My positive story

I must admit that telling a positive story in the sense of violence against women can sound like a very big double-sided idea that is difficult to understand. To make sure that you understand correctly what I mean when saying a “positive story” it means when a woman tells a story that ends with a positive outcome and where she can be positive about the future.

I would like to tell such a story. This is a real story that happened to me and I want to make clear that I got permission to share it as it took some rash and bad turns.

When I was sixteen years old I became friends with a woman who was 45 then. Our friendship took some interesting turns. She had suffered abuse and rape and faced some very difficult questions and decisions in her life. She has had a lot of bad experiences but tells a positive story today because she is in a happy relationship; she feels worthy and has a lot of people surrounding her with love and good relationships. When fellow Christians wanted to “stone her”, she stood tall and believed in herself and kept believing that God loves her and that Jesus died for her sins and for that reason she is free. I have known her well for almost ten years now and I will tell her story which has a positive ending in the hope that many others will follow. I will use an alias to protect her privacy.

As a young girl Jane went from a small town in South Africa to the big city to fulfil her dreams of becoming a hairdresser. She came from a rich family but decided that she would stand on her own feet and live her own legacy. After a while she was exposed to alcohol and drugs and unfortunately fell for them. She also fell in love with a guy and got pregnant by accident. Even though her family was disgraced by her pregnancy, her boyfriend stood by her and asked her to get married. He was wealthy and took good care of her and their newborn girl. A few years later she had another baby, this time a boy. She took care of the children at home and didn’t become a hairdresser as she dreamed. After five years one day her husband didn’t arrive home. She went looking everywhere and couldn’t trace him. It became clear he had left her and the children for good. She had to make a plan since she didn’t have any access to their accounts. So she decided to go back to her parents as the city is an expensive place to survive without any income and two children.

She arrived at her parents’ home and they let her stay with them despite the disgrace she brought to the family. She started working at a tavern in a small town to earn some money. She was heartbroken at the time and she tells how she struggled to look after the children and love them since she could see her once loving husband’s reflection in their eyes and she couldn’t understand how he could just leave. At the tavern she started drinking again and tells how men would some nights want to use her for sex and would hit her or swear at her if she refused.

She had to get away and had to start a new life. She went to another town as she got a small but promising job as a secretary. She worked hard and after some time fell in love with one of the workers at the place. He was much younger than she and seemed to like the children who were teenagers by that time. She found her husband in the meantime and managed to get divorced but didn’t manage to get any financial maintenance for her or the children. She got married for the second time and she seemed to be very happy. They just starting building a new future together when he announced that he was going to quit his job and that he thought that it was better that the children go off to live in a school hostel. The children only came home on weekends and she missed them a lot.

After a few years she realized that he has been cheating on her with several women during their short marriage. He started beating her when she confronted him with that. Unfortunately she never went to the police but just decided to divorce him and move on.

She had been lying to herself all the time and, even though she felt the urge when she was younger, she couldn’t speak about her homosexuality because of society and pride. For the first time in her life she decided to speak out about it. Maybe it wasn’t the best decision to start speaking about it when she was in an emotional state after getting divorced and all the feelings attached to that. She first went to her family and friends and decided to make it clear in the church as well. She didn’t get a lot of support, her family chased her away and said that they don’t want to have anything to do with her, all but two of her friends deserted her and the church placed her under censorship, they proclaimed the fact that being homosexual is a sin and that she should repent and live a celibate life. She decided to stand strong and to keep on going to the church and to stay a member. After some time she fell in love and she is still living with her partner.

“This has been one of the most difficult times in my life” she admits, “losing my family (her father died in the process) my friends and standing up against a whole church that treats you like a leper.”

She went through this time with a lot of questions about life and faith. She only recently came to a stage where she is truly accepting herself and being truly happy for who and what she is. Currently she and her partner are living together and her children have accepted the fact that their mother is homosexual but also enjoy the fact that their mother is happy and enjoying life to the full despite a long and sad history.

