“God is moving, and there’s more work to be done.”

Last month, Williams met with dozens of pastors and Christian leaders at a conference in Zambia. “There were directors from South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, the whole area,” she says.

World Missionary Press partners with Every Home for Christ to supply local leaders in Africa with Scripture booklets and other tools for ministry. Williams says that these believers “couldn’t say enough” about how much the material and WMP’s partnership meant to them.

“Several [leaders] said, ‘We couldn’t do what we do without it, particularly during this pandemic.’”

The growing African population will undoubtedly lead to a growing worldwide influence for African churches.
(Photo, caption courtesy of World Missionary Press)

“This is Africa’s time.”

Traditional door-to-door evangelism didn’t work well due to various lockdowns and restrictions. Believers took a new approach to reach people for Christ.

“They found so many different ways: putting [the material] together with food supplies, sending it through the mail, getting involved in community events, and having the material available,” Williams says.

Each leader had a different approach, but the responses were the same. “The (spiritual) hunger they’re [seeing]; there’s an energy to do the work because the doors are open, the hearts are open,” Williams says.

“The sense of these African leaders [is] that the Spirit is moving; this is Africa’s time.”

WMP is preparing massive production efforts to meet their partners’ growing demand for resources. “We have to print about 25 million booklets [for] 20 different countries in Africa,” Williams says.

“I’ve got orders on my desk, and we are moving our production up [to focus] on projects for Africa.”

Find your place in the story

Prayer is the easiest and most important way to help. Use prompts listed alongside this report to guide your intercession.

“There is one specific prayer request I’d like to pass on. There is a shortage of paper across the industry,” Williams says.

“We need a certain paper to do our booklets, and the paper shortage right now is a real issue for us.”

Plus, “there are the challenges of getting shipments sent out because of the supply chain crisis,” she adds.

WMP provides all of its Scripture booklets and other materials at no cost to those who request them. God prompts the hearts of individuals, churches, and businesses to share their resources when ministry needs arise. See giving options here.

Header and story images courtesy of World Missionary Press.

To conclude our three-part series with Set Free Ministries, Dean Vander Mey explains the next investment they’re planning for East African children. Earlier in the week, Vander Mey told us about their Christian schools and how God is using Set Free Ministries to rescue and redeem vulnerable kids.

“About 250 to 300 kids are graduating each year from junior high, and there’s no Christian high school” in East Africa that caters to the children they help, Vander Mey explains.

(Photo courtesy Set Free Ministries via Facebook).

“We’re discipling these children from ages five to six until they’re 12, 13, and 14 [years old], and then we’re losing the opportunity to invest in their continued discipleship.

“That’s a very dangerous time to lose teens.”

Without the protection of a family unit, orphans are extremely vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Previous MNN reports, like this one and this one, describe the numerous struggles facing orphaned children in Africa.

“The girls, if they don’t have a hope and a future, will just be sold and bought off, or they will just be child brides,” says Vander Mey. “We don’t want that to happen.”

With your help and prayers, Set Free Ministries wants to add a new chapter to their work in East Africa.

Hope on the horizon

In recent weeks, Set Free and their local partners purchased 60 acres of land in East Africa.

“We’re building a new high school that will hold 1,200 students,” Vander Mey states.

“We’re going to teach them how to prosper, and then they’re going to go out and change their communities.”

(Photo courtesy of Set Free Ministries)

Curriculum will build upon scholastic and spiritual lessons taught in Set Free’s primary schools. Dormitory-style housing allows discipleship beyond the classroom. Vander Mey says that as students approach graduation, staff will help them prepare to launch into adulthood.

“If you want to go to university, great! If you don’t, we will have a vocational training center right in the school.”

Set Free Ministries needs your help to make this dream a reality.

“We need to raise $5 million in 3 years,” says Vander Mey. “We don’t know how to do that! We’re in way over our heads, [but] God is God. He can do it.”

Click here to donate online and help Set Free Ministries build the high school.

