SOCCON 2011: Loving the Neighbor Next Door
Speaker: Pastor Thomas Lee
About the Speaker
Pastor Thomas Lee was born in Toronto, Canada and moved to Boston at age ten. He accepted Christ at BCEC as a teenager. He joined the staff in 1987 as Assistant-to-the-Pastor and rejoined in 1991 from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Pastor Tom was ordained as Assistant Pastor in April 1996. He played a large role in the creation of two of BCEC’s social services minstry, their ESL program and Project Destiny, a summer and afterschool program for Chinatown youth. He also holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Tufts University.
He and his wife, Edna, met as teens at BCEC, and were married in 1987. They have three sons. Pastor Tom’s ministry focus is married couples and community ministry.
About the Conference
For SOCCON 2011, our focus is loving our neighbors in and around the places where we live, work, and worship. God has placed us in the suburbs of Boston, and as followers of Jesus we’re called to minister to the poor and oppressed in our nearby communities.
Our goal for this conference is two fold:
- To LEARN about the poor in the Boston and surrounding suburbs from our guest speaker Pastor Thomas Lee
- To PARTICIPATE in the work of Jesus in ministering to them by organize our first annual Service Month in April.
Schedule
4/29 Friday Session – Who Is My Neighbor? (Luke 10:25-27)
- 7:45 PM – 8:00 PM – Worship
- 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM – Speaker Session (Bilingual)
Child Care Details Provided by Awana
4/30 Saturday – No Planned Activities
Last Service Month Date
5/01 Sunday Service – Faith That Loves Our Neighbors (James 2:8-26)
- 9:30-11:00 AM (Chinese)
- 11:15-12:30 PM (English)
Service Month
What is Service Month?
Service Month will be held in April, capped off by SOCCON during the last weekend of the month. The Social Concerns Ministry encourages all CBCGB fellowships to find an opportunity to serve in a local volunteering event.
Why have Service Month?
Social Concerns Ministry hopes that Service Month will be the first step in a longer term commitment in volunteering for many fellowship groups. We hope that Service Month gives you a taste of what volunteering is like and hope in subsequent months or years that you be able to find an organization that suite the passions and constraints of your fellowship.
If you end up wanting to try a different volunteering activity from what you participated during Service Month, please visit our Where To Serve?
Who’s participating in Service Month?
| English Fellowship Groups | ||
| Sr High Alive, Charis Koinonia | 4/30 | Boston Projects Service Day |
| Compass | 4/23 | Woods Mullen Shelter |
| Charis – Josh & Erin | 4/23 | Lowell Mission Church Clean Up |
| Charis – Meagan & Christina | 5/14 | ACCESS Banquet |
| Charis – Bobby & Cindy | 4/30 | Homeless/Street Ministry |
| MAPS/GPS | 4/1-4/30 | Starlight’s Children’s Foundation |
| Chinese Fellowship Groups | ||
| Bedford Faith, Metro South | 4/23 | Long Island Shelter – Dinner |
| Berea | 4/09 | Rosie’s Place Dinner |
| Fruits of Spirit | 4/09 | Rosie’s Place Lunch |
| Green Oliver, Love, Vineyard | 6/04 | Long Island Shelter – Farm Work |
| Living Water | 8/13 | Rosie’s Place Dinner |
| Song of Song | 4/30 | Rosie’s Place Lunch |
| Traditional Hymn | 4/30 | Sing at Golden Living Center Nursing Home |
| Wednesday Sisters, Table Tennis, North Andover | 4/1-4/29 | Greater Boston Food Bank |
| Young Professional | 4/1-4/22 | Bristol Lodge in Waltham |
SOCCON 2010 – Women In Need
Speaker: Ms. Lily Lee
About the Speaker
In 1990, Lily entered Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS), and received a MAR in Urban Mission and a THM in Apologetics.
