Mark Luckey says, “You start to realize that in places like Ghana, practically 60 percent of the population is under 25. And Uganda, it’s even higher, as about 70 percent of the population is under 25. Between 15 to 25 percent of the population is teens whose needs are unmet. And many times, these kids are living in poverty.”

“You can have percentages like 30 or 40 percent of this age group living in poverty.”

That’s why ECM started the Next Step Program. It helps kids move from their sponsorships to independence.

How it works

ECM staff meets with the kids to determine what they want to do next. Luckey says, “We had one who wanted to be a teacher, for example. So we helped her to go to the teacher training college. She was then able to complete the teacher training school, get a job as a teacher, and is now working to support herself and her family.”

Other kids went into auto mechanics and welding. Those who want to get more schooling have access to scholarships.

This program started six years ago, but Mark says it has taken off in the last 2 years. “We’ve now reached a point where we can hold workshops and seminars for youth to receive support, encouragement, and training. There are very few programs offering them things like that. They’re certainly not getting it through their churches or communities.”

Pray the Next Step Program will help many teens across Ghana and Uganda. Ask God to strengthen them and work powerfully in their lives.

Header photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries. 

But pretend you’re a believer in Iran or Yemen, where revealing your faith could get you killed. Even if you started a ministry and kept it secret, who would you turn to for answers or advice?

Enter: the MENA Leadership Center. “The mission of the MENA Leadership Center is to bridge leadership gaps and expand the capacity of high impact ministries throughout the greater Middle East,” CEO Jennifer Murff says.

“We help these ministries build their capacity so they can continue the work that God put in their heart.”

MLC offers online courses with immediate application. “We assessed ministries throughout the greater Middle East, asking them, ‘outside of money, what do you need?’ They told us, and so we created courses around their needs,” Murff says.

Each course connects Gospel workers with subject matter experts. “We work with experts both from the West and the MENA. It depends on the type of course,” Murff says.

(Photo courtesy of MENA Leadership Center)

For example, in a human resources course, “The instructor is one of the executive vice presidents of a large, influential bank in the region. He’s a strong believer, and he’s using his giftedness to help strengthen ministries in the human resource side of operations,” Murff says.

“These are things ministries in the MENA don’t have access to, and we provide that so they can be sustainable long term.”

This year, MLC offers courses on religious freedom, refugees, digital outreach and the online church, human resources, strategic planning, fundraising, and more. See a list here.

Depending on the country, helping refugees can present distinct challenges. “We want to help ministries build a working space that brings awareness to the unique dynamics within a refugee camp or refugee ministry,” Murff says.

You can give leaders the skills they need by providing a scholarship. “They’re giving what they can, but it’s not enough to cover the class,” Murff says.

“We’re not going to turn anyone away, so we are always looking for partners to provide scholarship funds.”

Over 91% of the MENA is unreached with the Gospel. The MENA Leadership Center is dedicated to equipping ministries whose mission is to reach unreached people groups throughout the Greater Middle East with the power of the Gospel! (Header photo and caption courtesy of MENA Leadership Center)

Star Bazaar is the gift shop for Bethlehem Bible College. It was originally started to bring in extra funds for the college. Now, the gift shop supports students attending the school and many local artists in the community.

Anne*, the gift shop manager at Star Bazaar, says, “We noticed that we had a need in the community for people to have a platform to sell their items.

“We feel that this is a wonderful way that we could actually help the people on the ground as well as get their items known and sold over the world as we also have an online gift shop,” she adds.

Star Bazaar Supports Education

(Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College)

The gift shop provides many opportunities for students attending Bethlehem Bible College so they can fund their education. Some students make and sell products at the gift shop to support their schooling. Those who can’t make products have the opportunity to work at the gift shop when they need help

Anne adds, “The shop helps with generating extra income for scholarships for those who do not have skills that can actually sell their product.”

Community members working to fund their children’s education can sell products at the Star Bazaar too. One staff member at the Star Bazaar created a Christmas item this year called “Holy Land Spices—Christmas Edition.”

Anne explains that the shop also supports those with disabilities, including one man who can hardly move his leg.

“We helped him develop a very basic and simple product; it’s a coaster set that helps him because he only has a saw. So, we developed a product for him so that he can also have some funds because he would like his daughter to study at the Bible College,” she says.

Christmas Shopping Made Easy

(Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College)

The Star Bazaar has many unique items for sale during the Christmas season this year. Some of their most exciting items include the Holy Land Spices set and the Olivewood spice jar. This spice jar includes a packet of Za’atar, a spice eaten with bread in the Holy Land.

