MC: Global Letters for a Global Community—8

Love Never Fails

The Great Commandment and the Great Commission are inseparable.

Dave Pollock (Dave died eight years ago, 11 April 2004)

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We are writing to member care workers and all those with member care responsibility within international mission/aid who identify with the historic Christian faith. We write to encourage us all to stay the course in our service to God and humans and to take full advantage of the many opportunities to provide and develop member care. We write fully aware of the problems that can discredit, divide, and disable the church-mission community (CMC) and all of our member care efforts. We write with a commitment to the love that is necessary to resolve these problems and to promote health within the CMC.

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"It has been my conviction over the last four decades of my work in missions that member care is by its very nature the tangible expression of the love of Christ for us and our love for Him. It is not simply a program or a plan; it is the product of who we are because of our relationship to Him and our being His “new creation.” He is Emanuel, God with us, and it is Christ in us that is the hope of glory. The flow of caregivers, cooperating together to support mission personnel, is one more demonstration to the world of the unity for which Jesus prayed. Providing the flow of care is a body effort of mission agencies, sending churches, supporting families, and committed caregivers who realize that the Great Commandment and the Great Commission are inseparable." Dave Pollock, Developing a Flow of Care and Caregivers, Doing Member Care Well, (2002, p. 3)

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We wish the very best for all those attending the Member Care Conference in Bangalore, India (18-20 April) and the Global Member Care Conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand (23-27 April 2012). We remember dreaming of international member care gatherings like this with Dave Pollock and others in the 1990s. We were inspired by  a compelling vision to see quality member care and member caregivers going global and a desire to build upon foundational gatherings in the 1980s such as the Mental Health and Missions conferences (Indiana, USA) and the International Conferences on MKs (Manila, Quito, Nairobi).   
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May these two upcoming conferences in India and Thailand (Asia!) be an incredible time together, far beyond expectations. May they result in a wealth of new and old treasures (resources, relationships, directions) to strengthen the mission/aid community and far beyond (MT 13:52). May those with member care responsibility be encouraged to carry member care’s foundational practice of love to the ends of the earth and to the end of this age! Amo neniam pereas (I Cor. 13:8).

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 Kelly and Michèle