We have been to churches that were just a gathering of patient soul sitting on the grass. And we have been to churches that just had 4 posts and a rough tin roof overhead.. We have been to churches that were tents.
Some churches use just the ground for seating, others use basic benches, and others use plastic chairs.
Most of the churches attempted to prepare a nice simple meal for the attendees. Because this may be the only decent meal many might get in days, most pastors are quite determined to provide this meal to their attendees.
We first minister to people’s needs before we can access their hearts.
And once we show them that we care about their needs, they will be more willing to trust us with their precious hearts.
Church should be a safe, comforting, healing place to be.
When the church is a different environment than home, a better environment than home, then it is a reprieve from the pressures of everyday life. Church should be that reprieve.
When people know that the church is there to help them, to meet their needs, to love them, then they want to keep coming back.
Church should be a place that becomes the Hub of the community.
By making the church a solid, sturdy, safe place, then it is available to be used in many capacities. The church can be used to offer training to people, for pop-up medical clinics, as a food-distribution hub, a place for children and teens to gather and have community in a safe and guided way.
35 ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 ‘I [was] naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ [Matthew 25:35-36 NKJV]
4 What [does it] profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what [does it] profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. [James 2:14-17 NKJV] 1
It is our goal to assist as many churches to be able to be a warm, safe, welcoming place of refuge, encouragement and restoration for as many communities as we can reach.
It is difficult to raise the funds to construct and equip a church in a poor community.
We have a goal to raise $2000 to give to 12 churches each to use for such projects as these:
Typical costs:
Total initial goal donation per church $2000 x 12 churches.
If we raise more, we will send more.
We always try to be very budget conscious.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Kenya
Pakistan
Tanzania
Uganda
Zimbabwe