They also have wooden, hand-made nativity sets and blown-glass Christmas ornaments.

Would you like to get involved with Star Bazaar and Bethlehem Bible College? Click here for more information on how to connect with Star Bazaar or click here to learn more about Bethlehem Bible College.

Anne explains that supporting the gift shop can happen through online Christmas shopping and prayer. “[It’s] a unique opportunity to have something from the Holy Land that… you cannot find anywhere else.”

She asks for prayers for wisdom and community, as well. “We would love to have your prayers and help us to always be a community that reaches out and lifts the love of Christ,” she says.

Pray for Star Bazaar this year that they may receive support and the funds they need.

*Name changed for security purposes.

Header photo courtesy of Star Bazaar and Bethlehem Bible College.

“Maybe we should call it ‘Seasons of Hope’ because it isn’t just a Summer of Hope!!” Hutchcraft quips. “What a shame it would be if it was just confined to the summer. And the reason we call it a Summer of Hope is because hope has been so hard to find in Native America for a long, long time. They are a people who have been so betrayed and who have lost so much and who have, unfortunately, come to believe that Jesus is the white man’s God because so much that was taken from them was taken in the name of Christianity.”

Suicide rates, addiction, and sexual violence are off the charts among Native communities. Today, only four percent of Native Americans know Christ, even though they were the first mission field in North America around 400 years ago.

So how does the moment of spiritual outreach among Native Americans become a movement that leads a generation to Christ?

(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings)

This past summer was the 25th summer of On Eagles’ Wings ministry. Hutchcraft traveled with the team of 48 young Native men and women who are passionate about reaching their communities with the Gospel’s hope. After around 4,000 miles of travel and visiting Native American reservations, they saw hundreds of Native people come to Christ.

“The messengers of hope have turned out to be young Native Americans that we call an On Eagles’ Wings team and they’re breaking through — well, God is breaking through, through them in a way that, from everything I can tell, is unprecedented in 400 years!”

Youth Ministry Ripple Effect

One reservation the On Eagles’ Wings team went to was inundated with drug overdose deaths. Hutchcraft says you would walk around the reservation and see all the old, discarded needles from drug use. The shadow of death was tangible.

When the team went in and held their outreach events this past summer, they saw God move. The team declared the Gospel to the tribe’s young people and several committed their lives to Christ. The On Eagles’ Wings team then met with some of the local Christians for a youth ministry roundtable to affirm an ongoing ministry strategy.

From there, Hutchcraft reports, “Within days of the team leaving, [the local youth ministry] had their first event, and guess what? Seventeen more came to Christ! And the team was gone! The movement has begun. Then they did a second event and more people came to Christ! So following the model of On Eagles’ Wings to the best they can, they have started now an ongoing movement of youth ministry that had never existed there before. Praise God for that!”

The same thing is happening on many reservations the team went to as local missions and pastors are borrowing the On Eagles’ Wings outreach strategy.

“I had one pastor tell me on another reservation in another state from this summer, their comment was, ‘We have learned so much from all of you. We watched how you did it. We learned ways to do it we would never have thought of, and now we are replicating what we saw On Eagles’ Wings do.’ Well, we thank the Lord for that; that the movement continues and the miracle of this summer continues.”

One Young Man’s Personal Calling

Hutchcraft adds, “There’s more to the story of the summer than just what’s happening on the reservations. Remember, I talked about 48 young warriors. Now, you can probably imagine they are God’s little army, but they are Hell’s big target and I cannot tell you how much Satan hates and bombards these young men and women.”

(Photo courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries)

Many of these young men and women have sensed the call to go into full-time ministry. On Eagles’ Wings is providing scholarship funds for them to go to Bible school or a Christian college for ministry training. Some of those young men and women have even started their training programs this fall.

On another reservation On Eagles’ Wings visited this summer — one of the toughest reservations they traveled to — there is one Native pastor who’s been reaching his community with the Gospel for over 30 years. But it has been difficult for this pastor because he hasn’t had a young Native believer who could come alongside and help him with youth ministry.

This past summer, one of the young men from the On Eagles’ Wings team felt God calling him to go join this pastor on that reservation and spearhead the local youth ministry with him.

“He’s already meeting young men and they’re going, ‘Wait, I recognize you! You were with that team!’ Because they loved the events, they loved On Eagles’ Wings. So now there is a day-after-day youth leader who has been On Eagles’ Wings trained, who is now on that reservation. And boy, I’d ask you to pray for him, because there is a battle. There has been a key soldier needed and God has summoned him to go there.”

