In our forthcoming missions to Chiang Mai, we shall be spending a day with the Mickels, the children at Kham Siri, and also with ministry partners of the Mickels like the Family Connection Foundation, Thailand. We have been meeting the Mickels at the Vineyard Asian gatherings, and we had learnt of their passion to reach out to both local people and the many foreign residents in Chiang Mai. Their heart is especially to reach out to those who are marginalised: the poor, alcoholics, children who have been orphaned or who come from poorer communities and groups such as the Shan people.

The Mickels’ ministry base in downtown Chiang Mai, Kham Siri, is close to a local slum. They run basic English lessons and a playgroup. Kham Siri means ‘word of glory’ in Thai, and their goal is show God’s glory by their words and actions.

I believe that Stefan has a desire to introduce community development and micro credit and enterprise as a means to bless the people who struggle to live on a day-to-day basis by working 12-14 hours per day. At the moment some may already be selling basic foodstuffs in a local market but they end up with very little time for home and family life and the children receive little emotional support and education.

You can check out who are these guys at the NCMI website.

Basically NCMI is a trans-local, Apostolic/Prophetic team who relate to local churches in that capacity.

My relationship with NCMI is primarily with Eugene Png who is also the founding pastor of Church of Joy and Ian Mckellar.

For local churches who recognize a need for apostolic and prophetic covering, the NCMI team will be God sent. These are guys who believe in the biblical patterns of relating with local churches. But they are practical guys too, and they offer a number of ways to start and develop a relationship.

For instance, Leadership Training Times (LTTs) that are arranged throughout the year with different team members leading sessions at different locations all over the world.

And providing training for church planting and foundational ministry to pastors and churches.

They also provide practical opportunities throughout the world to participate in short or long-term church planting projects.

In a recent meeting with Eugene and Ian in a gathering for a number of pastors at Ian’s home, I learnt of Eugene’s heart and love for Community Development and Microenterprise to facilitate church planting. I am very much looking forward to being invited to NCMI’s meeting in August here in Singapore when they meet specifically for this purpose.

MicCE

For our purpose, a microenterprise is a very small business run to produce income for the owner and its employees, which are usually a few in numbers (5 or less). A microenterprise may also be defined by the loan size or capital needed to get it going. For instance, World Vision which works in poor and developing countries says this amount varies from $50 to $5,000, and most typically is in the $100 to $2,000 range. The activity of a microenterprise will depend on the social and economic context in which it operates and includes catering, printing services and graphic design in an urban context, to farming, sewing, carpentry, handicraft in a rural context. Businesses may also focus on the provision of clean water, healthcare, education or food.

Vineyard MicCE’s objectives are to create opportunities for beneficiaries to enjoy sustainable income and eventually own or co-own the enterprises, at the same time ensuring our own financial sustainability. Accordingly, while we may give grants, Vineyard Micce’s priority is to adopt a disciplined investor’s approach that releases the entrepreneurial spirit and yield both financial and social returns.

In the last couple of weeks, I had an exciting time meeting with the guys at Vision Network Society, which is a local NGO whose founders have a relationship with David Bussau. Check them out. I want to work with these guys as they are doing such a super job in researching and developing Intergal Community Development concepts and are focused on equiping the key man, the CD facilitor, once he is identified. This week I will hang out with them some more to learn the language of CD, which we can use for our church planters.

NLV Missions

NLV and Vineyard MicCE will also seek to expand our partnership with itinerant or trans-local Vineyard pastors and missional organizations who share the same focus on church planting and advancing the Gospel into the countries of Asia. The trans-local pastors will function in apostolic roles, or as missionaries, connectors, trainers/coaches to churches/church planters whom we are relating with. The partnering organizations will serve to gather resources and people for outreach and mission to Asia, deploying volunteer workers in short-term teams as well as engaging in long-term assignments to establish and sustain the church plants.

We hope to work with Tim and Esther Schultz as missions partners. They have been in ministry for 20 years with the Baptists, YWAM, and the Vineyard. In January of 2008, Tim and Esther resigned as pastors of Faith Vineyard in Calgary after 15 years, sensing that coming into the New Year they were to “let go and go for it”. Tim and Esther will join the team at EPIC Vineyard, Calgary, to be part of a community where they are “known”, and sent out from. They will continue to serve on the Regional Development Group, and facilitate Canadian Vineyards to teach in the Vineyard Mobile Bible School in the Himalayan region of India and Nepal. Tim is also continually being invited to encourage and equip our Vineyard family of churches in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and Norway.

Micro-businesses alongside missional communities: Our vision for addressing the twin issues of financial lack and advancing the Kingdom

We hope to work with Tim & Esther Schultz as missions partners. They have been in ministry for 20 years with the Baptists, YWAM, and the Vineyard, and in January of 2008, Tim and Esther resigned as pastors of Faith Vineyard in Calgary after 15 years, sensing that coming into the New Year they were to “let go and go for it”.

A NLV mission trip with Tim, to India in October/November 2008 has been discussed. At the same time we will see some of the micro-enterprises connected to the Himalayan Vineyard church plants in Sikkim and West Bengal.

Last month in the Asian Vineyard Gathering in Bali, I felt led by the Spirit to propose a NLV Scholarship to train an Asian student in the Vineyard school set up by Nobert in Chiang Mai. Doin the stuff training – asia as it is called is part of the “eachofus” network of Vineyard Discipleship Schools.

We are glad to share our resources to bless Nobert (see the Bauer family below) and we understand that the recipent student will come from Vineyard Indonesia.

God is in business of multiplication. I heard from Nobert recently, and he shared, “When you offered to sponsor one student for our next school, it opened up a whole new set of possibilities for us. As a result, we are now enrolling 2 students from India, and folks in the US are trying to find funding for them as well. So the school is taking on a much more Asian flavor, and I am very happy for that!”