Mission in the City - Print.
Hopes and Dreams – My story By Shirley-Joy Barrow Was $30, now $15, saving you $15
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Discover an inspiring journey of faith, service, and resilience as Deacon Shirley-Joy Barrow shares her transformative work with New Zealand's most vulnerable through the Whanganui City Mission.
Read this book to:
- Gain insights into compassionate, faith-based social service and leadership.
- Learn actionable lessons from a seasoned community leader's challenges and triumphs.
- Understand how to address poverty, homelessness, and mental health issues.
- Be inspired by real stories of resilience and transformation.
- Explore practical approaches for building stronger, more inclusive communities.
- Reflect on the intersection of governance, faith, and social justice.
- Support meaningful conversations about systemic change in humanitarian work.
Features
- A foreword by Rt Hon Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand.
- Real-life stories from individuals served by the Mission and its staff.
- Practical reflections on leadership and organizational dynamics in social services.
- A narrative blending personal faith with actionable community service insights.
- A comprehensive glossary and index for ease of reference.
Published: 28 September 2018
Language: English
Format: Soft cover, 228pp
Dimensions: 6″ x 9″
Words: 69,900
ISBN: 9781927260920
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Immerse yourself in Mission in the City: Hopes and Dreams by Deacon Shirley-Joy Barrow—a moving account of her time as City Missioner in Whanganui, New Zealand, from 2004 to 2011. This compelling social history highlights how faith, determination, and collaboration can bring hope to those living on the margins of society.
Through real-life stories, Barrow showcases the Mission’s transformative work in providing shelter, food, budgeting assistance, and friendship meals to vulnerable individuals and families. From interacting with the homeless in bamboo groves to helping those crippled by debt, Shirley-Joy’s experiences shine a light on what it means to serve with humility and compassion.
The book also dives into the challenges of navigating governance and management, ultimately leading to the author’s controversial dismissal. Barrow’s reflections on leadership, faith, and the limits of corporate models in social services provide valuable lessons for anyone involved in ministry or community work.
Whether you're a church leader, lay preacher, or someone passionate about social justice, this book offers practical insights, inspiring stories, and profound reflections on service, faith, and resilience.
Foreword by Rt Hon Helen Clark
“I first met Shirley-Joy when she and her husband (Rev Tony Bell) came to see me in my Electorate Office at Mt Albert. Shirley-Joy wanted to raise concerns over the lack of adequate mental health services for people she worked with. An ordained minister, Shirley-Joy was working in the community supporting people towards a future free from harming themselves and others.
I learned that Shirley-Joy’s early life had not been easy and that she had set about working for those who were disadvantaged. Her experiences made her an ideal person to be doing the work she was doing. Shirley-Joy had a big heart and a concern for people whom society would often rather not know about.
As Prime Minister and attending the Rātana annual celebrations, I met Shirley-Joy again and we chatted over a cup of tea. She was now the City Missioner in Wanganui. I was impressed with her tenacity and her sense of hope for the city and its people. As City Missioner, Shirley-Joy hoped to bring to people in need of the basics of life: shelter, food, hope, and love.
As the book reveals, with a team of caring people Shirley-Joy sought to establish safe accommodation, and to continue to provide food for those who needed it through the foodbank, including through Friendship meals and the Christmas Lunch. She spent time with homeless people in the bamboo by the Whanganui river and in the sand dunes, listening to the dreams and concerns of those who lived in those rough conditions. Shirley-Joy worked with those seeking freedom from crippling debt, helped sort out access issues with the courts, and assisted with many other complex issues facing people who were ill equipped to deal with them – the stories of the people she worked with in Whanganui, some shared in this book, make her dedication to them and meeting their needs abundantly clear.
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