She co-authored a book titled “Passion for Fullness – Examining Women’s Identity and Roles from Biblical, Historical and Sociological Perspectives”, published by China Graduate School of Theology, Hong Kong. She also co-authored and co-edited “Gender Reconciliation – Men and Women Become One in Christ”.
At present, Lily is:
- Chairperson of International Board, and Executive Board of Directors of Chinese Christian Herald Crusades, CCHC.
- Founder, Chairperson of Board of Directors, and Executive Director, of Garden of Hope, New York, a Christian organization that advocates and ministers to women victims of domestic violence. GOH-NY is the first such organization for the Chinese community in the East Coast.
- Co-Founder, Board of Directors, and Superintendent, of Sanming Herald Gratia Children Village (an orphanage) in FuJian Province, Hechi Herald Gratia Children Village in GuangXi Province, and Mianyang Herald Gratia Children Village in Sichuan Province. She is in the process of starting the fourth Children Village in Guizhou Province.
- Co-Founder and Chairperson of Board of Directors of Fullness in Christ Fellowship. FiCF, in partnership with CCHC, is starting the Pleroma Home for Girls and Pleroma Women Center in Cambodia reaching out to the victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation victims.
- Lily Lee also serves as workshop and plenary speakers on gender relation issues in conferences organized by the Commission on the Status of Women, United Nations, Christian for Biblical Equality, China Graduate School of Theology, Mennonite Conference at Philadelphia, Fullness in Christ Fellowship . etc.
- Received the Life Time Achievement Award from Christian for Biblical Equality International (CBE) in 2007.
Schedule
4/30 Friday Speaker Session
7:45-9:30 PM (Bilingual)
5/01 Saturday Workshops
5:30-6:30 PM Workshop 1
6:30-7:15 PM Dinner
7:30-8:30 PM Workshop 2
5/02 Sunday Church Service
9:30-11:00 AM (Chinese)
11:15-12:30 PM (English)
Workshops
Trafficking and Exploitation of Women: The Christian Response – Lily Lee
Join keynote speaker Lily Lee once again as we continue to examine how gender injustice affects the world today. Human trafficking – or commercial sexual exploitation of women and children,is a serious problem that pains God’s heart. How as Christians are we to respond to these grave injustices? What did Jesus do, and how does that affect what we should do? Come to this workshop to find out!
Hope International: Empowering Women With Economic Tools – Sarah Haig
“I would have despaired, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” – Ps 27:13
For many Chinese living in poverty, the cycle of need and hopelessness is an inescapable reality. For Chinese living in vulnerability, even as daily needs are met, sudden illness or disaster can wipe out earnings and progress and send them back into the cycle of need. However, we know that poverty is not inevitable. This workshop will explore the use of microfinance in the China context as a tool for spreading the China “economic miracle” to all levels of the economy, and will introduce the work of HOPE International as it creates opportunity for women and families in financial and spiritual darkness.
Domestic Violence 101 – Dan Dai, Jennifer Doo, Yuling Wang
Domestic Violence should not happen to anyone. Period. And public education plays a large role in the terms of prevention.In this workshop we will learn more about what domestic violence is and what forms it can encompass. We will also talk more in depth about the cultural challenges Asians (specifically immigrants) face when confronting domestic violence in the home. Other areas we will touch briefly on include teen/dating violence, human trafficking and sex work. Finally, we will teach attendees “empowerment tactics” and what it means to be an “Advocate”.
SOCCON 2009 – Children In Need
Speaker: Dr. Chi-Cheng Huang
About the Speaker
Dr. Huang has spoken at several venues around the United States about the plight of street children, and has received numerous awards and recognition for his work with street children, his community service, and teaching. Dr. Chi-Cheng Huang graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1998; currently he is an assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine. He has spent the last fifteen years advocating for marginalized and impoverished children in developing countries.
