6 years in our America Mission Posting

So we have been in our new posting in America for almost 6 years. Sometimes it has felt like one long extended furlough and I am ready to go back home--to where ever that is???

When I look back over these last 6 years, and ask myself what have the Jenkins been doing? I see several themes. One big one is relearning and trying to find our groove back in our passport country. A lot has changed in the U.S during the two decades we were gone. Did we idealize America, when we served overseas and have returned a bit dissolution? We tried very hard when we first returned not to make too many harsh judgments but to try and look at America through the same missionary lends that we did other postings.

We thought we would return and fit back into middle-class living but unfortunately, we have had to learn how to live in poverty. The last 5 years we have teetered on the poverty line. I almost hesitate to write this as we have had so many given so sacrificially over the last 6 years of which we are so thankful. But we have also had several years where we could not keep up with our monthly bills, where I would hear a truck go by in the night and think it was the repo guy coming to take our van away. Thankfully today all our cars are paid off ( 2 of them were given to us). They are older vehicles so we occasionally have maintenance cost but we are thankful. Our kids have received free lunches or reduced lunches at school, we have stood in line for free food. We have continued to host people and serve meals to those that God brings our way.  When you are at this level for an extended period of time, it can really wear on you. We are constantly in survival mode trying to figure out how to make everything work. There have been some helpful people that God has placed in our lives that have helped us to navigate the system to get some much-needed resources. It is hard, to be honest about this. We were on food stamps for a season and have had help with Health insurance. When we have sat in American churches we have felt marginalized at best. Judged at worst. Many times we feel like a project. One thing that I can share is that it has helped us empathize with others that walk this similar journey.

Another is trying to use our gifts, experiences, and relationships and answer God’s calling in our lives. We love our friends and family from East Africa. Many are in and around Chicagoland. We have been able to go to parties, and host parties and fellowships with those from East Africa. We have laughed together, prayed together, and cried together. We have had weddings, celebrate births, and mourn the loss and buried some. Over the last few years, we have tried to plant an international church. Challenging our East African friends to be missionaries here in America with the idea to reach other multinationals. As we have spent time and energy doing this, we have spent less time with the larger East African community pastoring them. Ironically, as we have done the day by day of trying to lay a foundation for our church plant and doing the weekly set up and service we actually feel we have discipled less. We know from past church plants that in the beginning you need to delay gratification and there is a lot of drudgery and grind. This phase has lasted longer this time around. We know we need more core people and resources to get to the next stage. Are we stretching our community too far? Are we asking too much from our partners? Is the American church not ready to receive missionaries?

We have tried many things in this season. Currently, we are doing 4 things. First, we are still trying to serve our East African community. This last month, we hosted a couple of concerts for a Ugandan Mother and Daughter Christian artists. Dave helped to raise money to send the body home of a Rwandan friend that died too young. Dave also spoke at several East African social and spiritual events.

Secondly, we are houseparents for a transitional home for single moms, this is a volunteer position that provides housing for us. We have enjoyed mentoring these young Mom’s and serving with a great team here at Jubilee Village but it does take time and emotional energy. Here is a story of one of the girls on our floor . https://www.outreachcommunityministries.org/jalenas-story/

Third, we are planting Nations Chapel. We have a great place to meet at Outreach Community Center in Carol Stream. We are so thankful for this location. We are meeting Sunday afternoons and usually share a meal together after worship. We are still just a small core that is consistent. Ignite’s monthly financial commitment was up in December 2017( they have been helping with $1000 per month) but they are still receiving funds for us from other individuals that support us as missionaries in America.

Finally, since January, Dave has been interim pastor at Lighthouse Fellowship Church in Huntley, IL. https://lfchuntley.org/ This is a congregation made up mostly of retired people. We have enjoyed getting to know them. They are a wise group of people. In addition to being with them on Sunday, we usually spend one day a week visiting the members and Dave attending the deacons meeting. We are finding ourselves falling in love with this community.

