At Kindred, 2 key principles guide us in all that we do. First, it all starts with our thoughts. Thoughts are important because they determine how we live and interact with the environment and people around us. Hence, we believe in developing good, clean thoughts within the Kindred Community.
Yet the grandest of intentions are nothing compared to the smallest deed. That is why we value the mentality of taking action – not to benefit just oneself, but the community and the world we live in.
Kindred Community, the community outreach arm of Great Glory Church, is founded on the biblical values of loving God and the people around us. Beyond a religious context, we believe that the values of love and respect are universal. I’m sure you’ll agree that the world would be a better place if everyone upheld such values as basic.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Among many great people who embody such values, our mentor continues to live out these values today, unchanging for the past 70 years. He has many stories to share, having endured extreme poverty and hunger growing up, surviving the Vietnam War, overcoming harsh discrimination and injustice a great part of his life, and yet maintaining the same loving disposition towards others and creation through it all. Today, he is an accomplished writer, poet, artist, teacher and mentor. His mentality of taking action motivates our sense of purpose and one of his stories (see below) is what got us started…
“At that time, I was staying near a valley that reeked terribly because of the trash that was dumped into the river flowing through it. I remember it was my birthday, and I decided to do something about it. But it wasn’t easy doing it alone.
So I told God: “If I clean by myself, it would take my entire lifetime to clean. So please have all nations of the world clean together, so that we can all live in a clean environment.” I remember that conversation well because God replied me readily. After I had painstakingly cleared the trash from the river, God sent a heavy downpour and washed the valley clean with a river that was now flowing with vitality. I was so thankful and hopeful. Because I took action, my situation changed.”
Our mentor also shared that the brain nerves, heart, and thoughts are like an ‘environment’. Just as the environment gets dirty if it is messed up carelessly, the brain also becomes dirty (messy) if you think of all kinds of things carelessly.
Hence our slogan:
Clean Thoughts, Clean Actions, Clean Environment.
At Kindred Community, we endeavor to walk the talk and become the change we want to see, first in our own lives.