Since 1997, he has worked with street children and child prostitutes in developing countries such as Mexico, Honduras, Ecuador, and Bolivia. His research interests lie in determining the socioeconomic risk factors of abandoned street children, studying their health care needs, and documenting human rights abuses. He founded the Kaya Children International, formerly Bolivian Street Children Project, in 1997 and it became a nonprofit organization in 2003.
Dr. Huang has spoken at several venues around the United States about the plight of street children, and has received numerous awards and recognition for his work with street children, his community service, and teaching.
Schedule
Friday, May 1st
7:30 – 9:00PM Speaker Session (Sanctuary) “Washing Feet: What does that mean?”
9:00 – 9:30PM Q & A (Sanctuary)
Saturday, May 2nd
5:00 – 6:00PM Workshop Session 1
6:00 – 7:00PM Dinner (Chapel)
7:00 – 7:30PM Speaker Session (Chapel) “Children at Risk – Worldwide Context”
7:30 – 8:30PM Workshop Session 2
Sunday, May 3rd
9:30AM (Chinese Service) & 11:15AM (English Service) “Crooked Trees Grow Straight: The Story of Abandonment and Hope”
Workshops
A HopeChild Is Waiting – Elder Ming Tsai
“A HopeChild Is Waiting” is a child-sponsoring program administered by World Vision. A HopeChild is a child living in a community affected by AIDS. As a HopeChild sponsor, you are connected with one special child who will know your name, write to you, and feel your tender love and prayers. Your child sponsorship monthly pledge of $35 can help turn the tide of the HIV and AIDS pandemic! Sponsorship changes the life of a child forever, and it can change your life, too.
Blessing the Fatherless: Child Adoption – Cindy Morrison
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” James 1:27. If orphans from China are on your heart, there are many ways that we as Christians can respond to help care for them. Prayer, volunteer work, and adoption will all be discussed in this workshop.
Children Involved in the Sex Industry – Dr. Chi-Cheng Huang
Dr. Chi Huang will discuss his very first time he met a child involved in the sex industry in La Paz, Bolivia. He will provide worldwide context of child prostitution and the challenges involved in serving these children.
Children on the Street – Kristin Huang
Dr. Kristin Huang will provide an overview of the causes of the street children phenomenon. In addition, she will provide insight into the impact that street life has on child development and what can be done to help assist the children that have been traumatized.
Impoverished Students in Southwest of China – Zhongxin Wang
In southwest China, particularly the earthquake-stricken region within Sichuan, we came into contact with some indigent students in dire need of help. They are struggling between studying and making a living, facing the prospects of getting out of poverty and falling back into poverty… Please join us at the workshop Impoverished Students in Southwest of China.
SOCCON 2008 – Serve Locally, Give Globally
Speaker: Pastor Gary VanderPol
About the Speaker
Pastor Gary VanderPol has been an associate- and co-pastor at Cambridge Community Fellowship Church since May 2005. He moved to Boston in 2001 to pursue a doctorate in Global Christianity and Missions at Boston University. His dissertation examines the last 50 years of evangelical concern for the poor. Gary has focused on creating small groups who support each other in economic discipleship by living more simply for the sake of generosity to the poor. His curriculum, co-written with Mako Nagasawa and Rachel Anderson, has been used in almost 20 churches, including CBCGB. In summer of 2008, he will move to Costa Rica to teach in a seminary and also engage in research on how North American money impacts Central American churches in urban slums.
Schedule
Friday Night
Speaker Session 1 – Act Locally: Jesus’ Compassionate Ministry of Social Concern
Saturday Night
Speaker Session 2 – Taking First Steps: Our Effective Ministry of Social Concern
Workshops
Sunday Morning
Speaker Session 3 – Give Globally: Paul’s Generous Ministry of Social Concern – Slides
Workshops
ACCESS: A Partnership by Meikee Wong
For 15 years, ACCESS has served Boston’s Chinatown through adult ESL programs and a children’s afterschool program. Meikee Wong, the executive director, has been working with ACCESS since its inception. Come listen to Meikee speak about how God has challenged her to serve locally and fi nd out how you can get involved as well!