Dave has also been spending extra time with our son, Timothy in this season as he has had some health challenges with his Cerebral Palsy. In addition, I have had some health difficulties that started out with having melanoma skin cancer in my left arm and has sent me on several Doctor visits and many tests. Thankfully most things have come out fine but they did find a mass on my tailbone, at this point, it is benign but needs to be removed. I am having an MRI next week with a follow up with the surgeon on how to proceed. We would appreciate all of your prayers for this and also Timothy’s health.

As you can see it is a very busy season and we are struggling to do our best in all four of the ministries we are involved in plus family life. We would also like you to join us in prayer as we seek God to give us wisdom as to how to hone down some of what we are doing. We feel we need to focus on two instead of four things so that we can better serve. We are trying to hold things loosely and asking God to make clear what He wants us to do. Thanks again for your support and your prayers!

Blessings,

Jana and Dave

P.S. We are excited to announce that we are grandparents and we will meet our grandbaby face to face in July when he/she decides to make an appearance. We have enjoyed having Matt and Sophia here for Easter. It was a real blessing to have our whole family together.

 
                                           ( Ruth, Sophia, and our daughter-in-law Sarah)

Third Culture Missionaries

As we are beginning to start a new church plant,  like  an expecting mother, one looks back and remembers other  births.  With the memory comes emotions such as

joy, excitement,

nervousness, fear, overwhelmed, disappointed,

delighted, hopeful,

            exhausted, humiliated,

                                          proud,

                                      insufficient,

                                                              elated,

                                   rejected,

                                                          and compassionate

just to name a few.

Before the birth not unlike any woman who is pregnant, one is dreaming about what this church can be-- you can almost picture the church 10 years from now: healthy, self- sustaining, growing,

                                           vibrant, multi-cultural,

                                  full of sinners washed clean my God’s grace and Jesus’s blood,

relevant to the community it is in,

and genuine.

This is the church I want to go to and this is the church we believe God is asking us to plant.

One of the first task in planting a church is to think who is our target? In Uganda,our target was upwardly mobile, young professionals and families. In Rwanda, our target was English-speaking diaspora, influencing leaders. Here in Chicagoland, we believe that God is calling us to leverage our relationships that He has given us with our East African Diaspora to reach other Third-culture folks.

What do we mean by Third -Culture folks? Another term would be cultural hybrids or global nomads. This is where you are living somewhere that is not your place of origin--your parents’ culture but you are not fully a part of this new culture-- you have blended the two and have formed a new third culture! This is the group we feel that we can reach and that can reach others.

We want to come alongside our East African friends and encourage them to reach out as missionaries to other third- culture folks as well as other plain Joes searching for God’s grace and fullness in their lives.

This weekend, we had lunch with a friend of ours from East Africa working here in Chicagoland. Dave asked her,” what do you have to offer America as a missionary?’” This was in response to her wanting to help us with this new church plant. She responded, “ The years I have been here, it is evident that God is put on a stool in the corner as people go about making decisions for their own lives….we from Rwanda did not have this luxury we needed to depend on Him for everything even our breath. This is really the reality for the whole world, but here in the U.S they are fooling themselves. I think I can share how to make God a part of your whole life. Also, I think we have learned some lessons on forgiveness and unity.”

Yes, God can use you as a missionary! The  American church needs more of your perspective and the seekers need to hear your voice. This is what Nations’ Chapel will be ---a place for our East African Diaspora friends to serve as missionaries reaching other multi-cultural folks and calling those hurting, lost, and seekers into a life-changing relationship with Jesus and his church!

Where Have I Been? Weddings,Goodbyes, Losses and Joys

Where have I been? I can not believe that it has been so long since I wrote my last blog post.

Writing for school got the best of me.... then our 4th move in less than 3 years has put me over the edge....then this summer I was pleasantly preoccupied with helping to plan our oldest daughter's two weddings. Yes you heard me right 2 wonderful weddings happened the 4th of July weekend and thankfully she married the same guy twice.

We had an African wedding--where we blended several cultures of Kenya,Uganda and Rwanda together. Our new East African community was a big help as I have learned--It takes a village to marry off your daughter! We had a huge feast and traditional Ugandan and Rwandan dancing and then we blended into an America wedding dance traditions. It was a joyous affair. Thankfully many friends and family helped to clean up and than the next morning we took the beautiful flowers ( that a new friend helped us buy wholesale) and all the vintage wedding decor that I had gathered for the last several months going to thrift stores and garage sales and we decorated the church and church lawn for a pie reception. 