Smoke Signals

Over the coming weeks, Christians from every Communion will be praying for the College of Cardinals as it convenes to select the new Pope. We will pray that the Spirit guides them to choose one who has the remarkable wisdom, determination and faith to guide the Roman Catholic Church through incredibly trying times.
The Pope is the embodiment of the unity of the Roman Catholic Church. His picture hangs in every parish around the globe and in millions of homes. He presides over an establishment that ensures a level of continuity in doctrine, liturgy and practice among diverse contexts. When a new Pope is chosen the whole world watches.
Those of us in the Reformed Communion do not have such a tangible focus for our unity. In May the Executive Committee of the World Communion of Reformed Churches will meet in Ghana to choose a new General Secretary to succeed Setri Nyomi whose term of service expires next year, but don’t look for the meeting place to be swarmed by TV crews from around the world.
The unity of the Reformed Communion is visible in the mission work we share, what we do together to promote Christ’s reign of justice, the prayers we offer for each other, the Word we proclaim and the sacraments we receive. That can be hard to see. It’s not embodied in an institutional leader. We are totally dependent on Christ to show us that unity by breaking down the barriers that divide us and giving us eyes to see what unites us. And that unity is not something that is limited to our Reformed Communion, but something we share with the whole body of Christ, including those who gather in the Sistine Chapel this month.
When a plume of white smoke goes up from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, the world knows that the Cardinals have finally come to an agreement about the new Pope and the future direction of the Roman Catholic Church. It is a sign that the Spirit has been at work in their midst. May the worship and work we do as a Reformed Communion be like plumes of white smoke to show the world that the Spirit is at work among us, giving us one mind for the good of the whole church.

Steve Lytch

Prayer for Orange Campaign

Today, February 25, men and women are wearing orange to signal their support for the United Nations campaign against violence against women UNiTE. During the weekly chapel service at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva this morning, the general secretary of the Conference of European Churches, Guy Liagre, offered a prayer of hope and affirmation for women and girls. The prayer is reproduced here with permission.

Staff of WCRC are wearing orange today in support of UN campaign to end violence against women

Orange Campaign against violence against women

25 February 2013

 L:         O God who gave your servants the gifts of courage, faith and cheerfulness and sent people out to carry the word of your gospel to every creature, grant, we pray, a spirit    to your church at this time. Further in all things the purpose of churches that hidden things may be revealed to the world and new ways found to touch the lives of all.

SING:  Oh Lord hear my prayer, oh Lord hear my prayer. Come and listen to me. (1X)

L:         On this day marking the Orange Campaign against violence against women, we   thank you God for women and their mission to the human community. We pray for      the woman who is a daughter, that she be accepted and loved by her parents, treated with tenderness and kindness. We pray for the woman who is a sister, that  she be respected and defended by her brothers.

SING:  Oh Lord hear my prayer…

L:         We pray for the woman who is a wife, that she be recognized, valued and respected  by her husband so that living both the communion of hearts and of desire they are blessed with fertility, thus participating in the creation of human life. We pray for the woman who is a mother, that she recognizes in motherhood a flourishing of her  femininity.

SING:  Oh Lord hear my prayer…

L:         We pray for women who are feeling alone, women who are do not find meaning to life; for the marginalized and those used as an object of pleasure and consumption; women who have been mistreated, raped and murdered.

SING:  Oh Lord hear my prayer…

L:         We pray, Lord, for all of us, men and women, that we may know, understand,  appreciate and help each other so that in a relationship which is friendly and positive   we may collaborate together in the service of family, society and life. Through        Jesus Christ.

ALL:     Amen

Prayer offered by Guy Liagre, General Secretary of the Conference of European Churches

A new story

In the previous blog I wrote about how one story in my life has changed the way I think and react to violence against women today. The fact of the matter is that my story has been changed by that incident and after what I felt and realized I couldn’t go on in the same way. I had to constantly change to become what I am and will keep on changing through experiences. Whether I will react differently in these situations is up to me. Once again thank you very much for the feedback on the blog, I appreciate it and will try to give as much voice to what I have heard.

The Orange campaign http://www.un.org/en/women/endviolence/orangeday.shtml  of the United Nations is running and asking everyone to wear some orange clothes on the 25^th of each month to raise awareness of violence against women. I think that it is a good idea but I want to challenge every reader of this blog to also go out and share a positive story about violence against women.

