[Social Change Competition]
The Social Change Competition seeks to utilize the creative energies of hundreds of New England students towards a modern missions effort that can bring the whole gospel—in word and deed—right into the very heart of global suffering and poverty. The following 6 projects are the winners of the grants that were chosen out of 50 submitted proposals.
Park Street Church was founded in 1809. Throughout its 200 years, the church has preached the good news of Jesus Christ and attempted to live out his teachings by emphasizing missionary endeavor and social awareness. The advent of Park Street Church’s bicentennial year provides the church with an opportunity to celebrate and share God’s grace and faithful guidance in Boston and in the world. The theme of the Bicentennial Celebration is “Sharing the Journey” with a desire to Remember, Rejoice, and Rededicate as we share the journey of past experiences and new endeavors.
The Missions Program of the church was launched with a New England Student Movement which spread across the country. It was the commitment and passion of undergraduate and graduate students that led to the forming of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission. It was the students of New England who challenged the American Church to engage in global missions and who offered themselves up for the cause. In the early years of our church, students from New England began going out all over the world: starting schools, hospitals, medical colleges and universities; initiating commerce; planting churches; advocating against injustices; and developing relationships that would change the face of nations.
The Missions Program of the church continues to reach out to the students of the greater Boston area by supporting the efforts of Campus Crusade for Christ, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, International Students Incorporated, and international students and scholars through our FOCUS program.
The objective of the Social Change Competition (SCC) is to harness the high-powered education of New England students to engage them in missions that will create new initiatives and propel advanced thinking. The proposals should address the problems of this world as they relate to poverty and immoral and unjust practices in specific areas of the world, particularly in places that have the least amount of exposure to the good news of Jesus Christ. Proposals can also address detrimental environmental issues and offer new ideas to create renewable energy. By relating the good news of Jesus to these issues, it is hoped that a new strategy of missions will emerge that may concentrate on the poor, the disadvantaged, and the environment.
Our desire in this competition is to honor those who have given generously and sacrificially to our church and to our missions program by unleashing a new engagement of students in missions. Project proposals that meet the requirements of this RFP and that are judged to be exceptional will be presented to the Park Street Church Missions Committee (PSCMC) as Partnership Proposals. In addition to receiving an award, winning projects may be considered by the PSCMC with a view to forming ongoing partnerships.
Graduate Student Finalists
Jesus View Finder [Grant Award of $6300]
Leo Iwai & Hyewon Lee
The Jesus View Finder project aims to increase the church community’s involvement and awareness of global conditions through pictures of how God has used PSC missionaries to spread the good news of his kingdom. A showcase of pictures and written testimonies will be displayed at the Jesus Viewfinder Photo Exhibition during the annual missions conference. The Exhibition will display the building of God’s kingdom and pressing on for his will together, while sharing the journey of how our missionaries display the good news and love of Jesus Christ around the world.
Nawng E Hku Child Development Center [Grant Award of $50,000]
Napitchaya P & Zanny P
The Nawng E Hku Child Development Center aims to improve the long-term well-being of underprivileged children in the Nawng E Hku village in Myanmar through holistic development. Improving access to education for the most economically marginalized children, the Center will integrate child development into church, school, and community programs. This will help provide students with inspirational mediums to better understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and its role in their lives.
Teen Challenge [Grant Award of $11,800]
Ed Doreau, Rebekah Good, Josh Morgan, Will Horn & John Dao
Teen Challenge aspires to promote Christ-like character growth within students. We will strive to form relationships between Park Street Church and Teen Challenge, and to provide opportunities for Park Street members to work alongside students. The purpose is to foster character growth in these young men and women and to empower them to live as examples of Christ in their local communities.
Sinapis [Grant Award of $25,000]
Courtney Rountree, Karibu Nyaggah, Jeanette Cajide, Sunkyo Im, Ying Sun & Hannah Lantos
Sinapis’ primary goal is to empower entrepreneurs in the developing world who have innovative, job-generating ideas. By providing them with rigorous business education, mentoring services, and access to seed capital, we believe these entrepreneurs will create sustainable employment and an improved quality of life for their communities —with a drive to glorify God, and in the service of his people.
Global Medical Education Project [Grant Award of $40,000]
Arthur C, Carolee D. E, Emily G, Ruth G, Kristen G, Leila H, Sasha J, Erin A J, Jeremy K, John K, Ara K, Daniel K, Matt M, Roxanna M, Alicia P, Bill P, David S, Amy Y. T, Natalie W, Paul Y & Joan Z.
The Global Medical Education Project aims to address global health needs by catalyzing a movement of international colleagues dedicated to engage the human condition as followers of Jesus Christ. The project intentionally involves three global sites (Boston, MA; Vellore, India; Middle East) which each present a particular opportunity to contribute to our goal. The project brings international colleagues together through the common language of biomedicine, with an aim to consider God’s kingdom as a paradigm for the practice of medicine.
Undergraduate Student Finalists
Parables [Grant Award of $25,000]
Edward lee, Eric Lu & June Ho Kim
Parables’ vision is to amplify people’s voices and strengthen social relationships towards solving oppression around the world through innovative applications of social media. The goal is to implement this vision with the Chosunjok community living in northeast China, and to address the structural and psychological challenges of their disadvantaged lives. Parables will address the issues of economic, political, and psychological oppression by creating a global information exchange between the Korean-Chinese community that will be increasingly educated about the challenges faced by the ethnic minority. We desire to revolutionize traditional lines of communication to empower those in need.
UNH Basic Injustice [Grant Award of $1500]
Joe Cheslock, Sean Matthews, Abigail McNamara, Karen Smith, Laura Yegge,Erica Santuccio & Jessica Dick
UNH Basic Injustice will create awareness and engage the University of NH community in the lack of fulfillment of basic needs throughout our world, challenging them to see the problems at hand, where God fits in, and how they can help. We will highlight simple needs such as secure shelter and educational resources that are not being met in target areas. The community will then be challenged to engage in three different organizations to help provide a foundation of sustainability within Uganda and Haiti: Come Let’s Dance, ChildVoice International, and Partners in Development.
Light of Hope [Grant Award of $10,000]
Tiffany Yuh, Bianca Yuh & Daniel Jimenez
By integrating alternative youth activities with income-generation, Light of Hope will address major challenges that the community of Lusaka, Zambia faces. Funding will be used to employ youth in making and selling interlocking stabilized soil blocks. This would provide important skill training and employment for the youth in the community, while providing a great venue for ministry to address challenges faced by the youth in Lusaka.
The Mamelodi Township Project [Grant Award of $27,950]
Michael Silvestri, Kellie Courtney, Matthew Gibbons, Ken Moore, Loyal Egan, Chris Jensen, Abioloa Laniyonu, Loren Raiford, Tim Baker, Cort Van Ostran, Emily Henderson & Natalie So
The Mamelodi Township Project aims to partner with the University of Pretoria to create a long-term, sustainable tutoring program in Mamelodi Township. The drive behind the project is to see a greater number of community students succeed in getting into college. This would help give these underprivileged students a chance to rise out of poverty. Accompanying the tutoring, we will offer an evangelical perspective, to provide a hope much deeper that can only come from a firm belief in Jesus Christ as Savior. The project will work closely with the Mamelodi churches to help ensure that these new believers become rooted in the body of Christ. Long-term, we aim is to provide continued prayer support and strategic advice to the University as they continue to carry out the tutoring program.