The church wedding was so perfect! Sophia had borrowed my mother's wedding dress so that had set the tone for the vintage wedding. We found floral dresses that were made in the 50's for the bridesmaids. Old vintage floral mix matched table clothes and an eclectic array of pie and cake servers rounded out the look. Not to mention a little bit of lace and baby's breath in vintaged colored bottles. The church wedding was mostly attended by family and a few friends. The chapel where they married was small so we kept the guest list small. 

 Several from Dave's extended family came and many from my extended family came, driving from MN, KS and TX. Sophia's husband Matt's family and some extended family came as well. Matt and Sophia had several Wheaton friends attend. We had a few friends come from the community that we have made since moving to the U.S but this was a bit of the sad part about being a missionary and having friends all over the world---I missed several people and wished for their presence! 

Less than a week later we put Sophia and her husband Matt on a plane to move to Rwanda. It was really strange being at the airport staying as we said goodbye. I have said many good-byes at airports but this was one of the first times that I was not going .... it was a mixture of emotions: excitement and joy for Sophia and Matt to have this journey--for Sophia to go 'home' and teach at an international school that we helped to start and that she had graduated from--for Matt to see and experience a major part of what had shaped Sophia, her 18+ years of living in East Africa ---sadness and loss as we were going to miss out on being with them--miss spending time with them in these early stages of marriage....but there was also another loss that resurfaced--wishing that I was also going back home...it has been over 3 years now and we have yet to return even for a visit. I know in my head that one can never really go back-- people have moved away, things have changed, I have changed but I still miss it so much. I believe we are where God wants us for now but it is still so hard. 

Living in yet another community...in some ways starting a fresh...building new relationships. We have been here in the suburb of Chicago just a little over 3 months. We are living in an apartment in as a part of an organization called Outreach Community Ministries http://www.outreachcommunityministries.org/jubilee-village/ . A transitional housing program, in Carol Stream (a Western Chicago suburb), for young single moms, who are parenting one child, or pregnant with their first child, and are between the ages of 18 and 24.  Jubilee Village is a ministry that provides safe and secure housing, clinical case management by licensed professionals, and assists them as they work towards their personal, academic, and financial goals. 

We are serving  as volunteer houseparents. We’re on call three evenings per week, and we host one meal per week for the five single moms on our floor. Dave takes a walk around the property a few times per week to look for potential problems and does some minor maintenance.  I mainly spend time mentoring these young moms and loving on them and their kids. The position is a volunteer one, but Jubilee Village does provide us with housing, so we’ve felt a sense of relief in not worrying each month about whether we can pay rent.  

I am enjoying this new addition to our serving here in Chicago land, but our main focus as many of you know is starting an multi-cultural/ international church. Dave has an office in Cornerstone Christian Church and they have also graciously offered to let us you their building Sunday evenings for our new church plant to meet in. We are hoping to have our first service in the middle of Sept. Matt and Sophia's African wedding was held in their back lawn. We were thrilled with the turn out that came and celebrated with us. We had 2 long term friends from East Africa and family and the rest of the 250+ guest were relationships that we have built among the East African Diaspora living here in Chicagoland. It was nice to see the fruits of these short years. We are hoping that some of these new friends will start worshiping with us and be part of the catalyst in starting this church.

Back to losses... I know I have written this before but one of the things I miss most is deep relationships. Moving into several different areas in our short time back in the States has not been conducive for building meaningful relationships. I know that this takes time but it is also challenging because we are attending a couple of different churches as they are partnering with us in different ways. I am hoping as we move into more of a routine there will be at least the potential for some relationships to build. Meanwhile , I am learning a lot about myself and God is sustaining me but also reminding me of my need for others. He after all has created us for relationships. I only hope I do not become to warped during this relationship famine time that I loose all relationship skills and I am not a good friend when the opportunity arises.  Thankfully this is just a fleeting thought as my husband reminds me what a good friend I am. 