I am sure that with Oscar Pistorius killing Reeva Steenkamp and so many   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/oscar-pistorius/9881941/Oscar-Pistorius-live.html   other bad stories of violence against women fresh in our minds, it is difficult to think of positive stories and to even share them. I must admit that it is not the easiest thing for me, but I will commit to writing a positive blog on the 25^th of each month to support the cause.

The fact is that we are living with a lot of negativity and pessimism in this world. Look at the newspapers for instance. They don’t care about the good news: it’s the bad and sad news that gets publicity. Unfortunately that is what our days are being filled with. Just think for a second if we could have a newspaper which only tells about the good stories that are happening in the world. It sounds a bit like the Gospel, doesn’t it. As a matter of fact maybe these stories wouldn’t change the cause of violence against women, but maybe it will help women to speak out and to start speaking out about their own situations and experiences. It might even change the way that they are thinking and to give hope to everyone that the situation can be changed.

What happens if you listen to someone’s story (negative or positive) is that you are setting a new platform for new stories to be born. When we listen to one another’s stories we can start asking critical and useful questions regarding our situations. If we share our stories we can start every day by looking from a new direction to get a better view of reality.

I don’t want to force anybody to do something that they don’t want or like to do, but I think that this is a good platform to start sharing and joining on to the cause of stopping violence against women and that we will miss out on a glorious opportunity if we don’t use this base for further sharing. I will end by telling a positive story.

Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them. The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him.

Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, “The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.” Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt.

Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. “Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?”

“No one, Master.”

“Neither do I,” said Jesus. “Go on your way. From now on, don’t sin.”

(John 8:1-10 The  Message//Remix; Eugene Peterson)

Frans du Plessis

God, Foxes and Birds

Dr. Clare Amos, WCC Programme Executive for Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation, led an outstanding Bible study in the Ecumenical Centre yesterday morning reflecting on the situation of the “stranger”.

I was a bit late as I could hardly cut the morning conversation with my friend who is actually thinking about giving up her apartment in Zürich and becoming sort of “homeless” for the sake of freedom.

As I arrived and caught up with the discourse of Dr. Amos, she mentioned a remarkable feature of the Israelite God: he did not have a home. He travelled with his people, was prepared to go into exile, while other gods usually had houses, dwelling places in the ancient Middle East.

Coincidence. Similar issues have been my concern for quite a while. Some months ago I started to get rid of a lot of my things as a result of feeling too bound, chained, anchored to this world by cherishing my belongings – lovely books, handicrafts, pieces of clothing, etc. It is quite a difficult thing, to be honest, but once one thing is gone, it is such an uplifting sense of freedom. My friend agrees.

I came to Switzerland with a twenty kilogram bag and left some rooms full of my stuff in different cities in Hungary. While packing, I was hysterical about putting all that I consider necessary for life into that small suitcase, but apparently I am leading a life from that twenty kg now and do not seem to need much more. The books… you would say, but well, maybe I can compromise with an e-book reader one day.

“And Jesus saith unto him, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” (Matthew 8.20)

Tip of the iceberg

After some really thoughtful and interesting conversations with female friends I came to realize that my previous blog was only touching the tip of the iceberg concerning the enormous challenge of violence against women. Surely awareness is needed and helpful, but there is certainly much more to speaking out and standing up if we want to change the current situation of violence against women. Thank you very much for the feedback. I certainly appreciate it and hope to give an accurate reflection on what I heard and on my thoughts since I came to realize there are much more and deeper challenges in violence against women than I thought.

I believe that the previous blog was kind of dreamy and might have sound like romantic theology as one might sense from it that by speaking out and standing up we will be able to change the whole problem. Hopefully I can clear that up and be mindful that violence against women is a complex and difficult challenge that asks everyone who addresses the problem to be thoughtful and not to give simplistic answers.