“It takes quite an investment; that’s what discipleship is. Jesus said, ‘Go make disciples’…that’s not the ‘Great Suggestion’ it’s the Great Commission, it’s the Great Command.”

Click to read Part One and Part Two of this series.

Header image courtesy BrainyQuote.com

Rwanda says it wants to stay away from the crisis across the border, but Burundi says they’re meddling.  Burundi will only come to the table for talks if all countries hosting opposition members fighting the government get the soldiers out.

(Photo courtesy of Tent Schools International, Tanzania)

Tent Schools International’s (TSI) Dale Dieleman says, “This is actually what some have called the ‘second civil war’ phase.  They had a situation earlier that was escalating to the point of another Rwanda.  But then they had some elections and some of those elections were contested, so now, it’s sort of back to the beginning.”

So far, this cycle has been stymieing efforts to resolve the political crisis that began two years ago.  Dieleman explains, “It’s generally ethnically-based; there’s been increasing instability there.  Currently in the camps, it’s split between Congolese, but mostly Burundian refugees in Tanzania. In three camps, there are about 275,000.”

Since the conflict began, a Tent Schools International contact in Tanzania has been helping 30 young Burundian women with computer skills, secondary and HIV/AIDS education, and Bible instruction.  They have also cared for those who have become pregnant, coming alongside them with resources and childcare so their education can continue.

As far as refugees go, “That number is expected to increase this year in 2017 to over 534,000.  According to some statistics from Doctors Without Borders, that number is expected to increase to 10,000 arrivals each month”, he says, making note that the influx of families is stretching the resources of the Tanzanian government then.  Additional people means they’re now looking to expand to a fourth camp.

(Photo courtesy of Tent Schools International)

With the latest influx of families out of Burundi, the organization is now shifting its focus to younger children, both boys and girls.  Their goal is to establish tent schools in four camps within the region as soon as possible.  Dieleman says another need emerged recently.  “We’ve been praying with our partners on this, but we’ve really come to this concept of ‘let’s do something beyond just basic education to help people prepare, with some job skills, prepare for life following that [displacement].’”

Life in a camp is drudgery.  It’s mostly a waiting game…where days turn into months, and months can turn into years.  “While they are there in these camps, there’s an opportunity to do something,” and their partner wanted to capitalize on that time by training for the future.  “They wanted to actually help the people there to gain some skills that would prepare them for jobs in the digital age when their refugee situation would be alleviated.”

Their partner asked if “‘…there’s a way that you can send us some computers, we’d be able to set up a computer training center just outside the area where the camps are.’”

TSI started talks with the non-profit Comprenew in Grand Rapids, MI., an organization whose mission it is to protect people and the environment from unwanted electronics by either extending their life-cycle or recycling…they also provide vocational training.

Dieleman clarifies, “With the resources that Comprenew has, in terms of recycled and refurbished laptops, we are now going to furnish them (Tanzanian partners) with the hardware that they are requesting.  It’s a double training because this ministry is using professional IT trainers in their own country.”

The ministry has certain students in mind and classes are being formed, he adds.  “They’re also bringing the Word of God.  During the time they are doing the training, they’re going to bring a Bible study, but along with that, these trainings in digital skills.”

A concluding thought on the type of materials covered in this program launch in Tanzania.  Primarily, this is a ministry program.  Subsequently, says Dieleman, it’s also a call to action.

“We just pray that the situation can settle down so that people, first of all, won’t have to leave their country.  Secondly, for those that are in the camps, that they do not despair — that they really understand God is there with them and for them and will not abandon them.”

Over the weekend, UN chief Ban Ki-moon offered three suggestions for a new peacekeeping mission in Burundi:

• Sending in a force of up to 3,000 UN police officers – this choice would offer the most protection to civilians, but would be a logistical nightmare.
• Sending in 228 officers – these officials would act as an “early warning” system, but offer no protection to civilians.
• Sending in a small group of 20 – 50 officers — this group would work alongside the Burundi police force and “help bring about concrete and measurable improvements in the respect for human rights and rule of law.”

