It always amazes me how time goes by so quickly and that we are already beginning 2006. I wanted to take a moment to share a couple of reflections from a time of prayer on New Years Eve.
It was great to attend a prayer service on New Years Eve and to have the chance to reflect back over 2005 and to prayerfully look forward to this coming year. As I thought back on 2005 I was very grateful to God for how He has continued to walk with us in ICC. 2003 and 2004 were both very challenging years for all of us in ICC. 2005, whilst not as difficult, has had its challenges as we settle into the changes brought about during the previous two years. Dealing with the difficulties and changes that we have experienced is not easy and can wear us down. Settling into the new management in Changsha, working out the inevitable problems that have arisen with the move into the community and the development of the Heng Yang project are all changes which have both positive and negative sides. Positive in that we are moving to a way of working that we believe will give our children and youth a better life. Positive because we have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of another 50 children in Heng Yang, yet negative because change bring about stress, challenges our sense of security, sometimes overwhelms us and alters the network of relationships that is so important to us.
As I write I ask find myself asking these questions – Do I trust that God has been in the midst of all that we have walked through? Do I believe that He continues to guide, lead and form ICC through the changes and circumstances that we encounter? Do I trust that, despite how things sometimes look and feel that He is blessing the work of ICC and moving us towards realizing our vision? Is He changing the lives of the children that He has given into our care?
In the day to day slog of walking out the ministry we have been called to we can lose sight of what He is doing as we deal with the changes, the lacks, the gaps that we see, the frustrations that we have, and the unanswered questions that leave us disappointed. But upon reflection, sitting in church on New Years Eve, and sitting here now in my office, I know in my heart that God is in the midst of all that we have walked through. I know that He is guiding, leading and forming us through the circumstances we encounter, that He is blessing the work of ICC, despite the challenges, and that most importantly there are children who are coming to know Jesus either for the first time or in increasing measure through the faithful day to day work that we do.
I am grateful to God that I have finished 2005 with the certainty of those things, and that encourages me to turn my eyes to 2006 with a sense of expectancy.
2006, I am sure, will continue to be a year of change. Change whilst sometimes hard is both inevitable and good. A minister I heard speak a few months ago said it this way:
Healthy things grow
Growing things change
Changing things challenge us
Challenging things force us to trust God
Trust leads to obedience
Obedience makes you healthy
Healthy things grow…..
Firstly, I hope that for each one of us the primary change is one of growing a little more into the image of Jesus. Secondly, I hope that each of us will experience closeness with Jesus that enables us to have joy in the midst of the changes we encounter. Thirdly, I hope that we will have confidence in knowing that He walks with us in all that unfolds in ICC.
I trust that God will gift to us those three things in this coming year.
Here are some of the things that we trust God will establish in 2006:
In China:
A new COC Director for our China work
The beginning of the Heng Yang team and project
New accommodation for the children at Ya Tang Cun in Changsha
A new vocational workshop for our youth
The strengthening of our Changsha team with new staff.
Good input into our Chinese leadership to develop their leadership and management skills, including a trip to visit social welfare projects in Hong Kong in June.
Identify and employ a new assistant project manager, therapy manager, education manager and translator for the Changsha Project
Strengthen our relationship with the government departments that we work with.
Outside of China:
Our National Offices and staff – that they will continue to see the vital role they play in the work that we do for China’s children
Strengthen the support, input and communication with our national offices.
The beginning set up of new National Offices in Taiwan, Singapore and an office to deal with Chinese enquiries.
Our website being translated into Chinese.
Strengthen recruitment of long term staff.
A pool of specialist people who can come and train staff and work with the children.
The things listed above have all been identified as we have talked together, shared our views and recognized the needs of the work that we do. When I look at these things, and the many more smaller items that are not listed here, I begin to feel somewhat like Gideon. In other words, if it is up to me then there is no way these things can be done. If it is up to us then a rational mind would say that we are too few people. However we trust that God will bring about the realization of these things in his timing and in his way, just as He brought about Gideon’s victory with a handful of people at Gideon’s side.
In short, we are being given an opportunity to trust – an opportunity to trust that God will bring about all that He wants in ICC in 2006. I believe that those three words ‘opportunity to trust’ that came to me whilst praying on New Years Eve are God’s word and challenge for me in 2006. I want to ask you to join with me in taking up this ‘opportunity to trust’ for ICC in 2006. When the challenges come, when the circumstances are hard, when we don’t see the way forward, when it feels like a slog each day or our hopes are dashed then let us stand together and take up this opportunity to trust in our God and Father. As we do that I believe that God will do all that He wants in and through us.
In closing, I want to encourage you to see that ICC is a family – a diverse one - spread across countries, cities, with different personalities and foibles – yet one that is united in our belief that we have been called to care for one another and ‘go’ make a difference to the lives to China’s abandoned and orphaned children.
God Bless you and may you know His joy, peace and provision in 2006.
In Him,
David
David J. Gotts
Executive Director
International China Concern