In South Africa I have been challenged with experiences of violence against women and I have come to realize through these experiences that I am left with some really complex thoughts about my reaction and certainly the reaction of the victim. It certainly isn’t easy for the witness to react and I can’t imagine myself in a women’s shoes who is treated with violence. First of all I am male. Second, I grew up in a country and a culture where I was taught to think in a certain way which makes it difficult to think differently. If it is so difficult for me as the witness to speak out, how difficult must it be for the victim? All sorts of questions must go through her mind and I am not willing to say that I can put myself in the shoes of a women being raped who can’t speak out to her brothers because they are rapists, whose parents don’t believe her and who lives in a country where the police will laugh at her and probably do a virginity test on her to see if she is telling the truth.[1] I don’t think that most of us would dare to put ourselves in those women’s shoes. I don’t believe that we have the right, but I can certainly say that there is some complexity about speaking out, not just for the victim, also for the witness.

When I was fifteen years old I had a very bad experience being a witness who didn’t speak out. We were outside of the school building during a break. One of my friends got into a confrontation with a coloured girl and they were exchanging words. Friction between white, coloured and black people was common at that time and as I was a leader I was suppose to stop it, but as the guy was my friend I decided to keep quiet. After some time
the girl threw something at the guy but missed him, he reacted by taking a branch of a tree and hitting her with it. We were five guys looking on and she ran away after some time. She reported the incident and because I was a leader I was called in to the acting principal’s office. He asked me about the incident and I lied to him. I backed my friend and made sure he didn’t get into trouble. I must admit at that stage I thought I did the right thing. I can still remember the look on the girl’s face the next time I saw her.

What happened that day kept haunting me for quite a long time and I decided to talk to my brother about what happened and he was disgusted with my acts and told me to make it right. Unfortunately I was a coward and my ego was bigger than my brains at that stage and I didn’t do anything about it. Until today I still feel a lot of regret of making a string of bad decisions during the scenario. I feel bad about lying to cover my friend, but what makes me feel worse is the fact that I knew what the right thing to do was and I did the opposite. The feeling attached to this decision is haunting me daily, since I wronged someone and that one girl that has been violated, is one too many. The most difficult thing about dealing with this is the fact that I can’t change anything to that scenario, I can’t go back in time and stand up for that girl.

Unfortunately this isn’t a positive story and I can’t promise much more than saying that I would certainly react differently today. I wasn’t able to stand up and speak out back then because the practical implications were too big for me. I committed violence against women on that day and nothing I do now will bring justice to the situation. I am trying to get hold of the girl to ask for her forgiveness, even though I know that it won’t change my actions back then at least I can give her hope that people do change and that I regret what I did on that day. As we are not sure in which confrontations and situations we might have to face in the future, I don’t want to make any promises that I can’t be loyal to, but I would say that I will certainly approach any violence in the future a lot differently. I am sure that there are a lot of stories like this.

I came to realize through practical experience that the problem of violence against women and speaking out and standing up against it is complicated. We will need to think and do a lot more than just standing up, even though it is a good first step.

For further reading:

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/gewalt-gegen-frauen-wir-wollen-ein-anderes-indien-12044927.html

http://www.bild.de/news/ausland/fragen/fragen-der-woche-27964024.bild.html

http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/gewalt-gegen-frauen-opfer-werden-gedemuetigt-und-weiter-verfolgt/7584664-2.html

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09589236.2012.726603?journalCode=cjgs20

Frans du Plessis

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginity_test

Stand up (To rise to an upright position on the feet) and speak out (To convey thoughts, opinions, or emotions orally).

Valentine’s Day 2013 will certainly be remembered for purple clothing, women dancing and the lyrics of the song that was used for the One Billion Rising campaign “Break the chain”. Or shall I rather say that is how I will remember it. Sadly enough I am sure that there are a lot of women and men out there who didn’t have this privilege to stand up and speak out to stop violence against women. I am also sure that there are a lot of women and men who didn’t even realize that it was Valentine’s Day or had ever heard about One Billion Rising.

The fact of the matter is that some women were beaten yesterday, on Valentine’s Day. It makes me sad. What makes me even sadder is the fact that some women don’t even realize that they are worthy and that they should be treated with love and respect as equal to any man. The news release of Oscar Pistorius, the South African blade runner who allegedly killed his girlfriend early in the morning, just proclaimed the fact that violence against women is still a big challenge.