A Time for Spiritual Renewal

Hutchcraft says the team has kept in touch with each other these past few months following Summer of Hope. And the next thing on the agenda will be a winter break retreat in a few months that he believes will be a necessary time of spiritual renewal.

“We need the help of some people to pay for that. We don’t have the funds to do this right now. But we will pull them together for a renewal, refreshing kind of ‘between the summers’ place where we can just pour into them and help them heal and renew and reset their relationship with Christ where that is needed.”

If you go to hopefornativeamerica.com/donate, you can give in support of this ministry! Those funds will be put towards the upcoming winter break retreat to spiritually renew these young Native believers.

And, as these young men and women continue to serve as ambassadors for Christ, Hutchcraft says we can pray alongside them. Pray for God to protect them from mental and emotional attacks, from attacks on their faith, and that their lives would be shining lights to everyone around them still living in spiritual darkness.

“I ask those who are listening or reading this to pray for…this to be a generation changing movement that has come out of the powerful work of this team of young Native Americans.”

That's not entirely bad, though, since the lack of
tourism has left much of the land in its natural state. However, lack of tourism dollars means the
country is desperately poor. About 60%
of Paraguayans live below the poverty line.

The country only recently emerged from a dictatorship (2006), but
in its wake followed massive corruption. Spanish is the official language, but Guarani
can be heard everywhere, too. The Guarani Indians are intertwined with
Paraguayan history and culture.

The evangelical population is less than 5%. The Mission Society, strong in both evangelism
and ministries of compassion, came aboard in 1988 to support the local church in
holistic ministry.

Ministries today include vocational training, elementary and
secondary education, a day care center, evangelism and church-planting, a Bible
school, well-drilling, medical care, and a variety of other endeavors. 

The Mission Society's Christian Dickson serves with his wife,
Angelica, and their daughters, Camila and Anna. "One of the main things we do is work with
children and youth. My wife is also a director of  a Methodist school, and I'm involved with an
agricultural project as well."

Dickson explains that while the country is
poor, "One of the blessings that we have here in Paraguay is that
people aren't going hungry." The diet doesn't have a lot of
variety, however, so there is still malnutrition. Among his other duties, Dickson has been helping the local people plant
new things and understand how to prepare them as food.

Garden projects allow him to
spend a lot of face time with the people he's working with, building
relationships. That friendship is a key
component to their ministry, although Christian admits he has a lot of help. "I'm
married to a Paraguayan, so she speaks the Guarani language. It allows us to get
on a more personal level with some of the people that we're serving."

Their main purpose is in
cultivating a different kind of harvest. "We mainly work with the
youth in our church, and we work on the national level. We work to get the
youth together in youth camps, and we go to individual churches to try to
reinforce their youth programs."

Responding to a need for more widely
available medical care in remote regions of Paraguay, The Mission Society sent
a Mobile Medical Clinic to assist with health care demands. The Clinic is equipped
with a pharmacy area, kitchen, and medical examining rooms to allow medical
professionals a place to treat patients.

In 2005, missionaries working in
Paraguay began the Paraguay School Project in order to keep children off of the
street while their parents are at work. Several schools are now included in the
initiative and are supported by individuals and churches. "We're very interested in helping
the Paraguayan youth become better educated, secularly and in Christian education." That takes funds. The Mission Society needs help to develop the
scholarships that keep a bright future for Paraguay. Dickson agrees. "We have a lot of
children that are receiving scholarships that are going to school here in Paraguay,
and that's probably our biggest financial need."  

The New Horizons School, located in a
suburb of Asunción, is the largest educational facility and will eventually
include pre-school through the twelfth grade. The Mary Jo Phillips Day Care
Center is also located in Asunción and is open to children ages two through
five whose mothers are working. The Susannah Wesley School is located at the
Quinta Linea Methodist Church in the "interior" of Paraguay and currently
serves 100 children grades first through sixth.

The nearest high school is nearly a
three-hour walk, so most of the children do not continue their education past
the sixth grade. Construction is underway to add more classrooms to expand the
facility to include grades seven through twelve.

Christian says the focus is developing
the future leadership. "Pray
for national leaders. Because my wife and I work with youth, one of our goals
is to bring up young leaders, Paraguayans, to work in the Methodist church here."

However, there is one
challenge that rises up over and over. "The
Paraguayans are very open to hearing the Gospel. It's not getting to listen to the Gospel, it's getting them
sometimes to practice the Gospel. It takes
a little more time for us to sit down and work with them to understand what it
means to live a Christian life."