July eNews

CHURCH RELATIONS 

Here in the United States, we have a month for everything: Black History Month (February), Hispanic Heritage Month (September), Women's History Month (March), LGBTQ+ Pride Month (June). But what about the rest of the year? As much as we're reminded at Christmas time to carry the Christmas spirit with us throughout the year, we have to admit that by the end of December we're ready to move on.

So how do we maintain the spirit of inclusion and acceptance modeled during LGBTQ+ Pride Month throughout the rest of the year? The answer is by rejecting harmful stereotypes and standing for basic human rights in as many ways as we can, as often as we can. Those who have experienced prejudice and marginalization have to stand with those who are marginalized still.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," said Martin Luther King, Jr. "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality." Meaning that we can't rest until those who are marginalized by race, economics, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation receive the same opportunities as everyone else.

I know, with so much bigotry, hatred, and misinformation in our society, this sounds like an impossible dream. But people have dreamed impossible dreams before. Society is better now because of those who have marched against and protested injustice in the past. Now it's our turn Let's build on the successes of the past. That effort will keep us busy until next year's LBGTQ+ Pride Month.

KINSHIP BIBLE STUDY WITH CHAPLAIN KUMAR 

KINSHIP EUROPE MEETING ON ZOOM

TIME CONVERSION CHART

MONTHLY EVENTS FOR JULY

WEEKLY EVENTS FOR JULY

REGIONAL EVENTS FOR JULY

FAMILY & FRIENDS

^{PRIDE MONTH or PRIDE ALWAYS}

Every year part of the world celebrates our LGBTQ+ friends for the entire month of June. There are many parades, gatherings, and focused events honoring and hopefully, uplifting those folks. It is a valuable and needed focus for families and friends to also honor and support their special close members and friends.

To enrich this sharing, I checked my Thesaurus for the meaning(s) of “pride” and discovered several paragraphs of different meanings. The first two paragraphs were rather negative and demeaning, then I reached the bottom paragraph and felt relieved. There I found the terms that enriched our vision of Pride Month.

That paragraph included terms like self-respect, self-satisfaction, happiness, treasures, jewels, joy, and satisfaction! Yes, that’s our vision of PRIDE, helping our dear and special LGBTQ+ friends feel respected, helping all of them enjoy the satisfaction of who they honestly are, sharing in their happiness, and loving support of each other. 

Then we also thought that our families with LGBTQ+ members also need to celebrate all month with warm and genuine respect and satisfaction that the entire family is happy and treasures all members as shining jewels, all individual, and maybe unique. But everyone is accepted, honored, and loved. A month of focus and celebration of family differences, all blessed and endorsed by God! 

After thinking and pondering about PRIDE MONTH, Carolyn and I moved beyond this special month. We hope and look forward to our culture and faith understanding the genuine needs of our Kinship world, and we don’t need a PRIDE MONTH because we have shifted and flexed our feelings and beliefs so they are accepted and loved daily forever! 

Let’s help our faith and culture support PRIDE ALWAYS! AMEN!

John and Carolyn Wilt
Family & Friends Coordinators
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EUROPEAN KINSHIP MEETING

EKM2021 will be held in a natural environment in the little community of Westelbeers, between the cities Eindhoven and Tilburg in The Netherlands.

Our excellent and energetic guest speaker is a Seventh-day Adventist scholar at one of our colleges in Europe. The name of the guest speaker will not be disclosed until the meeting, in order to protect his position in the church. But be assured you will be blessed and uplifted by his presentations.

EIGENTIJDSERF is surrounded by nature but is certainly easily accessible from the direction of Eindhoven, Breda, and Tilburg. Parking is free and charging electric cars is possible. We will also try to set up a pickup service to meet you at the station in Tilburg or Eindhoven. Eindhoven airport is a hub for low-budget flights.

The conference center offers special diets if we know in advance. The atmosphere is peaceful and friendly.

Pricing: €400 (double occupancy) and €450 (single occupancy)

Register NOW!

Ruud Kieboom
European Coordinator
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COMING SOON! CHAPTER 25 OF JOURNEY

CONNECTING VIA WHATSAPP

SDA Kinship continues to work to connect our members in communities where they feel most comfortable. We have both Facebook and WhatsApp groups for members to join.

There are many groups by location for chapters, regions, and countries. Groups based on languages such as Española, French, and Russian. There is also a Spiritual Group led by the Kinship Chaplain and a Women’s Group for the women of Kinship.

If you have questions, please Send Me a message on WhatsApp to get connected, telling me who you are and what groups you are interested in connecting with. You can also send me a message on Facebook to be added to any of those groups.

Floyd Poenitz
Vice President, SDA Kinship
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DON’T FORGET TO USE AMAZON SMILE

AmazonSmile is now available as an app. A great way to support SDA Kinship at no cost to you and you can do all your shopping online from the app. You can find it in the App Store for IOS or Google Play for Android.

When making purchases on Amazon.com, remember, if you use smile.amazon.com, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the eligible purchase price to the non-profit that you select! As we provide support and representation within the LGBTIQ community, every penny counts!

When first visiting AmazonSmile, customers are prompted to select a charitable organization from almost one million eligible organizations. To browse or shop at AmazonSmile, customers must first select a charitable organization. Please select Seventh-Day Adventist Kinship International Inc.