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