Capitalism, Philanthropy, and the Nobel Peace Prize by Beata Shih
“What’s microfinance, and why did it get the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize? A little history, how it works, how it’s philosophically different from traditional humanitarian aid. What can & can’t microfinance do? The good, the bad, the ugly – with examples. How can we participate – as individuals? In a small group? As a church? Come to this workshop and find out!”
CBCGB: Where We Serve by Melissa Wang
Curious about the social concerns ministries CBCGB has been involved in? Want to hear the testimonies of people who have served before? Come and discover the different ministries that our church serves with regularly, and find out how you can join in!
Giving Globally by Elder Ming Tsai
Interested in supporting God’s work overseas but not sure where to give? Want to know where other people in the church are faithfully giving their money so you can support as well? Come to this workshop to learn about who we can share God’s provisions with.
AIDS Orphan Salvation
A Child Is Waiting [in chinese]
Going Green by Tzeng Yang Sheng
In Genesis, man was entrusted the task of managing the earth. But our fall from grace also marked the entrance of suffering into this world. Our consumer choices and habits impact God’s creation and our everyday lives. This workshop presents simple changes to our lifestyle that won’t sacrificing our quality of life. Our goal is to reduce our negative environmental effects and be better stewards of God’s creation.
Lazarus at the Gate by Gary VanderPol
What if someone told you that if you ate out one less time per week, you could save several lives in the poorest parts of Africa? Did you know that Jesus had more to say about money than nearly everything else? He identifi ed his own ministry and person with those who are poor. In this workshop, we’ll explore these ideas, focusing on how we can impact global poverty through our finances and lifestyle. We will examine how we spend money in order to find practical ways to give more generously and eff ectively to the poor.
Literature
Books in the CBCGB library:
- The Good News of the Kingdom Coming by Andrew Kirk
- Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World by Bill Clinton
- The Beloved Community by Charles Marsh
- Grace at the Table: Ending Hunger in God’s World by David Beckmann & Arthur Simon
- The Working Poor by David Shipler
- Good News About Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World by Gary Haugen
- Evangelism: Doing Justice and Preaching Grace by Harvie Conn
- The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time by Jeffrey Sachs
- With Justice for All by John Perkins
- The Dangerous Act of Worship: Living God’s Call to Justice by Mark Labberton
- Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus
- The Bottom Billion by Paul Collier
- Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ronald Sider
- Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road by Timothy J. Keller
- The White Man’s Burden by William Easterly
- Second Greatest Commandment by William Fletcher
Other suggested Readings:
- Walking With the Poor by Bryant Myers
- Good News and Good Works by Ron Sider
- Churches That Make A Difference by Sider, Olson, Unruh
- God’s Politics by Jim Wallis
- Amy Carmichael: Let the Little Children Come by Lois Dick
- The Church That Never Sleeps by Matthew Barnett
- Compassion by Nouwen, McNeill, Morrison
- More Than Equals: Racial Healing for the Sake of the Gospel by Perkins and Rice
- Lord of the Abandoned by Ray Saunders
- From Time to Time by Rick Johnson
- Just Generosity by Ron Sider
- A Theology As Big As the City by Ray Bakke
- The Urban Christian: Effective Ministry in Today’s Urban World by Ray Bakke
- Theirs Is the Kingdom: Celebrating the Gospel in Urban America by Robert Lupton
- Who Really Cares by Arthur C. Brooks
- The Persistence of Poverty by Charles H. Karelis
- The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid by CK Prahalad
- How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas by David Bornstein
- Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide by Gerard Prunier
- The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight Against AIDS by Helen Epstein
- Strategy of Service by June Williams
- For They Shall Be Fed – Scripture Readings and Prayers for a Just World by Ronald Sider