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Activity Report –
June 30,
2009
Jesus said that his disciples would be
recognised as such by the fact that they loved one another. Obviously
the nature and depth of this love originating from God must differ from
and exceed what the world considers normal in the course of worldly
relationships. With this in mind, it is clear that the Spirit of God
lives and breathes and bears much fruit through the good works of the
people of God in the Australian congregations of our small
fellowship.
Many congregations have had long-established
sister-church type relationships with other congregations, here and
overseas. The on-going needs of our people and their extended
communities in places like
- Papua New
Guinea
- Solomon
Islands
- Karen refugee congregation in
Thailand
- Sri
Lanka
are regularly met by consistent support from
linked Australian congregations and the generous donations of
individuals and churches across the nation.
The more recently developed relationships local
ministries in
Pakistan
and
Nepal
have been strengthened by our denominational capacity to offer an
extensive range of literature and courses for translation into their
national languages, plus fund pastoral and vocational training. Again,
the donations supporting these activities have come from many different
congregations and individual members across
Australia
although the outreach and humanitarian activities of our ministry
partner in
Nepal
have been largely supported by the
Cincinnati congregation and
others in the
USA.
Humanitarian projects such as infrastructure
development for an orphanage in
India,
and pastoral development assistance such as the theological education
and purchase of a motorcycle for a local pastor in
Myanmar,
have been undertaken. Additionally, there have been adequate reserves to
contribute to relief activities after natural disasters (earthquakes in
Pakistan
and the Solomon
Islands, cyclone and floods in
Myanmar
and
Pakistan)
and even for emergencies outside this region of the world, such as food
aid for members in
Zimbabwe.
The contributions from the church members and
congregations in
Australia
have accomplished much during 2008-2009, and may be summarised in
activity groupings in this way:
Biblical Education
Literature:
Discipleship 101 (a 10-lesson course in
basic Christian discipleship - available free of charge from our HQ
website): While CarePac previously funded the translation into Nepali
and printing of 3000 copies of the Nepali edition under the title of
“How to Become a True Disciple of Christ”, further
translation projects of this course have been either initiated or
assisted during the past year in:
- Sinhala (Sri
Lanka) – translation and proofing
completed, yet to be printed
- Burmese
(Myanmar)
– translation completed, checking yet to be done, printing next
year since funds can only be hand-carried into the country.
- Urdu
(Pakistan)
– translation and printing completed.
- Pidgin (PNG) – translation
commenced.
- Bengali
(Bangladesh)
– translation completed, in print.
Basic Christian Beliefs (a revision of
our denominational publication entitled “35 Beliefs of the
WCG”):
- Nepal
– translation complete, proof-reading underway, printing before
end of year
Bibles:
- Nepal
– purchase and distribution of Nepali Bibles
- Pakistan
– purchase and distribution of Urdu Bibles
Training Programs:
a) For Pastors and Congregational
Leaders:
Langham Partnership Australia (LP) {an
international ministry founded by renowned Christian author, preacher
and theologian, Dr. John Stott} conducts preaching courses for pastors
and church leaders in many remote parts of the world including the
Pacific
Islands,
Asia, Africa and
Latin America. LP funds the local venue,
accommodation and meals for all participants, and travel expenses for
the instructors. They simply charge a very minimal local fee to
participants to deal with issues of dignity and value.
In March 2009, LP conducted a preaching program
in Port Vila, Vanuatu and we sent our
Vanuatu
pastor, William Davies to attend both the level 1 and level 2
sessions.
Afterwards, we made a donation to LP in support
of their program.
In June, a similar program was conducted in
Honiara, Solomon
Islands, to which we sent Ranongga
pastor, Derek Jiru and National Coordinator, Henry Kuper. A further
donation will be sent in appreciation of LP’s contribution to the
pastoral development of our leaders.
In November, LP will be conducting another
preaching program in Papua New
Guinea and two of our leaders in
Mt.
Wilhelm will be attending in
the nearby town of
Banz.
Mohan Jayasekera and I conducted a leadership
training seminar for pastors and church leaders associated with the
Alpha
Bible
Church in
Faisalabad,
Pakistan in
August 2008.
b) Vocational
Pakistan: CarePac funded the purchase of
15 hand-powered sewing machines and other equipment to assist the Alpha
Bible Church establish a sewing school to train young women in
vocational skills, so that they could avoid having to take jobs as
housemaids in Muslim homes where abuse is very common.
Sri
Lanka: The church’s school,
the Worldwide Educational Institute (WEI), which offers classes to
enhance the English for young men and women seeking university entrance
and employment, is still in operation in
Colombo, Sri
Lanka. CarePac donated a new
photocopier/fax/scanner to WEI during the year.
Humanitarian:
- Nepal
(Kathmandu): Medical clinic for poor labourers in
the brickyards.
- Nepal
(eastern): Aid to rebuild homes in camp of Bhutanese refugees destroyed
by fire.
- Zimbabwe:
Food aid for WCG church members.
- Myanmar:
Cyclone emergency relief and rebuilding.
- Thailand
(refugee camp, near Maesot): maintenance support for Karen refugee
members.
- Australia:
Victorian bushfire victim’s relief appeal
Infrastructure
Development:
- Vanuatu
(Rory, Malekula) Water tank to collect rain water from metal-roofed
building to save 3 km. walk for drinking water
- Nepal
(Ramantar): Repair of rural church building in a non-Christian village
being eroded by termites
- India
(Kalthanipadi, Tamil Nadu): Construction of toilet block for children at
a rural school and orphanage run by Dr. S. Suntharam
In previous years, and overlapping into the past
financial year, CarePac has also provided small amounts of assistance
for various projects such as:
- for an orphanage for the children of parents in
prison in Hyderabad,
India;
- to support a conference of Christian women from
many denominations in Colombo,
Sri
Lanka;
- to purchase and send two shipments of English
language Bibles to assist a Bible study class conducted by the Patriarch
of the Orthodox Church of Pakistan.
Very little has been spent on administrative
costs. A modest amount was spent to help cover travel and related costs
in
Pakistan
and
Nepal,
and a minor amount to duplicate a small brochure for the 2008 church
festival sites to outline the extent of CarePac activities.
For the year ahead, in addition to
continuing existing projects, CarePac has committed to assisting the
Bengali Evangelical Association by flying two qualified nurses from the
Philippines to Bangladesh to conduct a six-week training course for
nurse’s-aides in the BEA community in the rural south of the
country; further development of the vocational sewing school for young
ladies in Pakistan; installing a septic tank for the orphanage in
Kalthanipadi, India; printing the Sinhala and Burmese editions of the
Discipleship course; helping provide what is needed for a church
building for our congregation in Mindat, Myanmar; contribute to Langham
Partnership for their preaching training for our leaders in PNG; and
print the Basic Christian Beliefs booklet in Nepali.
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