Shaping the Future

Description

Shaping the Future includes a global overview of girl child issues stemming from gender discrimination and explores the root causes for this disparity. Further, the writers from various streams of work around the world lay a foundation for shaping our value of the girl child. The strategies discussed help the girl child surmount the barriers that prevent her from reaching her full, God-given potential and also result in her physical, emotional, and spiritual healing.
A rosebud has been used to symbolize the life of the girl child. Rosebuds can be broken and trampled or allowed to bloom into beautiful roses. The challenge for us is to learn how we can help girls to bloom in spite of the obstacles, empowering them to embrace their full, God-given potential.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Ministry
• Philosophie et théologie
• Children

Informations

• Publié par: William Carey Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780878080359
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Shaping the Future: Girls and Our Destiny
Copyright 2008 by Phyllis Kilbourn and Viva Equip Resources
All rights reserved.
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means-for example, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording-without prior written permission of the publisher.
Cover and Text Design: Hugh Pindur
Copyediting: Jennifer Orona
Editorial Manager: Naomi Bradley
Published by William Carey Library, an imprint of William Carey Publishing
10 W. Dry Creek Circle
Littleton, CO 80120 | www.missionbooks.org
William Carey Library is a ministry of Frontier Ventures
Pasadena, CA 91104 | www.frontierventures.org
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.
23 22 21 20 19 Printed for Worldwide Distribution
Digital Ebook Release 2023
ISBN: 9780878080359 (epub)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shaping the Future : Girls and Our Destiny / Phyllis Kilbourn, editor.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-87808-002-1 (pbk.)
1. Missions. 2. Church work with children. 3. Girls--Social conditions.
4. Girls--Religious life. 5. Self-esteem. 6. Self-actualization (Psychology) I. Kilbourn, Phyllis.
Contents
Contributing Authors
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
C HAPTER 1
Born a Girl: A Worldwide Challenge
Thirza Schneider
Part One: Theological and Historical Perspectives
C HAPTER 2
God So Loved the Girl Child
Marjorie McDermid
C HAPTER 3
Boys Only : Exposing the Roots of Girl Child Troubles
David D. Kupp
Part Two: Cultural Perspectives
C HAPTER 4
A Girl Child Is Born: An Example from an African Context
Vongai Nzenza
C HAPTER 5
My Story, Their Stories: Girls in Western Contexts
Desiree Segura-April
C HAPTER 6
A Perpetual Robbing: Losses for the Girl Child in the Romanian Context
Sue Bates
Part Three: Hurdles Confronting the Girl Child
C HAPTER 7
Harmful Traditional Practices
Phyllis Kilbourn
C HAPTER 8
Exploitation and Violence
Phyllis Kilbourn
C HAPTER 9
Health and Nutrition Issues
Nancy LaDue
Part Four: Empowering the Girl Child: Strategies for Effective Ministry
C HAPTER 10
An Overview of Effective Girl Child Strategies
Desiree Segura-April
C HAPTER 11
Empowering through Education
Phyllis Kilbourn
C HAPTER 12
Advocacy: Championing the Rights of the Girl Child
Phyllis Kilbourn
C HAPTER 13
Spiritual Healing: Restored to His Image
Snowden Albright Howe
Concluding Reflection
C HAPTER 14
Naaman s Slave Girl: A Glance at the Soil of YHWH
Renita Boyle
Bibliography
Index
2008015668
Contributing Authors
Sue Bates passed away in 2007. During her life, she worked in Romania with the mission group Inasmuch , a mission focused on working with the poorest of the poor. One of Sue s prime concerns was for street girls, especially those coming out of state-run orphanages totally unprepared for life outside these residences and with no home offered other than the streets. She and her husband started several homes for young girls and their babies.
Renita Boyle has a B.A. (Hons) degree in theology and is the former associate editor of Reaching Children at Risk . Boyle has worked extensively with children and youth and recently completed a project for the Toybox Charity, which works with street children in Guatemala.
Snowden Albright Howe is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received a master s degree in theological studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is a licensed professional counselor in North Carolina, USA. She is employed by Agap Christian Counseling, Inc., where she works with adults and children.
Phyllis Kilbourn has a Ph.D. from Trinity International University, Deerfield, Illinois. She has served with WEC International since 1967, serving in Kenya and Liberia, and she founded both Rainbows of Hope, a ministry to children in crisis worldwide, and Crisis Care Training International. She has researched the needs of the girl child in many countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Kilbourn is the editor of five other handbooks in this series.
