A Path to Peace

Getting Help Without Being a Gossip

Things were going just fine, or so you thought. Sure, it wasn’t perfect, but what is? Then out of nowhere what you thought was going well just turned out to have been naive optimism, and now you get to be the next person to take your turn going for a ride on the conflict carousel. You don’t know what to do and you could use some advice, but you truly love the people you are in conflict with and don’t want to be spreading gossip about them. And, yet, you feel that if there is any hope for things ISTOCK to get better you will need to talk to someone. So, what do you do? How do you Adam. Charlie may even refuse to get involved, involve someone without becoming a gossip? which can be a very respectable course of action

If this describes you then there is good news: at times. far too often people don’t give a second thought While it is important that the person you to whether or not they are actually getting help speak to have a healthy relationship with you or just spreading malicious gossip. So, if you that will hold you in an unconditional positive want to get help in such situations, but don’t regard, they should also be someone who isn’t want to spread gossip, that is a better starting afraid to help you see the errors of your own point than most. ways and help you view your “enemy” as some

When there is conflict between Person A one also made in the image of God. Do not bring (let’s call him Adam) and Person B (let’s call the matter to someone who is prone to gossip, him Ben), it is very natural for each of them but who you know to be trustworthy. to feel the need to talk to a third person about Furthermore, you should be careful about this. Conflict management studies refers to this your expectations. Unless you are getting a other person as Person C (let’s call him Charlie), trained mediator involved, don’t expect them and this process of seeking outside support is to go to the person you are having trouble with. referred to as Triangulation. So, in this conflict You will need someone to talk things through between Adam and Ben, for the sake of arguwith, to be honest with, and to care for you ment let’s say that Adam goes to Charlie to talk through the difficult process. Find someone who about it. cares about making peace, not just faking peace,

What happens next? Well, Charlie may take and who is bold enough to hold up a mirror to Adam’s side, get involved, and also be in conyou to gently show you your own part in this flict with Ben. Or Charlie may agree with Ben problem. and then Adam feels betrayed by Charlie and is now in conflict with both. Or perhaps Charlie (Please note: While this advice is healthy and helps Adam see the error of his ways and helps applicable to normal conflict, it is very harmful him to reconcile with Ben. Or perhaps Charlie when applied to situations of abuse. Abuse is not does nothing but talk to others about the newest conflict; it is criminal.) juicy gossip about the issues between Ben and

by Kevin Wiebe

Far too often people don’t give a second thought to whether or not they are actually getting help or just spreading malicious gossip.

The Time I was Almost Famous

GERMANY Let me tell you about a time I was almost famous.

A few years ago, some of my friends and I made a YouTube channel. For a year we wrote and produced a short video every two weeks. We tried westerns, we tried superheroes, we dabbled in comedic horror and bad puns. Some of it was funny; everything was original.

For months, our videos got only around 250 views or so, which coincidentally was about how many friends and family members we all had. Then one day, we had a hit.

Tens of thousands of people saw it. They talked about it on Steinbach Radio. An uncredited screenshot was featured in a Buzzfeed article. It captured the cultural zeitgeist. It was... 20 Halloween Costumes for Procrastinators.

Yes, a list video. Exactly the type uncreative, click-bait trash we had been trying to avoid. There wasn’t anything original about it. No scathing critique of popular culture or trends. We were just experimenting, but we stumbled into a way to get the audience we wanted.

Strangely, the success of that video took the wind out of our sails. We realized we didn’t just want a large audience, we wanted a large audience that liked what we liked, that understood our vision. We still made a few more videos, but a part of the joy was gone.

Today, I’m part of a filmmaking/missions team called Soul Catalyst. We are experimenting with reaching out to the larger culture through film. Our goals might sound more holy, but we’re still wrestling with the same problem. Is it possible to engage the internet while still being authentic to our calling?

