During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Acts 16:9-10
“Research suggests that participants anticipate feeling more emotional exhaustion when helping a stigmatized person, but that proactively framing this person’s situation as “inspiring and rewarding” can counteract this effect. This suggests that organizations that help traditionally stigmatized populations may be able to elicit more generosity from a wider group of people by carefully framing their solicitations in a positive light, helping people to overcome their fear of emotional exhaustion and fostering a sense of connection with the person in need.”
Summer Allen in “The Science of Generosity” White Paper produced by the Greater Good Science Center.
This research hit home, especially because of where I find myself, namely, the Caribbean. When I told many people that I was traveling to Jamaica and Cayman Islands, before hearing about the important program work, they said, “You are going there for vacation, right?”
By this illustration, I hope you see that the Jamaicans and Cayman Islanders are stigmatized persons, and thus, forgotten. I have learned that the social rule for Jamaicans is to treat foreigners nicely and to frame their country as a vacation destination and simultaneously, they take advantage of each other.
I am here because Jamaicans asked for help. Pastors and ministry workers have said that because society is broken down, so are churches and ministries. Like the Macedonian man, we find them not sitting and saying, “Come do it for us.” But rather, standing and pleading, “Come over and help us.”
After two full days of speaking at conferences and preaching aimed to serve God’s workers and raise awareness for our program work, God timed it perfectly that Sunday night was a huge Christian rally in downtown Kingston (pictured above): “Jamaica Pray!”
John Roomes (GTP Regional Facilitator for the Caribbean) and I attended and met many influential people. John numbered among the church and ministry workers on the stage lifting up and receiving the prayers of the people. We prayed Psalm 2 together and asked God for Jamaica.
This morning (Monday) we have a huge breakfast with the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches (JUGC) that includes all denominations in the country. Pray they support the vision of having standards with peer accountability in Jamaica as a model for the Caribbean region.
And after hearing all this, if you are willing to abandon the stigmatism that I am in Jamaica and help support the work with the people here, we set up an option on the GTP giving portal. Click here to give as you are able. And we need your help with the Cayman Islands efforts too.