North Park Community Church: London, Ontario
Partnership with IJM Canada in its legal status documentation project in northern Thailand seemed a natural progression for North Park Community Church in London, Ontario. For the past 10 years, North Park has felt strongly that the ministry of mercy and justice is integral to its call as a church body.
Official partnership with IJM Canada came as a result of an ideal intersection of the church’s connection to Thailand and North Park’s requirements for partnership. North Park has had a significant ministry among refugees who have relocated to London, Ontario, some of whom are from Burma. Through this ministry, the church was exposed to stories about the Karen people in Burma and it created a new awareness in the church about the region and its needs. Moreover, while North Park was learning more about Burma and Thailand, a young missionary from North Park returned from the region with stories about the Shan, a people group situated along the Thai/Burmese border.
The church became increasingly interested in IJM’s work. North Park inquired if IJM worked in Thailand and IJM Canada informed North Park about its work in legal status documentation with the hill tribe peoples in northern Thailand. This prompted the church to investigate further by inquiring with the young missionary working in the region about the scope of citizenship issues. North Park discovered that the lack of citizenship documentation was a problem that kept the hill tribe peoples trapped in poverty and vulnerable to exploitation.
At first, North Park funded a small portion of IJM’s legal status documentation project. Later, when North Park began to investigate the expansion of its support of IJM’s work in Thailand, it applied a set of partnership criteria to ensure a fit between IJM’s work and North Park’s requirements. North Park wanted to ensure its investment directly impacted people who were indigenous; it also wanted to be able to invest in the local church in Thailand and ensure that the local church would come alongside the hill tribe peoples North Park wanted to help. It became clear that IJM Canada’s project in Thailand was an excellent fit for North Park’s requirements and desire to invest in the region.
North Park has signed on with IJM Canada for two years of substantial funding for the project. Through this partnership, IJM now has greater resources at its disposal to provide legal status documentation to increasing numbers of hill tribe peoples in northern Thailand. And North Park can see its investment directly assist the people it desires to help.
As North Park partners with IJM Canada, it will continue to engage its congregation on justice issues. So far, this has included a series on the biblical call to justice, a symposium on justice issues, and a vision trip to Thailand. The vision trip will expose key members of the congregation to IJM’s work in Thailand and the need for citizenship documentation among the hill tribes people.
As a church, North Park wants to ensure that it follows the call that is given in Micah 6:8- to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God. Its partnership with IJM Canada allows North Park to honour the call to seek justice.