Well now you are all caught up! Hopefully it will not be 8 months before I write again!

 

Collaboration is Key for Team relations in Church Planting

                   My family and I have moved to Chicago after being missionaries in East Africa to plant a new multicultural church with East African Diaspora. Church planting in Chicago is no easy endeavor. Church planting is a lot like starting a new business. This is a big task and it requires others who will join us. The relationships with these co-workers are important as it sets the tone for the DNA of this new church.  Collaboration is a key skill in developing a healthy functioning team, in which storytelling and leaders who promote collaboration are essential to accomplish this.

      Collaboration according to Wood and Gray, “occurs when a group of autonomous stakeholders of a problem domain in an interactive process, using shared rules, norms, and structures, to act or decide on issues related to the domain”(Imel and Zengler, 2002, p 43,44) In other words, people that share common ownership in a problem and are working together to solve the problem are collaborating. As stated by Imel and Zengler “Face-to-face contact is a necessary condition for the collaboration that occurs in communities of practice. The term communities of practice refers to a group who by working together learn by doing and also develop a shared sense of what needs to happen to get a task accomplished”(Imel and Zengler, 2002,p46)

According to Imel and Zengler, learning plays a roll in collaboration. “The teams engaged in learning activities that included learning how to work together and learning to accomplish specific objectives.”(Imel and Zengler, 2002,p44) Learning how to work together involved getting to know each team member both personally and professionally. Working on specific objectives, this learning “might be characterized as sharing knowledge. ‘Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in helping one another develop new capacities for action; it is about creating learning processes’” (Imel and Zengler, 2002,p45)

 Jassawalla and Sashittal found that “ high –collaboration team members had learned and developed distinctively new ways of thinking and acting, which meaningfully differentiated them from others.”(Jassawalla and Sashittal, 2001,p34) First, collaborative teams take ownership and personal responsibility for achieving the goals of the team. Second, collaborative teams have high levels of transparency. “There are no hidden agendas and few misunderstandings”(Jassawalla and Sashittal, 2001,p34, 35) Third they have a high level of mindfulness. According to Jassawalla and Sashittal, “every member could explain why other members (whether acting alone or as part of the team) did what they did and found it easy to support their actions.”(Jassawalla and Sashittal, 2001, p35) Finally, collaborative teams have high levels of synergy- “a team environment where trust is built up for each other so there can be participation in constructive conflict and look for a solution that go beyond everyone’s notion of what is doable.” (Jassawalla and Sachittal, 2001,p35)

            After researching various working teams, in the opinion of Imel and Zengler, there are also several elements that lead to the success of teams maintaining collaboration. (Imel and Zengler, 2002,p 42) Some of these are, regular communication, customer-center focus, shared leadership, structure and focus, and respect for one another. (Imel and Zengler, 2002, p43) The groups that were successful at collaborating; communicated regularly some even daily, they were focused outside themselves on providing better service for the customer, leadership would shift to those in the group who had the given strength to accomplish the particular task, there was a plan, and mutual respect and commitment to the team. (Imel and Zengler, 2002,p43)

Although, developing the skill of collaboration and implementing this into a collaborative team may seem like a daunting task, it is possible. Learning to work together well by getting to know each other both personally and professionally, developing distinctive ways of thinking and acting, and by applying each of the elements that lead to teams maintaining collaboration, this becomes more attainable.

As my husband and I begin to gather other co-workers, spending time in face-to face communication will be important. Learning about each other. What are our strengths and weakness, where do we thrive and what are the areas where we struggle? Taking some gift assessment tests may also be helpful during this beginning process. Becoming comfortable with each other is essential to developing trust. Learning about how each of us works as we accomplish small task helps to see how we will work together on bigger tasks.

Developing distinct ways of thinking and acting that will help ensure a collaborative team is paramount. First, taking the time to all have buy in to our vision of planting a multicultural church so that the whole team owns this is key. Second, creating an environment of trust where transparency is cultivated. Open and honest dialogue will be encouraged. Third, developing mindfulness, recognizing that everyone in the group adds value and understanding and appreciating each one’s perspective. Forth, encouraging synergy, working on looking for the third idea. Knowing that by coming together and sharing ideas a solution can be found that maybe different than the idea with which I came into the conversation.

