PaLM is launching another season of monthly ENGAGE Speaker Series for the Laity serving Asian American churches. The past seasons we had topics on developing Asian American youth ministry, as well as, Asian American Church leadership. This Spring we are presenting a series to equip the Asian American church to think about social justice and community engagement. Last month we had over 70 people come out to hear Director of Restore NYC discuss the ministry outreaching to sex trafficked workers. Please forward this to your fellowship group leaders, lay leaders or pastors who might be interested in attending.
Tuesday, March 18,2008
7-9pm @Oversea Chinese Mission (OCM) church in Chinatown
154 Hester St. on the corner of Elizabeth St.
To RSVP, contact Peter Ong at peter[at]palmny[dot]org
Pastoral and Laity Ministries (PaLM) is excited to announce our Spring 2008 Season of ENGAGE Speaker Series to provide training and networking opportunities to Asian American Church lay leaders. This Spring, we will focus on a series of talks/conversations concerning how church leaders can think about social justice and community engagement. The series is held on the third Tuesday of every month at various venues throughout the city. We hope that it will serve your congregation leadership as a resource for some training and teaching. This Spring Speaker Series program is in partnership with OneHouse, an Asian American ministry that seeks to unify and mobilize the body of Jesus Christ through worship and intercessory prayer to bring social justice to global and local communities and to honor Christ’s love for the oppressed. This month we will have Ying Chan, Founder of bread&water, who will share about global poverty and how we can respond as a Christian community. Here is the blurb for her talk:
1 in 2 people in the world live on less than $2 a day, and you and of staggering disparity, where the amount you or I can spend on a nice dinner is what another person earns for a few months of manual labor. How do we live as Christians in a world of hunger? What can an ordinary person do? bread&water was founded in pursuit of these answers. This seminar will relate the mission and story of bread&water and explore how young NYC professionals are knitting together faith, calling and vocation in partnership for social justice. Discover opportunities for your church to become deeply and impactfully engaged in global missions through bread&water.
Ying Chan is the founder of bread&water, an all-volunteer nonprofit that engages young NYC professionals with grassroots poverty relief missions in the third world. Outside of bread&water, Ying runs Figure 8, a maternity clothing business, with her husband Min. They have a one and a half year old daughter, Kaelin.
I look forward to seeing you there. If there are any questions please feel free to call me at 212-202-3264 or email me at peter[at]palmny[dot]org.
On Tuesday, Feb 19th 2008, OneHouse in partnership with Pastoral and Laity Ministries (PaLM) launched their new monthly ENGAGE speaker series on social justice and community engagement. This was the first of several upcoming ENGAGE talks that seeks to equip the Asian American church in New York City through training and volunteer opportunities to lay leaders.
Around seventy people gathered at Overseas Chinese Mission Church (OCM) to attend a presentation by the Executive Director of Restore NYC, a Christian start-up ministry that serves trafficked and prostituted women who want to leave the sex trade. The trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation is the fastest growing crime in the world, generating $28 billion dollars a year. NYC’s JFK airport is deemed by the Department of State to be a major port of entry and transit point for trafficking. The sex trade in Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs ranges from brothels, strip clubs, peep booth shows, massage parlors, street prostitution, escort services, bars, and private apartments. Restore plans to provide programs and services to these sexually exploited women that will assist them with their recovery and reintegration into society.
The Executive Director shared how the mission of Restore was to nurture and empower these women to make positive decisions in their lives through counseling and services that can easily be met through volunteers within our very own churches. Restore will provide a safe and secure living environment, an off-site day program, job training skills and on-the-job experience. Other assistance such as medical resources and legal representation can be planned as needs arise.
The process of confronting a systemic problem as widespread and seemingly invisible as international sex trafficking is certainly daunting. The solution? The Gospel-driven church. The course of action? Take small steps. Restore seeks to target a small group of two to four women in their first year of operation, and utilize the pool of willing-hearted volunteers at local churches to help these women grow and overcome their past lives. The executive director further clarified that the largest growing population of sex trafficked workers in NYC were within the Korean and Chinese communities, and it was no coincidence that she was reaching out to a community of Christians in an energetic New York Chinatown. Translation services, grocery shopping, and other basic living skills are exactly the things these women need to become sustainable for their recovery. She also stressed that the greatest responsibility for us as Christians is to understand that these women need the love of God as much as their aftercare and counseling.
How you and your church can help:
- Pray for the work of Restore NYC.
- Donate to Restore NYC. www.restorenyc.org/donate/
- Looking for two women to be Live-In Servants and share a
bedroom together in the South Bronx. This is a non-paid position
whereby a mature Christian professional offers their time for one year
to live with victims of sex trafficking in the house and model daily
living. We are seeking someone who can speak Korean fluently and is
familiar with Korean culture. Housing would be offered free (also
potentially most food costs as well). Respite care would be provided
as well as tons and tons of support from the community, staff, and
board. An ideal candidate would be a Social Work graduate student. -
Willingness to host small dinners/events to raise support and awareness about Restore NYC.
- Invite Restore NYC to come and speak at your church! Contact: info[at]restorenyc[dot]org or 646.713.4319
- Once the Restore safehouse is operational, we’ll need volunteer support in the areas of English translation, job skills mentoring/training, cooking meals, recreational and creative arts activities, etc
