City transformation
From a session at the Transform Our World 2022 conference
Allen Cardines is a pastor in Hawaii. He's been learning how to change a spiritual climate over a city for almost 20 years. He's still learning. He bases the church's activities on Luke 10 and books such as Ekklesia and Transformation.
He shared some things that God has been doing in his city, Nanakuli but openly admits they are not there yet. So he encourages everyone to press on again, and again, and only stop when you see a city transformed. Here are some excerpts from the session:
In 2003, a person at a conference said to me, "If you die, your church would cry and miss you but would your community even know that you're gone?" It rocked my world. You mean you can be a pastor for years and have no kind of impact in a community? It really spoke deeply to me.
We went back and adopted Nanakuli. Adoption means it doesn't belong to the state anymore. The problem we have in our society is, 'the problem is not our problem'. It's the police's problem, the politician's problem, etc. After that conference, we went back and said, "This is God's City. This is my city. We're going to adopt not only the good but also the bad and the ugly." We're out there loving everyone and that's the heart of God with adoption. So that means we adopt the schools, the police office, the homeless, etc.
For too long, Nanakuli has been looked on by other people as the 'armpit' of Hawaii. What they don't understand is the pain runs deep for generations. Many feel like second class citizens in their city - their own home. They don't get the dignity or respect. That's resulted in pain, generational poverty and a spirit of hopelessness. We're dealing with fears, physical, emotional, sexual abuse, physical, emotional neglect. Children that never saw compassion. Fathers that never told them I love you. I believe in you. They have no sense of identity. Then you get household dysfunctions like domestic violence, divorce, incarceration, addictions. These are Adverse Childhood Experiences (see this article). "He will convince parents to look after their children and children to look up to their parents. If they refuse, I’ll come and put the land under a curse.” Malachi 4v6 MSG.
A key for the Ekkesia is being able to bless people. God has brought us together with police officers, the Department of Education, the community, the politicians of both parties, in such a way that it looks like we're one. Breaking strongholds in our community. For example, we've been able to get multi government agencies to work together to be able to shut down a drug house that's been running for eight years. We've been praying for the people that run the drug houses and the criminal organisations, to come to the Lord.
Let's take another example. Stacey Eli has been praying for the city for years. She ran for Government office because she said she couldn't see her community on a moral, spiritual, emotional decline. What I learned from her in the last couple years is how to be in love with Nanakuli. Stacy is a bridge builder - a prophetic word spoken over her. God's using her in a powerful way. She is a missionary in government.
She's worked across the political parties. She's worked with the Hawaii State Legislature to restore honour back to men and women who serve in a police department. The morale was low and it is harder and harder to recruit officers, not just to join but to stay. Many are believers. They pray, they struggle because they have to take some incidents home to their families. They pray, go to bed, wake up and they do it all over again. She wishes she could do more to recognise the amazing work that they do. I hope in your communities that you show appreciation to your officers. She shows love and kindness - not so common in the world anymore.
One thing we have learned is that when you have purpose plus unity plus communication, you have unlimited potential. We, the Ekklesia and authorities and others, have the same vision - to see Nanakuli transformed. God is using Stacey Eli and others to connect us with multi-government agencies and others to come and work together.
Do we love the places God has put us in? Do we want to see them transformed?
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From a session at the Transform Our World 2022 con, 17/01/2023