Also there are several elements that lead to teams maintaining collaboration that we will need to apply. To begin with, having weekly team meetings but also during each week checking up on each team member will be crucial for maintaining regular communication. Next, working together to creatively serve our community will be our primary purpose. Third, leadership will be shared according to each of our strengths and area of interests. For instance if some in our group are musically inclined, they will be the ones to lead worship at the church. For those that are gifted in outreach they will lead in helping us to share our faith in the community. Some may have communication skills and in-depth Biblical knowledge and they can lead the teaching at the church. Fourth, we will have structure and focus. An overall mission and plans and sub plans are in place so that we are focused. There are many things that churches can be involved in but sometimes this shot gun approach leaves a body scattered and it is better to do a few things well than many things badly. Last but certainly not least, a mutual respect for each other and commitment to the team. Respect is both given and earned. It is deepened over time. Respect is key in developing trust for each other and gives each of us on the team confidence to take risks to accomplish this task of church planting.

One of the practical ways that I have learned to help form a collaborative team is through storytelling. According to Silverman, “ Storytelling helps connect people, building relationships and fostering idea sharing and mutual support” (Silverman, 2006, p11) By each of the team mates sharing their personal story I can understand much of their journey. Learning about how they functioned in past teams with both the joys and hurts of their previous experience can help build trust moving forward. Listening is a vital part of storytelling. Silverman writes, “When working with someone who tends not to be converse, using the prompt,  ‘ Tell me about …’ followed by silence will often trigger a story rather than a short response. However, if you do so, listen without interruption and judgment to what is said or the person may view a future invitation to talk with disinterest ”(Silverman, 2006,p12)

Silverman shared that “storytelling can develop team-based collaboration and teamwork in unique ways”(Silverman, 2006,p13) There is a unique team culture that can develop through sharing a common story.“…a collective story that provided direction around how to work together, clarified roles, increased mutual trust, and promoted camaraderie” shares Silverman. (Silverman, 2006, p.13) I think it is important as new members are added to the team that this collective story is shared and then it becomes a part of their story. The story evolves as new people are folded in. Silverman says it this way, “…involving people in the process of creating, capturing, or relaying stories strengthens their bond to the organization and the link between their own needs and work to what the enterprise desires to achieve.”(Silverman, 2006,p 15) In East Africa where I lived for many years storytelling is very much a part of their culture. So much of their history is oral based so stories are one of the ways to remember the past and share values with the future generation. I really resonated with Silverman’s thoughts on using stories to promote a collaborative team.

            Besides storytelling being incidental to becoming a collaborative team, leaders that promote collaboration are very important. I see this is key for my husband and myself as we are leading this endeavor. Jassawalla and Sashittal wrote that there were four specific steps to make this happen:

1.     Holding regular meetings and foster high levels of information

      sharing and communication between members.

2.     Collocate team members to increase shared understanding of the

      team’s goals and strategies.

3.     Handpick team members and spend time developing their

      interpersonal and team process skills.

4.     Network with key people outside the team to ensure access

      to information and resources needed. (Jassawalla and Sashittal, 2001p37)

It has been my experience that collaboration does not happen accidentally.  As leaders, if my husband and I can implement these four steps together with modeling collaboration skill using storytelling we will be well on our way to developing a collaborative team that will be successful in planting a multi-cultural church here in Chicago.

References

Imel S, Zengler C. For the Common Good: Learning Through Interagency Collaboration. New Directions For Adult & Continuing Education [serial online]. Fall2002 2002; 2002(95): 41. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed September 17, 2014.

Jassawalla A, Sashittal H. THE ROLE OF SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND TEAM LEADERS IN BUILDING COLLABORATIVE NEW PRODUCT TEAMS. Engineering Management Journal [serial online]. June 2001; 13(2): 33. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed September 17, 2014.

Silverman L. How Do You Keep the Right People on the Bus? Try Stories. Journal For Quality & Participation [serial online]. Winter2006 2006; 29(4): 11-15. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed September 17, 2014.