David D. Kupp earned his Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He has recently moved from Kenya to Canada, where he is special programs director for World Vision Canada. David is passionate about building strategic servant leadership and innovative learning around participatory community development. He works through the windows of teaching, facilitation, strategic planning, and writing, built on the touchstones of biblical theology, peace, and justice.
Nancy LaDue , a registered nurse, has an associate of science in nursing degree (ASB) and an associate in general studies degree (AGS) from Indiana University. Nancy serves with Rainbows of Hope as a volunteer nurse to the 180 children in Casa Bernabe, a home for street and abandoned children in Guatemala.
Marjorie McDermid , formerly a missionary to Equatorial Guinea, West Africa, with WEC International, has worked in various children s ministries and currently serves as a child advocate and writer for Rainbows of Hope. She is the former editor of Worldwide Thrust, WEC s communiqu in the USA, and co-editor of Sexually Exploited Children: Working to Protect and Heal , a book in this series.
Vongai Nzenza works for World Vision Mozambique as a program officer. Part of that time she also works as the gender coordinator for the Southern African region. She graduated in Zimbabwe as a teacher and furthered her studies in Australia, where she graduated with a B.A. in town planning and a master s degree in development studies. She worked for World Vision Australia for five years before moving back to Africa.
Thirza Schneider, while working with Rainbows of Hope, traveled to South America, Africa, and Asia to work with and conduct research into the lives of children in crisis. She has now moved to Central Asia with Oasis, where she founded a project among street children. Schneider has a B.A. in journalism and sociology from City University in London and an M.A. in children s and family ministry from Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
Desiree Segura-April earned her Ph.D. in intercultural studies from Asbury Theological Seminary E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission, Kentucky, USA. Her dissertation focused on the missiological theories and praxis of missionaries working with girl children in Latin America. She currently teaches as the assistant professor of children at risk at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.
Foreword
Saturday, August 6, 1966, in a modern Middle Eastern city, began as an ordinary day. By late afternoon, however, my husband, Will, and I were looking at our very premature, newborn twin sons. In the hours that followed, the nurses hurried up and down the hall bringing visitors by my room to see this American woman who was so rich to have birthed four sons. Our two older sons and our one very precious daughter were waiting at home, but that little daughter did not appear worthy to be counted in our riches.
Timothy went to be with Jesus after a few hours, and Todd followed him ten days later. Heaven came closer and we rested in God s goodness but the continued, determined remarks of those nurses left an imprint on my young mother-heart. Early in the years of our service overseas, we discovered that daughters were a big disappointment to many families; to some, girls were symbols of shame.
Many years later, we heard Dr. Phyllis Kilbourn speak on Children in Crisis at Cornerstone, the WEC Bible College in Holland. Along with the student body, we were stunned by her presentation of children from so many parts of God s world. To wrap our minds around the issue of the suffering of millions of children was overwhelming. To understand the plight of girl children was even more astounding.
Millions of female babies never survive nine months in the womb. Gender-selected abortion is abortion of the fetus simply because it is a female. Female infanticide is also defined as deliberate murder of the girl child or death as a result of neglect. Although several governments outlaw the use of ultrasound for gender-selected abortions, physicians still choose this technology to assist the women who choose abortion rather than give birth to a girl child. Female infanticide and gender-selected abortions are forms of violence that devalue the girl child and all females in society. In many countries, laws and constitutions guarantee legal protection of females. Nevertheless, it is never hard to find loopholes to deny females their rights. The ease with which this violence is carried out opens the door to continued violence throughout the lives of girl children and on into adulthood.
A daughter is viewed as a liability. She understands very early in her life that she is inferior and subordinate to males. Sons are celebrated and highly valued. This is evident at almost every level of society. United Nations studies done by non-governmental organizations show that girls have a much lower level of literacy, consistently receive less medical care, have a higher incidence of malnutrition, work longer hours, and are generally poorer than boys. Child marriages hold young girls captive throughout life. These marriages further contribute to poverty, high illiteracy, early childbirth, malnourished infants, high infant mortality, and low life expectancy. 1 Many governments state that child marriages are illegal but laws have little effect on the actual lives of child brides.
Many parents are