(Photo courtesy FH)

Violence that’s been largely ignored by the international community has Burundi on a knife’s edge. Triggered a year ago by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s power grab, chaos has engulfed the central African nation.

“Larger numbers [of people] now are fleeing Burundi into Tanzania, Kenya and some others…Uganda, as well,” says Tent Schools International’s Dale Dieleman.

Kidnappings, torture, and sexual violence are commonplace. “Blood flows everywhere in Burundi, that’s how things are,” one Burundi refugee recently told The Guardian.

An estimated 400 people have been killed, and 250,000 have fled to neighboring countries. But, even there, Burundi refugees are not safe. According to recent reports, attackers are following their targets across borders and pursuing them into refugee camps.

Tent Schools is working with national believers to offer the hope of Christ to scared and desperate Burundi refugees.

Helping Burundi refugees in Tanzania

Tent Schools is partnering with a ministry working in a couple of refugee camps in Tanzania, Dieleman shares. At this point, they’re doing basic assistance.

The bigger issue is that “The international community is not giving as much toward even meeting those financial goals. Education, for example, is way, way, way, way down the line and is not receiving any, or very little, attention.”

As explained here, Burundi refugees are likely to carry that status long-term. This reality gives Tent Schools — with its focus on providing displaced kids with Christ-centered education — a new and urgent need to meet.

“This is a serious and likely long-term displacement,” said International Rescue Committee head, David Miliband, of the Burundi crisis.

“I think we have got to prepare for the worst, which is a multi-year crisis, with people still coming.”

(Photo courtesy Tent Schools International)

Working alongside their partners in Tanzania, Tent Schools will help Burundi refugees “get back into a routine concerning their continuing education.”

Help Tent Schools provide education to Burundi refugees.

An African child signs ‘I Love You’ in gratitude for the Gospel DVD he received from DOOR.
(Photo courtesy of DOOR International)

Burundi (MNN) — Burundi has seen its share of violence throughout the last few months, specifically a few weeks ago when 87 people were reportedly killed as an armed insurgency attacked three Burundian army bases.

One organization affected by the violence is DOOR International, a ministry to the Deaf community.

“We received a report from some workers we have in the field, Deaf Burundians there who are out working among the people. They are serving in a Deaf church near the capital, and just down the street there was a bombing of a police office,” says Rob Myers, CEO of DOOR. “They did tell us that everybody involved in their congregation is okay, but they certainly need prayer because of the instability there.”

The instability isn’t stopping the Gospel, however. DOOR missionaries continue to risk their lives to bring Christ to the Deaf community, and they’re seeing the fruit.

“DOOR has been involved in doing sign language translation in Burundi for about five years now,” says Myers. “We’ve produced a video translation that allows people to take the Gospel on their hands into the Deaf community and teach God’s Word.

“Worldwide, we’ve seen thousands of Deaf people come to Christ over the last 5-10 years. And what’s even more exciting than that is that we see those transformed lives cause those people to go out into the communities and share that same message with other people.”

One of those transformed lives was a former child soldier. Despite multiple traumatic events early on in his life, he eventually found healing in Christ.

“When he was 4, he became deaf through a sickness,” Myers says. “He grew up without much language at all. When he became 14, a rebel army invaded his village and slaughtered most of the people in the village; he and several family members took off running into the woods. He was actually shot in the back of the head while he was fleeing.

“He thought he would bleed to death on the ground, but he woke up later. Three of the people from the army took him and brought him to another village where they were holding a number of other young boys and forcing them to be child soldiers in the army.

“He served in that capacity for some indeterminate time. He doesn’t even really know how long. [He was] forced to kill others…. At one point, while he was in one of those villages, he spotted his uncle, and he just took off and fled. He was able to get a way, but for several years following that, he was haunted by that past and wondered if he could ever receive forgiveness.

“One day, he met the very first other Deaf person he had ever met before, and that was one of our workers there in Burundi…. [He] taught this man Burundi sign language because he had never gone to a Deaf school. He had never learned Burundi sign language before…. But through that means, he taught him God’s Word as well.