So the day passed and the thought that stuck in my head was whether the dance we did or the purple clothes we wore made any difference or will have any effect in the future. I am sorry if I sound very negative and maybe a bit pessimistic. I will share some thoughts and hopefully come to a positive conclusion.

First I thought to myself who am I to stand up for women, who am I to stand up for the poor and the oppressed? Shouldn’t they be standing up for themselves? I had to go quite a long way back into my past to understand why I need to stand up for the other.

Well I can’t remember it but because of some pictures and stories that my parents told me I know that I couldn’t walk when I was born. At first I was crying most of the time and couldn’t do anything for myself, then after some time I started crawling around, then I started standing up with the help of chairs, tables and kind of anything I could use to support me, without the support I would fall down… sometimes straight on my face and my mom would have to give me some attention before I would stop crying. Then after a few seconds I would forget about what happened and try to rise to an upright position on my feet again. No need to say it started happening naturally after a while. It was great and before I knew it I could start walking forward and backwards by myself without falling on my face and needing some help form my mom and others… or so I thought.

Well I grew up and life happened – school, varsity and work and I started falling down more often than I thought and I realized that I am reluctant about others. I have a lot of life experiences that wouldn’t have been possible without the help of these friends and – well I must admit sometimes – strangers that I never saw again. I came to realize that if I want to maintain my upright position in life I need some support and without the support my knees sometimes become weary and I realise how vulnerable I am without the support.

Then it hit me right between the eyes: isn’t that what Jesus meant when he preached in Nazareth.

God’s Spirit is on me,

He’s chosen me to preach the message of good news to

The poor,

Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and

Recovery of sight to the blind,

To set the burdened and battered free,

To announce, “This is God’s year to act!”

(Luke 4:16-22b The Message//remix, Peterson E.)

I am sure that he didn’t want the people to stand up for their own sake or to challenge other people to do it. He wanted them to stand up because it was the right thing to do, it was a good cause and it challenged them as individuals and as a community to go out of their comfort zones and help people who they didn’t know or have any connection to. It basically meant to go out and be in danger of being judged by your friends for helping people that you don’t like, know or even want close to you – strangers.

Leonard Sweet said: “God is Go” and I would like to agree with him in this sense. Jesus becomes visible in the world when we are standing up for causes which don’t concern us to the least. Jesus never stood up to get publicity. I don’t recall him asking the BBC to take note of his actions or statements to women, the poor or the hungry, to take note that he is standing up for them because he is privileged. He stood up because nobody else wanted to take the responsibility.

When we look at the Luke text we can’t be other than positive, because it gives a whole new meaning to supporting a worthy cause. When we are supporting a cause like One Billion Rising we are standing up for each and every woman who is treated in a violent way. When we are standing up and speaking out against poverty and oppression we are supporting each individual who is poor and oppressed. This doesn’t put me in the pounding seat because I can be of some help, but it gives me an assurance that when I am once again vulnerable and in need someone else will stand up and speak out for me because to rise up to an upright position on your feet is much better than being face down to the ground.

Let us not be silent about the wrong that we see in this world. Let us convey our thoughts, opinions, and emotions verbally and help one another wherever we can.

So should we speak out and stand up for those who can’t? I think the words of Jeremiah helps us in this case.

Are there no healing ointments in Gilead? (the world)

Isn’t there a doctor in the house?

So why can’t something be done

To heal and save my dear, dear people

(Jer 8:7b The Message//The message Remix. Peterson. E)  

I have come to realize that the worst situation to be in is in a helpless situation where nothing that you will say or do will change the outcome. That makes us vulnerable to others and it isn’t always the best place to be in. We must stand up and speak out because there is healing in this world, there is a doctor in the house and for that reason the healing powers of God can only flow into the helpless situations if we are willing to raise our voices, to dance, to walk and to rise.

We need to be the tongue, hands and feet for that poor mother who believes that it’s natural to be treated in a violent way. We can support her, because she would do the same for you and me.