SOUL CATALYST FILMS

In case you thought this wasn’t about you, I’d like to suggest that Christianity in general faces this problem, especially in today’s modern online world. Missions theorists talk about how the Apostle Paul focused on the major cities of his day to spread Christianity. Today, the internet is the last major city.

But we avoid it, because we know how empty online fame is. We’ve seen others take the shortcut and we don’t want to sell out the incredible hope and vision we have for a few likes.

And yet, just because it’s easy to do wrong doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing right. The challenge calls us to something higher. To step out of our closed communities and seek an audience with the world, while still holding true to our vision with the help of those same communities.

In the next few weeks, we at Soul Catalyst will be trying to increase our online presence. Obviously not every piece of content will contain our whole vision or be serious and thought provoking. But we want to be intentional about what we are doing. We aren’t trying to start a movement. We are trying to be part of one. We don’t want to build our audience. We want to build God’s. Join us on the street corners of the last city. – Alex Reimer

Alex Reimer (Prairie Grove) is an EMC Associate Missionary and a filmmaker who serves with Greater Europe Mission in Kandern, Germany. Check out https://www.soulcatalyst. org/ (Alex is on the right.)

Empowerment the Key to Self-Sustainability

UGANDA/SOUTH SUDAN The people ofSouth Sudan have witnessed incredible violence, fled their homes, and suffered immensely because of lack of food, clean water, and shelter. Many continue to suffer or are paralyzed with fear and poverty. Serving South Sudan will bring a church planting model that promotes, sustainable development to grassroots communities providing clean drinking water, economic empowerment, social integration, church empowerment, and education. Empowerment is the key to self-sustainability, both for the South Sudanese refugees and the national Ugandans in Northern Uganda. Our leaders as serving some of the most vulnerable people in the world. For example, let me introduce you to Mr. Sam, whomone of our leaders has chosen to help (told with Mr. Sam’s permission). As you can see Mr. Sam has only one leg. (Many people have experienced the effects of disease and war and are maimed without hands, arms and legs.) This makes him particularly vulnerable and it is difficult to support his family in this harsh environment. YetSam is resilient, like many who have to survive, and isa serious farmer,evenfaithful in giving titheto the church community,though little.When we chose him as avulnerabletosupport to empower him with farm tools and seeds,you cannot imagine the joy that he experienced. It also helped to further his dignity as a father and man of the household. Serving South Sudan has five key leaders who live across Northern Uganda close to the South Sudan boarders, most of them living in the refugee camps. They are working with many volunteers that have been trained in Church Planting through Avant Ministries and are not

Mr. Sam works hard to feed his family. only planting churches but empowering lives and communities. A key ministry during this COVID- 19 crisis is serving the vulnerable. Refugees are in a community that are already locked in as they live in camps up to over 300,000 people. Now they are even more locked in, and cannot find food to survive. Mr. Sam is not the only vulnerable person helped. Through Avant Ministries, Serving South Sudan is serving possibly thousands of those refugees. Through our leaders and volunteers we are providing hoes, seed, chickens, goats, pigs, good in kinds, and other resources to empower refugees who live in these camps. Then they are able to be contributors not only to the churches, but to the community. These people include young widows with children, more mature widows, orphans, and people with disabilities. One of our leaders found a group of 300 orphans from South Sudan that were struggling to survive in a remote location in Northern Uganda. We were able to help them with food and clothes; but, most importantly, we helped them so they could prepare some land and farm. They could begin to provide themselves with needed food and did not have to continue to wait for some good Samaritan to come to save them.The fact is without our national leadership these 300 orphans may have been totally abandoned.

This is the power of God at work through Avant Ministries in project Serving South Sudan, and we thank Him that we can join Him in His work. And you, as the EMC under which we serve, are a part of it. – Gordon and Sharon Skopnik

Gordon and Sharon Skopnik are shown here with their family. Gordon and Sharon Skopnik (Wymark) serve with Avant Ministries.