DOOR International uses Chronological Bible Storying to share Christ with unreached Deaf communities.
(Image courtesy DOOR International)

“Now, he’s going out into other villages and trying to find Deaf people who have never encountered the Gospel before, maybe even who don’t know Burundi sign language. [He] is going out and teaching those stories and teaching these people about the forgiveness that Christ can offer them.”

This is just one example of how God is radically working in the Deaf community. But though God’s power is evident, there are still, according to Myers, approximately 70 million Deaf people worldwide, making them one of the largest unreached groups in the world.

Can you help lower that statistic? Myers asks that you pray that God would continue to raise up leaders in the Deaf community. You can find other ways to get involved through DOOR’s website. Click here to get started.

(Photo courtesy of Christian Aid Mission)

Burundi (MNN) — There’s no signs of slowing down for the violence in Burundi.

Over 600 people have been killed this year due to political conflict, and over 220,000 people have been forced from their homes. Since this past April, when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would run for a third term, there have been protests, violence, and even a failed coup in May.

Most recently, last Thursday and Friday, 87 people were reportedly killed as an armed insurgency attacked three Burundian army bases. It was the worst violence the country saw since April.

“He was put in by the government, so he wasn’t elected by the people for what was his first term,” says Amie Cotton with Christian Aid Mission, an organization that assists indigenous missionaries around the world. “So he’s feeling as if he can run for office, and this is his true second term.”

The violence stems from a long-rooted conflict between the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi people. In fact, some say the country is on the verge of another civil war.

“They do tend to take sides based on their tribes and where they come from,” Cotton says. “So that compounds the unrest.

Beside ethnic conflict, Christians also face persecution. But the good news is that Christian Aid Mission is working to give them hope, as well as spread Christ’s love throughout the country.

“We assist two ministries that are there in Burundi working with the persecuted church and evangelizing, helping women and children, widows and orphans,” Cotton says. “They do church planting and also have a prison ministry. There is a lot of unrest, and we need to pray that the people will come to a resolution over the situation and that there will be peace in the region again.

“Some [Christians] are underground; they’re persecuted, and so pray for their safety. Pray for the missionaries that are there. We here in America can make a difference by enabling the people that are on the ground there.”

Interested in how you can do that? Click here to to donate to Christian Aid Mission’s “Where Most Needed” fund.

(Photo courtesy E3 Partners)

Burundi (E3 Partners) — In recent months, the world’s attention has been increasingly focused on the growing immigrant crisis in Europe. As millions pour into the continent, nations scramble to comprehend and respond to the situation.

But far from the Middle East and Europe, another nation is facing a breaking point – the small eastern African state of Burundi.

In May of this year, President Pierre Nkurunziza made a controversial announcement that he was running for a third term in office. Opponents quickly pounced, calling the move unconstitutional. As protests emerged across the country, Nkurunziza travelled to Tanzania for an emergency meeting to address the issue. While he was there, one of his generals issued a statement dismissing the president and announcing a coup against him.

Demonstrations turned violent and the upcoming election was seen as invalid by many while the coup against the president quickly failed. Within a week, over 100,000 Burundians fled the country into Rwanda and Tanzania as President Nkurunziza rounded up his conspirators. While the conflict seems like just another in a long line of African crises, many analysts fear Burundi is powder keg as political pressure mounts. If history repeats itself, the results could be catastrophic.

RWANDA’S TWIN

Like neighboring Rwanda, the Hutu and Tutsi people groups make up the majority population in Burundi. Many historians believe the two groups migrated into the African Great Lakes region roughly 3,000 years ago as part of a movement called the Bantu expansion.

The physical and cultural distinctions between the two groups are nuanced at best, with some analysts questioning whether they should even be considered separate nations. Despite this, the political differences are vast. It’s believed that decades of colonization by Germany and Belgium have led to more pronounced differences between the people than what really exist.