Frans du Plessis  

Bananas, Coco Water and the Rest

On 13^th February this year’s Lent season started at the Ecumenical Centre with a worship of a special liturgy led by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance. Instead of taking the usual bread and wine for the Holy Communion, bananas and coconut water were offered.

I remember the first time when I had to take the Communion with red wine. It was in the first year of my theological studies, as I was sent to a congregation where it was the natural practice to use red wine.  It felt strange, unusual, weird as at my home congregation we would have never used anything else than white wine. White bread, white wine – that was Communion for me. Red wine? No, that’s for parties.

Then came the time when I was doing my practical year in a congregation of Debrecen, where you could choose whether you wished to take wine or grape juice. Some people who once had been addicted to alcohol and got cured, took the grape juice. Well, that one reminded me of children’s parties and hospitals.

At the opening service of the GIT 2012 in Indonesia, traditional Indonesian sticky rice and tempeh together with herbal drink were served. So far from my own context, it felt holy.

I also remember my class of missiology where we talked about different cultures, contexts inside Christianity where bread and wine would not be the main source of food thus might not be the most appropriate conveyors of the body and blood of Christ that was broken and shed for us. Alternatively, one could use tortillas, taking the Latin-American reality. Sounds logical. If bread and wine are alien to a culture, how could they connect to Christ’s death and resurrection that nourish us in such a complex way as the most basic foods do? I agree, contextualisation in this matter is important.

However, are bread and wine our basic nourishments in the Western world? Bread I would say yes, but wine? If you say wine is your daily basic liquid intake, you would be referred to Alcoholics Anonymous. Does it mean that we Westerners have forgotten recently to contextualise the liquid part of the Holy Supper? How would it feel drinking water or herbal tea from the chalice?

As Lent directs our attention from physical food and body to spiritual nourishment and soul, I wonder what is the importance of bread, banana, sticky rice, tempeh, red wine, white wine, grape juice, coconut water or herbal drink in the Communion? I leave that question open. While wishing a spiritually fulfilling, uplifting, sanctifying Lent season for all of us Christians.

A link to Hungary, a link to Jewish studies

I am Viktória Kóczián, a new intern at WCRC, a teacher of English and Hungarian language and literature and an ordained minister of the Reformed Church in Hungary. I earned my master’s degrees at the Debrecen University, the University of Edinburgh and the Debrecen Reformed Theological University. Currently, I am also working on my PhD in Jewish mysticism of the Middle Ages.

This is my second time in Switzerland, since I did research in the Institute of Jewish Studies at the Theological Faculty of Bern for a couple of months in the Summer of 2011. Although living in Bern and in Geneva feels like living in two different countries, my addiction to Swiss cheese and chocolate seems not to change.

My French is limited to ‘prochain arret’ at the moment, so I am really looking forward to my French classes.

Having spent only three days in the office, I am at the beginning of this almost a year of learning and working experience. As part of my assignments, I am starting to get familiar with the work of the Network of Theologians. I spent my first weekend reading Calvin’s Institutes – what could be a better start in Geneva?

Arriving in a WARM, snowy Geneva

Coming from South Africa to Switzerland the most obvious difference certainly must be the extreme change in climate. Being welcomed by people with warm hearts certainly made me – an Afrikaans speaking “Afrikaner” – feel a lot more at home in a strange, unknown country, language and weather conditions.

Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I am Frans du Plessis from the warm Kalahari region in South Africa and I am one of two new interns at the WCRC. I am currently 24 years old and I am looking forward to working at the WCRC this year.

I see life as a Jigsaw puzzle of which the lid got lost. Sometimes you find a lot of pieces and everything goes easy, other times it feels like you are missing some pieces and you just want to google for the answers, but unfortunately it is not that easy. At the moment I am at a stage where I am finding my feet and the picture is not that clear. I am certainly looking forward to the journey and to meeting a lot of new people on this journey. I will need all the help that I can get, so please feel free to join in!

So let’s search for the light (What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out. John 1:4-5 The Message) with one another and not be scared to help or be helped, shape or be shaped, believe or help others to believe.

Read more on www.wcrc.ch