Oct. 1, 2007

Philosophy of support raising

Dear friends and family,
The sweltering heat of summer is gone and the rainy coolness of autumn is here.  In just a few days school will start and our schedules at the center will become more regular.  There have been some adjustments made in this year's program to help make room for more children.  The school children will be divided up more by ages and grades than by school schedule.  We will have more workers working with smaller groups of students.  Joel will be finally teaching art in the art room, instead of hauling supplies with him to other classrooms.  I will be teaching more English and continue teaching Bible study.  Joel will also be teaching new music classes, starting with recorder and rhythm, and maybe moving on to other instruments.  We pray that the children would be able to express the beauty and sorrow in their lives through art and music.

Our boys continue to grow and delight us.  Simeon has the gift of showing us the miracles around every corner.  The beauty of a cloud's shape, the wonder of a beetle. Abram has the gift of contagious joy.  We never knew putting a towel on your head or sticking out your tongue could be so hilarious, but his sweet laughter shows us how great life is.  Even as they challenge our patience and energy, they give us so much.  We are thankful for them.

Many of you know that we have purchased land with Lau and Vali Archip, and we have been in the document procuring stage for a long long time.  But, happily, there has been progress.  We have water!! A team came and dug a water line from the street into our yard.  We are just waiting on one final document and then we can begin digging for a foundation.  Praise God!

In the past few months, we have been trying to understand what support really means, and growing in faithfulness to those who support us.  First of all, I have deliberately chosen to use the phrase "support raising" instead of "fund raising" because for us, support is so much more than money.   A great book to read about support is Serving as Senders by Neal Pirolo.  It defines the following various forms of support;

Moral support-  people who believe in you, your vision and mission, and encourage you in them.

Logistics support- people who help with the myriad details and little things that must come together somehow

Financial support- people who generously give from their resources for your needs

Communication support- people who keep in touch well, and really want to hear about your life

Re-entry support- people who ask "How are you?" and want a real answer, who understand the difficulties of transitioning between two cultures

Many people mistakenly believe that the only support that matters is financial.  But looking at the above, we see that everyone needs these forms of support.  We all need friends who will lend us their car when ours is broken down.  We all need a good listener to pour our hearts out to.  We all need to be connected with loved ones far away.  We are all dependent on one another's support.

We have been blessed in our 7 plus years in Romania, to be well supported by many many friends and family members.  God has provided each step of the way.  But we want to open the invitation again.  Would you be interested in supporting us?  Look again at the list above, pray, and ask God if there is some area He wants you to be involved in.  Please let us know if you want to become more involved in any aspect of support. We would love to go deeper with you in this faith journey.

Borrowing heavily from Henri Nouwen's booklet, Spirituality of Fundraising, we have come up with a few aspects of what support raising means to us.

1)       Support raising is a proclamation.  We love our lives.  We love working with the kids at the drop in center, we love sharing Jesus' love with them.  We have a vision for their lives to be made whole, restored and healed.  We want others to hear this vision and be a part of this beautiful move of God's Spirit.

2)       Support raising is a call to conversion.  As Nouwen says, "To be converted is to experience a deep shift in how we see and think and act."  We desire for us and our friends, both rich and poor, to turn from the world's message of "You are what you have."  to God's message, "You are my beloved."

3)       Support raising as an invitation.  If you have received this letter, it means that we have opened our lives to you.  We want to be connected, in relationship, with you.  We may know you well, or barely at all, but we invite you to join in this journey.

4)       Support raising as a sign of God's kingdom.  No matter our financial situation, we are each totally dependent on God.  As all of us, from CEO to a child on the streets, meet on the "common ground of God's love", we experience a bit of the kingdom of God.

5)       Support raising as a helping God's kingdom come.  Through giving to those in need, we usher in the kingdom of God that is not yet here.  We do our little part to right wrongs, bridge divides, and heal wounds. And our mustard seed flourishes beyond what we see.  Henri Nouwen says, "When we give ourselves to planting and nurturing love here on earth, our efforts will reach out beyond our own chronological existence."

6)       Support raising as community building.  More than anything, we, as humans, want relationship.  We want to know each other and to be known by each other. That is our goal with all our communication with you, to "create new, lasting relationships".  We want to build community together.

With all this in mind, below is our family's philosophy of support raising.  Thank you again for all your love and encouragement.  Blessings on you.

Monica Klepac
monica.klepac@wordmadeflesh.com

Welcome to the Table
- an Invitation to Celebration
At the center of our daily lives is the table.  We break bread with children who often go hungry.  We do homework with children who have been called "stupid".  We draw with children who have been told they have no talent.  Scripture describes a day we will sit at a table together, and there we will all be loved and served as honored guests.  We have the privilege of experiencing a small taste of that now, as we live with and love children in poverty.  We are also honored to have friends all over the world who desire to take part in this feast.  Through prayer, giving and support, many people have taken their place at the table.  We do not see our friends far away as donors or the children amongst whom we serve as recipients but as fellow guests, all seated at the same table, utterly dependent on the lavish generosity of our Host. An image that is important to our family, is that of Abraham and Sarah offering hospitality to the three visitors, an Old Testament reference to the Holy Trinity.  We believe our vocation here in Romania is to dwell within that sacred hospitality.  Just as we have been invited and embraced into relationship with Love Himself, we ask all our friends, both rich and poor, to pull up a chair and join us in this celebration.  We saved a place for you.