Their shared history has led to tensions between Hutus and Tutsis and ongoing civil war through the decades. In Rwanda, the conflict boiled over into mass genocide in 1994. Up to one million people were murdered, 70% of whom were Tutsi. To protect against further violence, Rwandan officials stopped recognizing any distinction between the two people groups. But Burundi, often seen as Rwanda’s twin, still does.

Violence continues to escalate, leading many to fear that Rwanda’s genocide will repeat itself in Burundi’s current conflict. As governments debate the best way to respond and assist, one thing is clear. The people need Jesus.

So, how can Christians respond?

Pray. We serve the God who puts leaders on their thrones and replaces them at his will. Pray for peace and resolution to Burundi’s political turmoil. Ask God to mobilize Christians in the region. Pray for reconciliation between Hutu and Tutsi families.

Give. E3 Partners works alongside national partners in Burundi to spread the Gospel and address the needs of the people. Your donation of any amount to the Burundi Country Fund allows us to continue that work. Click here to learn more.

Go. If God is laying the Hutu and Tutsi people on your heart, you can go and serve them on an upcoming expedition to the region. Click here to learn more.

See the original article here.

(Photo courtesy Food For the Hungry)

Burundi (FH/MNN) — The people of the Burundi urgently need our help.

Aid agencies say more than 100,000 people have fled what they say is a killing campaign by pro-government militia. This, in the wake of an attempted coup earlier this month. Food For the Hungry Senior Director of Emergency Response Pete Howard agrees.

The government denies the coup, but the crisis was sparked by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a third term. Presidential elections are scheduled for June 26 while Senate elections are slated for July 17. Protests flared into violence which raised the specter of Burundi’s bloody history, a 12-year civil war from 1993 that claimed close to 300,000 lives.

Even the attempt to flee is not without its risks. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says new arrivals into Rwanda report that youth militia have set up road blocks in Burundi, which is preventing people from fleeing.

Despite the tenuous situation, Food For the Hungry is grateful for their on-the-ground team and partners worldwide who have been monitoring the growing conflict in Burundi and who are working to set up and maintain emergency care programs for the followers of Christ in Rwanda.

(Photo courtesy Food For the Hungry)

FH is working in the Mahanga refugee camp in Kirehe, Rwanda, to provide educational classes and trauma counseling for children, many of which are unaccompanied minors. Unaccompanied children are especially vulnerable to predators, both human and animal. It is FH’s mission to reunite these young children with their families to give them peace and security after going through so much.

They’ll continue to provide food and other provisions (i.e. mosquito nets, transportation) for the refugees in their time of need. The FH emergency response team will monitor the situation in Burundi daily.

For 44 years, FH has been responding to God’s call to end physical and spiritual hungers worldwide. What makes them unique is the truth of Christ’s love. According to them, it serves as the inspiration for everything else they do to meet the physical needs. The financial support, prayers, and partnership with people like you allow FH to address broken relationships with God, each other, self, and creation.

If you feel led to help support the Mahanga refugee camp and the work that is changing lives in Burundi, please consider giving to the FH Rapid Response Fund at fh.org/helpburundi.

(Photo courtesy FH)

International (MNN) — There are 51.2 MILLION refugees worldwide.

According to the UN, global forced displacement has reached levels not seen since World War II. Every 60 seconds, eight people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror.

With serious conflict situations worldwide, from Ukraine to Syria to Myanmar to Central America, there’s a refugee crisis in nearly every “backyard”.

The question is: what should we, as God’s people, do about it?

“We’re called by God to walk with the most vulnerable, and refugees clearly are some of the most vulnerable people in the world,” observes Peter Howard of Food for the Hungry (FH).

FH President Gary Edmonds adds in a recent blog post, “As an organization dedicated to helping the world’s most vulnerable people thrive, we are called to love and invite the refugee into places of safety and solace.”

A history with refugees

FH is no stranger to refugee crises. One of its first projects back in the 1970’s was helping Vietnamese boat people floating in the South China Sea. The ministry has helped untold thousands in the decades since.

