Emergency Alert: This is NOT a Test! An International Disaster Relief Plan for Protecting Children and Families

There are more than 132,000,000 orphans worldwide. As a result of recent natural disasters in the United States and other countries, the number of orphans has increased. Recent events in the Gulf Coast in the United States, Haiti and Japan showed that thousands of children become separated from their parents or guardians when disasters strike. Family members were scattered during these tragedies. Many children were reunited with their families; but some children were sent to orphanages while others waited in classrooms for their family members to come for them. Many Haitian children were sent to foreign countries far from their homelands to be adopted by strangers who did not share their heritage or their culture. Professor David Smolin asked whether this rush to adopt Haitian children was “a humanitarian act of good will or a neo-colonialist child grab.” This article examines United States laws and international conventions, statutes, and guidelines that emphasize children’s rights and their family members’ rights which should be protected when a natural disaster occurs. It identifies specific children’s and family member’s interests, including pertinent social issues. To avoid unnecessary family separations in the future, the article calls for a universal plan of action that must be vetted, implemented and publicized expeditiously before the next disaster occurs

Race, Ethnicity & Culture with Purpose: The Growth of a Multicultural Church Ministry

Christianity is a major galvanizing factor. However, it is prudent to pay attention to the real and latent divisions in society that hinder social harmony: even without the calming effect of the Christian faith. Attempting to form a multicultural church must therefore involve an understanding of the races and ethnicities that comprise the target population. That process is as academic as it is pragmatic. The academic aspect of conceiving race involves a historically literate understanding of the heritage and factors that created the present race and ethnic power relations not only in the locale: but across the entire country as well. With that background, it is then possible to begin the process of tapping into the demographic-specific motivators of each race to spur their joining one Christian congregation. Different demographics view the Faith differently. It is essential to define and portray the church as a forum that will not only shelter that demographic from the problems that it faces, but also offer it the aspirations that define success according to the aspirations of a specific stratum. These are the ethos of Christianity, and as such congregations can only subsist when these needs are met, through the lens of Christian teaching. Aside from identifying the message that will appeal to the base aspirations of all the demographics of a multicultural congregation: it is also important to normalize the church’s interactions with the outside world. To that effect, one decisive approach is to incorporate overall cultural competence in the lists of guests coming to teach at the church

The Same? Not The Same? Online Spiritual Direction, Supervision, and Training

Spiritual direction, like worship, is about fostering connection between seeker and the Divine. Online media connect people in authentic and practical ways that are unprecedented in human history. The ideas that technology is antithetical to authentic spiritual discernment, or is somehow "anti-spiritual" in nature is a culturally based assumption. It is already part of our lives. It is increasingly how people are being educated. It will increasingly be the way in which people offer spiritual guidance to one another as well