The name came from the words of Jesus when he said that God cares for even sparrows. Like these birds, most people don’t think about or notice African schools.

Origins

Tamera Peters talks about how the program got started. “We had been invited by a bishop in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He had this vision of the Lord taking him in front of a river and a pond. The Lord asked him, ‘Where is it easier to fish, in the river or in the pond?’ And the bishop answered, ‘It is easier in the pond because the fish are all there.’”

The pond represented the DRC, the home of many Christian schools. Students come into the Congo from other countries but often leave hearing little about Jesus.

Peters says, “We were invited into Congo to help start a Christian school there. It was going to be a model school for other schools. We spent over two years training teachers in the biblical worldview, teaching skills, assessment, and classroom management.”

But it isn’t just two years of training, Peters says. “The relationship part is key. It’s not just dropping in. It’s walking alongside them and doing life with them in a relationship where growth can happen. We see that as being crucial to the training.”

Sparrow Project

Out of this, the Sparrow Project was born. TeachBeyond wants to provide this same training and guidance to schools across Africa.

Pray many schools will thrive as a result. Peters says, “The school wanted to share what they had been given with other schools who want to see a similar transformation in the lives of their students.”

You can support this program here.

Header photo courtesy of TeachBeyond. 

The name comes from the words of Jesus when He said that God cares for the sparrows. Like these birds, most people don’t think about or notice African schools.

Tamera Peters explains. “The Sparrow Project aims at servicing schools that we call sparrow schools. Especially in the developing world, these are schools that are unseen, under-resourced, schools that we just walk by. There are thousands of them, but we just don’t see them.”

Christian schools

Specifically, the Sparrow Project will train and support the staff at Christian schools. The training will last 2-3 years.

Peters says Africa has a lot of Christian schools. But some of them lack quality education with a Jesus-centered worldview. “Because what tends to happen is people separate their academic with their spiritual life. It’s like this dualism: we live our Christian world, our Christian life, on a Sunday or at a Bible study. But in a school context, there’s total separation.”

In fact, Peters encourages readers to consider their own worldviews. Does the death and resurrection of Jesus matter from Monday-Saturday? Or does that only come into focus on Sundays?

“What is my worldview? Am I acting out of that? Or am I acting out of other stories in my life that have taken a lot of space and room?”

Get involved

Pray many schools will thrive across Africa as a result of the Sparrow Project. Peters says, “Maybe when you see a sparrow, you’ll remember to pray for these schools. There are hundreds or even thousands of them throughout Africa. Pray for them. They’re eager to learn, but sometimes don’t know exactly how to do it.”

Plus, you can support the Sparrow Project by donating here.

Header photo courtesy of TeachBeyond on Facebook.

State media reported the military and special forces had taken control of Chifra on Sunday, but a TPLF source says “active fighting is going on.” According to Al Jazeera, the TPLF is trying to seize control of a critical highway that brings goods into Addis Ababa.

The central government has been locked in combat with Tigray fighters and other rebel forces for the past year. See our coverage here.

Fighting increased in the past two weeks; Western embassies are now encouraging people to leave while they can as rebel forces approach Ethiopia’s capital.

“Right now, the city is quiet. We know TPLF is advancing. We’ve evacuated our staff; we’re all going online,” TeachBeyond’s Tamera Peters says.

“Everyone is holding their breath, hoping that nothing too damaging comes. These next weeks could be very, very critical. It could be a full-on civil war.”

TeachBeyond provides Gospel-centered, holistic education in communities that need it most. Learn more here. “We’re starting a program in Ethiopia right now, and I was supposed to be there teaching a Sparrow project cohort, which was canceled because of the crises,” Peters says.

“It’s been pretty intense. We know our job after this (fighting) comes to an end will be even bigger, because the needs in education will be even greater.”

Pray for the families of children in the Korah project in Ethiopia as house rent and food prices continue to rise. Open Schools’ partner organization continues to search for safer homes for these families.
(Photo, caption courtesy of TeachBeyond)

The ongoing conflict has created a massive humanitarian crisis in northern Ethiopia. More than nine million people need help to survive, but aid groups can only reach a small fraction because of the fighting. Commit to praying for peace in Ethiopia.

“It is a country that gets on their knees and prays – Christians, Orthodox, evangelicals – they come together as a body. [Believers] are praying for peace,” Peters says.

“Ethiopian[s] are such resilient people. They have lived through this on and off over the last decades,” she continues.

“We have a lot to learn from them – how they deal with crises, the resilience, and their huge trust in the Lord.”

Use the prompts listed alongside this report to guide your intercession, and “pray the stories that come out of the media are balanced. We don’t know what to believe anymore,” Peters says.

“It would be great to have a balanced perspective so we know how to pray better. It’s very confusing for us who want to pray right now because we don’t really know who the ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ are.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Gift Habeshaw/Unsplash.