(Photo courtesy FH)

“Imagine on a moment’s notice, having to leave your home with nothing and go to a foreign country. Sometimes the foreign country doesn’t speak the same language; you don’t know the system, you don’t know where you’re going to access food,” Howard says, describing refugees’ experience.

“The level of fear and anxiety among refugees is incredibly high.”

As they walk with refugees, FH workers and their national partners help meet both physical and spiritual needs of desperate populations.

“We never separate the physical and the spiritual,” says Howard. “As followers of Jesus Christ, everywhere we go and in everything we do, we are representing Christ and His Kingdom.”

As Christians live out their faith by caring for refugees, curiosity grows.

“What are these churches and who are these Christians that are reaching out to us, and why are they reaching out to us? We don’t even share their same faith, but yet they’re serving us,” Howard shares.

Those questions often lead to spiritual conversations, and believers get to share their motive and hope: Jesus Christ and His salvation.

Helping refugees in 2015

This year, FH is focusing its efforts on the Middle East and Burundi.

Middle East

(Photo courtesy FH)

By the end of August 2014, the UN estimated 6.5 million people had been displaced in Syria, while more than 3 million refugees had fled to countries such as Lebanon (1.14 million), Jordan (608,000) and Turkey (815,000).

More than 400,000 Iraqis had left the country as of last July; over 250,000 refugees from throughout the region were still within its borders.

With Integral Alliance, FH is helping refugees from Iraq and Syria seeking safe haven in neighboring nations. Learn more and come alongside their efforts here.

Burundi

(Photo courtesy FH)

Earlier this month, yet another refugee crisis arose in Central Africa.

“In the last couple weeks, there’s been tension that’s flared up, and over 100,000 people have fled Burundi,” Howard shares. “Many of those refugees are children.”

Up to a third of Burundi refugee kids are unaccompanied, he adds.

“Food for the Hungry has felt very called to come alongside those children and help them get reconnected with their family, and ensuring that their basic needs are met.”

Learn more here.

What’s God asking YOU to do to help refugees?

(Photo courtesy Food for the Hungry)

Burundi (MNN) — Over 105,000 Burundians have fled to neighboring countries to escape violence following an attempted coup. In refugee camps, they’re lacking food, water, and medicine.

The UNHCR reported seven have died since the evacuation, and 300 are suffering from acute diarrhea. In Tanzania, officials reported an outbreak of cholera.

But many organizations are giving their support to feed and give medical attention to sick refugees.

Food for the Hungry is working with partners to set up emergency care programs for the thousands that have sought refuge in Rwanda.

The Protests

Protests exploded several weeks ago after President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his intentions to run for a third term–which is against the Burundi Constitution. Nkurunziza argued he should be entitled for the term since he was appointed to the presidential role by parliament in 2005, not elected.

Clearly, not everyone agreed.

“We just want Nkurunziza to respect the constitution and leave office. In the years he has been in power, he has done nothing for us,” said protestor Bertland Nkurunziza, according to the NY Times.

The Associated Press reports hundreds of angry protestors took to the streets, putting up barricades made of burning tires. In the capitol, BBC reports protesters broke into the national jail, released arrested demonstrators, and burned down the building.

Police and soldiers armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades have been standing against demonstrators.

The violence has led to at least 15 deaths.

According to International Business Times, the violence consuming the country is the worst it’s been in over 12 years when the civil war ended.

The Refugees

More than 100,000 Burundians are running to neighboring countries to find sanctuary. According to the UNHCR, more than 70,000 have flocked to Tanzania, 26,300 to Rwanda, and around 9,200 to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In the Mahanga refugee camp in Kirehe, Rwanda, Food for the Hungry is transforming the lives of suffering refugees. They’re sharing the love of Christ by giving food, mosquito nets, and transportation. And for children who have become orphaned or don’t know where their parents are, FH is providing educational classes and trauma counseling. They’re even trying to reunite children who have been separated from families.

Help them reach more refugees by donating to their Rapid Response Fund.

Pray For:
• The violence to subside
• Refugees to be healed from any sicknesses in camps
• Burundians to find Christ in the midst of the violence and chaos