As the votes are counted in Afghanistan, ministry is thriving

Afghanistan (MNN) — As Afghanistan is getting ready to announce its first freely elected president, one humanitarian Christian organization is getting ready to expand outreach. International Aid , a Christian relief and development organization based in Spring Lake, Michigan says the doors are open wide for further outreach.

I-A’s President Myles Fish says, “For almost two years now we’ve had a health clinic set up in the village of Taingi Saidan, (a village of) about 12,000. The work continues and that work has gotten a lot of attention by the interim government there and Afghanistan and we’re now being asked to take on a much larger territory to provide similar kinds of services.”

Fish says the country has changed dramatically in the last two years. There’s a lot more freedom and there’s more to do. But, he’s encouraged by what International Aid is able to do no matter who’s elected. “We’re assuming that we’re going to be able to continue our work no matter who wins the election. And, all the indicators are quite positive for that,” says Fish.

International Aid works through the local church, but that was difficult in this situation. Fish says most of the church left Afghanistan while the Taliban was in power. He says since IA has been in Afghanistan, they have been able to hold worship services. “Most of the participants in those worship services are either Afghanis who have returned to the country or they’re expatriates from the not-for-profit world. The opportunity is beginning to become more real there for doing evangelism with the Afghan people, but we have not been able to find a very strong church in Afghanistan as yet.”

Fish says that’s their prayer. “We want to provide the health care services to anybody who needs it. But, we do so as a means for demonstrating and articulating our faith in Christ. And, as those relationships get built we trust that we’re going to have increasing opportunities to actually articulate who Christ is and what he means to us and what he could mean for people of that country.”

International Aid needs your help to fund this project. Go to http://www.InternationalAid.org or in the United States call 1-800-251-2502.