Nazareth Emmanuel United Church
Community: Nazaret, Ethiopia
This church has been encouragingly aggressive in implementing wholistic ministry activities. In combination with the initiatives in micro-enterprise, house renovations and construction, the church remains connected with the community by way of home visits, supplementary feeding and other tasks for addressing community needs.
The church works in harmony with the local government bodies to establish a strong reputation and gain an advantage that will better allow it to address the felt needs of the very disadvantaged groups of the community. The church is also successful in not only disseminating the message of the gospel but also planting churches in its intervention areas.
Micro-Enterprise:
Selected beneficiaries were taught about adaptive mushroom production as a means to combat the threats of famine that often plagues the community. The training taught the community about the development of a stable food source, specifically mushrooms which offer nutritional value. Other forms of entrepreneurial empowerment include gravel sales and distribution, sheep and calf fattening, and various other petty trading businesses.
Social Services:
Like many of the other churches described, Nazareth Emmanuel United Church has constructed programs that work to renovate both community houses and facilities for the members of the community. This aides in sanitation and overall safety. Medical services have also been put in place to offer free assistance to those that cannot afford such care.
This community has experienced undeniable growth and the early stages of transformation by way of this church!
Continuing our series regarding some of the highlights from the community work in Ethiopia we find Akaki Kalehiywot Church also in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Community: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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This church has been executing various activities including the provision of education, health and other social services. |
| For some of the most needy members of the community the church has been able to offer rented houses for the families enabling the children to live close enough to attend school.. |
| Structured in a similar fashion to Antioch Faith Baptist Church, many families are able to send their children to receive education either for free or a reduced price. School materials and uniforms are also covered under this support. |
| Akaki Kalehiywot Church offers a broad range of informational meetings addressing societal problems such as HIV/AIDS, environmental sanitation, and income generating activities. Through these meetings the church is able to raise awareness and create steps towards correcting these problems. |
After grouping the selected beneficiaries of the loan services into 12 groups of 17 people, the church trained the groups on topics ranging from methods of establishing businesses with limited financial resources, to procedures and vision casting for business. Upon completion of the training and briefing of the loan procedures, the beneficiaries are able to obtain loans to start-up their own small business or income generating activities.
| We would love for you to check back tomorrow as we highlight Nazareth Emmanuel United Church, a church that has been aggressively using and implementing the wholistic ministry strategy. |
The growth of LIA in 2009 has allowed for amazing transformation and community development to take place through our partner churches. We hope you will enjoy our blog series this week in which we will feature four of our partner churches throughout Ethiopia. We will highlight stories from three churches in Addis Ababa and one from Nazareth. Please leave comments if you have visited these churches first hand!
Antioch Faith Baptist Church
Community: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Fact: Poor health services, minimal access to safe drinking water, and malnutrition are just some of the factors that result in the disheartening fact that in Ethiopia the under-5 years of age mortality rate is 173 per 1,000 births.
Fact found from UNICEF.org.
The mission of LIA is to empower churches to serve the poor using a wholistic approach for community development.
A significant focus for our organization in 2010 is communicating to you from the communities where we serve, in order for the global community to be connected, sharing the burden of poverty (both spiritual and physical) and therefore undertaking the process of mutual transformation.
Last weekend, the beginning of this community sharing and serving was seen in Louisville, Kentucky.
A team of young leaders from Southeast Christian Church is preparing to partner with the Thika community in Kenya this February. We had a retreat where the team grew in their understanding of the culture, dynamics and context of Kenya at large, and Thika specifically.
After leading a few sessions on poverty, the mission/vision of LIA, and how communities can serve one another – you could feel the excitement and expectation of true community partnership happening.
At the same time, another important community connection happened the same weekend when LIA staff and local supporters met together with the local Sudanese community in Louisville. A rich bond with these dear brothers and sisters was quickly formed. We are really excited about the future of partnership between the Sudanese communities living in Louisville with our community development work in the community of Rumbek, South Sudan.
May 2010 be the year that we seek to mutually learn and be transformed by serving to empower Africa’s poorest communities.
If you are interested in learning more about our community work in Rumbek, Sudan we would love for you to check out our Annual Report (pg. 11), sharing “Stories of Transformation” and offering a glimpse into the work you helped empower through your partnership with us!
