If It Matters Here, It Matters There
Recently, we got the chance to sit down with John Parker, Summit’s Local and Global Outreach Pastor, and what he had to say about our four upcoming trips to visit some of Summit’s global partners was inspirational. John’s insight into the importance and strategy of these key engagements reminded us how important this ongoing kingdom work in Kenya, Malawi, and Ethiopia is and how blessed we are to call Summit home.
This summer, Summit will send teams on four different trips to support and learn from Nairobi Chapel, Children of the Nations, World Relief, and Children’s Hope Chest. These have all been longstanding partnerships for Summit and if you’ve been around awhile, you’ve likely seen some of the leaders from these ministries either in a video or even in one of our services at some point.
Summit’s Local and Global Ministry staff has worked hard in recent years to focus Summit’s efforts toward aiding children in the most vulnerable settings. In John’s words, “We’re working with and on behalf of vulnerable children and we’re partnering with the body of Christ locally and globally to see God’s kingdom advance in this area. If it matters to us here, it should matter to us there because it all matters to God. With a posture of learning, we can see how the world is responding to these needs and even better serve our own community.”
The first team going out is special because it will be our Lead Pastor Michael Hinton’s first experience with our global partners. Not only that, he’s going with a Pastor from one of our partner churches, Sylvester Robinson from Love Fellowship! John told us, "The team will be going to Nairobi Chapel to learn about the state of church planting globally. They’ll also be visiting a school of 250 students sponsored by Nairobi Chapel located in an area of extreme poverty.
This school is special because it not only teaches these children valuable academic and life lessons but even more importantly serves as their main source of nutrition, feeding the students daily.” Through our 15%, Summit provided three months’ worth of food to the school last year. This came at a crucial point while their leadership team is in the process of working to employ a sustainable strategy for ongoing food security.
Michael will also spend time with Josiah and Sarah Kirisuah, missionaries doing community development work and church planting in the rural areas outside of Nairobi. Here, he’ll see some of the issues in this area, like water insecurity, land rights issues, and what’s being done to help.
Summit Lake Mary Pastor O.J. Aldrich will also lead a multi-generational team to Malawi this summer that will work specifically with the Children of the Nations’ (COTN) special needs team. O.J. has led these trips for years now and serves as one of the biggest cheerleaders for these engagements on our staff. His blend and depth of experience make him the perfect leader for this trip.
Summit has been working with COTN’s special needs children for a decade. They’ve stayed dedicated to their causes, even continuing the summer special needs programs through the COVID pandemic when we couldn’t join them. John said, “In this region, there’s a lot of misunderstanding and stigma around disabilities. They’re underserved and hidden away.” John also said this team is special because three families from Summit are going with children, which communicates trust, respect, and affirms the dignity of the people we are working alongside.
The third trip we have to talk about is Jeff and Allison Porter’s team which will be going to Malawi to work with World Relief. They will be focused on some of the rural farming communities in the area. John mentioned that “World Relief is far more relational based than resource-based, except in crisis. They work on training and coaching exclusively through local churches.”
World Relief’s strategy is to engage a council of local churches to assess the needs of the local communities. These needs might have to do with HIV/AIDS, vulnerable children, agricultural support, special needs, or marriage and family points of focus. John said this trip would be focused mainly on that last one: marriage and family.
Summit previously provided the funding for a marriage and family course and after his trip last year John said that seeing how this course transformed marriages inspired him more than anything else he experienced. “The course is working!” He exclaimed. The visible evidence and personal testimony of the couples who participated were inspiring. Those who participated were experiencing such a richness in this area that they had even begun reaching out to their friends and neighbors with the marriage ministry material.
The fourth trip will be to Ethiopia and it will be led by Summit’s Children’s Ministry Curriculum Coordinator Laura Hunt and her husband Jared. Their team will be working with Ayni from I Care for the Nation, one of Children’s Hope Chest’s CarePoints.
You might remember Ayni from one of our Christmas Eve offering videos from a couple of years back. When Ayni founded I Care for the Nation, she was mostly working with younger children and their families who were extremely vulnerable due to poverty. She continues to work with parents by providing relational and spiritual care along with vocational and life skills training. Her work with the children has grown from the critical care necessary for the very poor and vulnerable, to now include the life skills and vocational training this thriving group of young men and women have grown into. When Summit first started partnering with I Care for the Nation, the children were mostly young. Now, over 10 years later, the Hunt’s team will be working to support a summer camp for these young adults who are on the cusp of adulthood.
Hearing John’s passion for our trips abroad and the work we’re doing in the Orlando area serves as a reminder of how important these partnerships are and how the body of Christ is at work beyond the walls of Summit. If you’re interested in joining a team before next summer, keep an ear out. You can also visit our [local and global partnerships page. (https://www.summitconnect.org/serve-globally)] to get a better understanding of each of these organizations and the work they do around the world.
Also, please, pray for these partnerships and our teams and their families throughout the summer. If you’re a partner here, you’re likely already a part of the efforts mentioned above through your tithe and the 15% of our budget that goes directly out the door. Praying, tithing, and giving directly to these organizations is a great way to join this great work.
We’d also love for you to join us on Sunday, May 19th, as O.J. and John commission all our summer teams in our worship services at Summit Lake Mary and Summit Orlando. It’ll be a great day in the life of our church!
Mark your calendars to Pray for our teams this summer!
May 31st - June 10th | Nairobi Chapel Kenya Team
June 9th - June 23rd | COTN Malawi Team
July 18th - 28th | World Relief Malawi Team
July 18th - 28th | Children’s Hope Chest Ethiopia Team
