“Relationships are the agents of change, and the most powerful therapy is human love.”
Last month the Loomers had the opportunity to attend the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) Summit in Dallas, Texas. The theme for this year’s Summit was “What Matters Most?” The answer we came up with? Relationships.
During the three day conference we attended workshops on family preservation, organizational clarity, trauma and attachment, social enterprise, ethical communication, leadership, and much more. Many of us also had the opportunity to network with other like minded organizations and regions. Through it all the same thread remained: healthy relationships are the key to flourishing, whether it be relationships with partner organizations, our Woven friends, or Local Experts on the field. It is relationship that brings the capacity to heal from trauma, or engages lay leaders in effective community development. It is relationship that creates an environment for family preservation, healthy leadership, or clear communication. And most importantly, it is our relationship with our Creator which sustains us and gives us perspective to bring long-term change.
“What matters most?” is an important question for us to be asking as a team. If we cannot do everything, what should we do? Who is already doing it that we could partner with? What is worth pursuing from here?
One speaker made the interesting point that “lovers will always outdo workers.” What Matters Most should not be a simple head exercise, but a way of re-aligning our hearts with the passion that brought us to this work in the first place. As Rev. Michael Curry’s recently encouraged us, “Think and imagine a world when love is the way. … Because when love is the way, we actually treat each other like we are actually family. When love is the way, we know that God is the source of us all. And we are brothers and sisters, children of God. My brothers and sisters, that’s a new Heaven, a new Earth, a new world, a new human family.”
Relationships are key. Together, change is possible.
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