Cover photo by Steve Punter/Story photo by M. Broussard
Sri Lanka (MNN) ― Conditions at some of the camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka remain difficult. People are waiting to return home, if there is still one standing.
Roads are still closed, and what were lush fields now are riddled with mines. That will likely mean a food shortage in the fall.
On top of that, humanitarian groups are concerned that impending monsoon rains and inadequate sanitation will place tens of thousands of people at risk from disease in the camps.
The 26-year-old civil war came to a violent end with the government chasing Tamil rebels into the north and crushing them there. Tamils are a minority group on the island, and the Tigers were an armed militant group fighting for a separate homeland.
Through partnerships with local churches, Faith Comes By Hearing is helping to respond to the overwhelming needs, says Doug Harstine (har-styne). "One of the top priorities is to provide food of course, but also to find out what regions have been the most damaged. Then our team can go in through churches or ministries in those regions, helping them get together and plant new fields."
IDPs urgently need a message of hope. As they return home, pastors and other workers will continue helping them rebuild their lives. With that comes the rebuilding of faith.
Harstine says their team is expanding their ministry in a region that hasn't been open before. They're sending out a recording team and an outreach team to re-record the Tamil Audio Bible using indigenous Tamil voices.
The new outreach team is made up of Ceylon Bible Society staff. They will be using the dramatized Audio Scriptures to reach out to the poor and illiterate people in Sri Lanka in a format they can use: audio.
As people listen to God's Word, they are evangelized, discipled, and transformed. When listeners hear Scriptures about the New Testament church, they take action planting churches in response.
Harstine says their distribution has a lot of room for growth. "Faith Comes By Hearing is going to be supporting churches in Sri Lanka with audio Scriptures. We have 250 audio Scriptures for them to start with."
As with any project, the scope of growth is tied to funding. If you can help, click here.
