by What expectations do you have of the communities you are engaged with? What expectations do the people in the communities feel are being placed on them? Do you expect to help or to partner with the individuals in your community?
During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
Acts 16:9 (NIV)
Paul and his companions headed to Philippi, the capital of Macedonia, where they expected to find a community in need of help. According to Acts 16:13, they also “expected to find a place of prayer.” They were looking for people who were seeking God through prayer.
When Paul and his companions went to the expected place of prayer, they met a businesswoman named Lydia, who believed the message of hope they shared and led her community in following Jesus. Lydia extended hospitality to Paul and his friends, housing and feeding them as they continued to preach in Philippi. She also brought others into her home to hear about Jesus from them.
Lydia provided a safe place for Paul and Silas when they were released from being unfairly imprisoned. She supported Paul and his companions throughout their stay in Philippi and it is likely that the church in Philippi met in Lydia’s home after they left Philippi.
Some time later, Paul wrote a letter to the Philippians, praising and honoring the church in Philippi for their partnership in the Gospel.
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:3-6 (NIV)
Paul moved from seeing the Philippians as people in need of help to his partners in ministry. He moved from expectation to partnership.
Experiencing Expectations as an Asian American
As a second-generation Asian American woman, I have felt expectations from the model minority myth pushing me to excel and achieve without external help. Expectations have also come from those who see my family members with accents and assume we need help and services rather than seeing the gifts and abilities each person has.
This crossover between my family’s nationality and expectations of need was especially felt when I went out of the country for the first time. I traveled to Cambodia, where my mom and her family are from, on a short-term mission trip with my church. It was special to see the country where they were born, but it also reinforced an expectation that people from this Asian country needed help from the mostly white Americans in our group.
I struggled with straddling this identity of being with the group that had appeared to serve for a week with the identity of having ties to those who were being treated as recipients of service.
Moving From Expectations to Partnership
In my work with Every Neighborhood Partnership in Fresno, California, we focus on partnering with the assets in the community as we work together to pursue God’s shalom for our city. We collaborate with mainly Latino community members seeking to make changes in the various neighborhoods in Fresno from which they work and live. Every Neighborhood Partnership also engages with churches that are providing initial outreach services. We provide workshops and city tours to encourage them to move from seeing certain parts of town as recipients of help to places where God is at work and individuals are valued.
Through my experiences as an Asian American woman weaving between various communities, I believe that I am positioned to see and navigate different contexts and situations and to guide others into seeing from a different point of view. I long to see my community viewed as partners in the Gospel and for more people to experience partnership in the Gospel across backgrounds and expectations, like Paul was able to with the Philippians.
As we engage in Christian Community Development, I pray that we continually move from a posture of expecting to help to a posture of partnering with individuals in the community as we seek God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
About Gabrielle Piceno
Gabrielle Piceno was born in Fresno, California, grew up and went to college in Southern California, and moved back to Fresno in 2014. She has since made Fresno her home alongside her husband, Jordan, and is the Administrator for Every Neighborhood Partnership. Her experience working with churches and community benefit organizations led to her developing an interest in Christian Community Development and what God is doing in Fresno.
