Community Strengthening Archives - Page 3 of 3

Quietly Investing in the Zimbabwean Church

Tags: Community Strengthening Where would you go if your family were on the verge of separation because you could no longer afford to feed your children? What if your support system—family, friends, community—were all in the midst of similar circumstances themselves and unable to help you? Whom would you trust? In Zimbabwe, Forgotten Voices highlights how the local church is in a unique position to support family preservation, and how this kind of work is pursued with tenacity and faithfulness. Otto Monroy, Vice President of Forgotten Voices, believes that strengthening the church is a critical [...]

Quietly Investing in the Zimbabwean ChurchAllison Coble2024-01-17T17:49:47-05:00

Protecting Children in Post-Earthquake Nepal

Tags: Community Strengthening It’s hard to visit Nepal and not be awe-struck by God’s handiwork: the soaring mountains, the fields of golden mustard, the laughter and artistry of Nepali people. Yet this same beauty has at times made Nepal particularly vulnerable to poverty and natural disaster. The mountainous topography makes infrastructure a constant challenge, and for decades scientists have been predicting a major earthquake. These vulnerabilities then breed exploitation and conflict. My first visit to Nepal in 2003 coincided with a lull in the midst of the nation’s decade-long civil war. I was immediately captivated. [...]

Protecting Children in Post-Earthquake NepalAllison Coble2024-01-17T17:47:48-05:00

Project RED: Empowering Families for Abundant Lives

Tags: Community Strengthening El Salvador is the most densely populated country in Latin America and has the unfortunate standing as one of the world’s most violent countries. With this reality comes widespread poverty and a breakdown of the family structure across society. Publicly funded programs and an adequate protection system to ensure the wellbeing of children simply do not exist. In 2009, upheaval once again become a reality for orphans living in institutions, with the introduction of a new law called Law for Integral Child and Adolescent Protection (LEPINA), which is drawn from the UN Convention of [...]

Project RED: Empowering Families for Abundant LivesAllison Coble2024-01-17T17:43:46-05:00

The GO Exchange: Creating Jobs, Giving Hope, Strengthening Families

Tags: Community Strengthening | Economic Empowerment Makilene was an unemployed mother of six and living in extreme poverty in Haiti. She realized over time that she could no longer care for all her children, so she faced the heartbreaking decision to give up her youngest child and took her child and traveled to Port-Au-Prince. She had heard about a woman named Shelley Clay who helps children. Makilene thought she was knocking on the door of an orphanage for her infant daughter when she arrived in Port-Au-Prince, but a very different opportunity awaited her — one with hope [...]

The GO Exchange: Creating Jobs, Giving Hope, Strengthening FamiliesAllison Coble2024-01-17T19:12:59-05:00

The Jubilee Centre: Transforming Zambian Communities through the Local and Global Church

Tags: Community Strengthening In 1999 Lawrence and Martha Temfwe founded the Jubilee Centre in Zambia. The center empowers and trains churches in under-resourced communities to give integral care to all people — especially orphans and vulnerable children — and bring change to their communities. Currently, they are serving over 94 churches and have a staff of 13 people. Zambia has a great need for community-based orphan care. “Zambia has a long road ahead,” says Lawrence Temfwe. In this country, over 1,700,000 are orphans and vulnerable children, which is 12 percent of the population, and nearly [...]

The Jubilee Centre: Transforming Zambian Communities through the Local and Global ChurchAllison Coble2024-01-17T19:11:29-05:00

World Relief: Savings for Life

Tags: Community Strengthening | Economic Empowerment Margret unexpectedly found herself as the sole breadwinner for her five children — three girls and two boys. She was overwhelmed and left with little hope. “It was as if all the gates and doors of hope in life for us were closed leaving us in a dark room,” she said. Her oldest daughter Mwende had just become a candidate to advance in Kenya’s primary school with the hope of continuing secondary education the following year. However, Margret struggled to make ends meet by going from house to house [...]

World Relief: Savings for LifeAllison Coble2024-01-17T19:08:42-05:00

God’s Word: The Heartbeat of Love for the Orphan

Tags: Community Strengthening “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 Where in the world today is the church responding to the orphan crisis? Ethiopia, home to one of the largest orphan populations in the world, has over five million orphaned and vulnerable children. Bethany Christian Services (BCS) is answering that call by using the power of God’s Word to support local Ethiopian Christians to provide [...]

God’s Word: The Heartbeat of Love for the OrphanAllison Coble2024-01-17T19:07:44-05:00

Bopoma Villages: Strengthening Rural Zimbabwean Communities

Tags: Community Strengthening Bopoma Villages is a faith-based organization providing clean water, food security, and orphan care in Zimbabwe. Strengthening a community strengthens families within it, and this organization is able to provide direct and indirect care for orphans and vulnerable children within their communities and families. Bopoma Villages works in 10 villages in or just outside of Zaka, a rural area of Zimbabwe. Unemployment in this area is estimated to be over 80%. Many children and families lack the most basic necessities and live in severe deprivation. Child-headed households and those headed by elderly [...]

Bopoma Villages: Strengthening Rural Zimbabwean CommunitiesAllison Coble2024-01-17T19:05:08-05:00

Gotcha Day: Local Churches Support Adoptions and Families

Tags: Adoption | Foster Care | Transitioning | Community Strengthening | Economic Empowerment In our family we have “Gotcha Day” celebrations for our two adopted children. It’s a special day each year when we celebrate and relive the story of bringing home a baby from Russia to become a part of our family. We have fun with cake and a special meal then sit together and go through the photo album. We remember all the special events surrounding the adoption and becoming a new family. I believe our Gotcha Day celebrations [...]

Gotcha Day: Local Churches Support Adoptions and FamiliesAllison Coble2024-01-17T19:28:25-05:00

Staying Engaged Throughout the Year

Tags: Community Strengthening Burke Presbyterian Church is a 600-member church located in Burke, Virginia, within commuting distance of Washington, DC. In 1988, Burke began a partnership with the churches near the rural village of Kibwezi, Kenya, to minister to those in greatest need. This relationship, now spanning over two decades, has become integral to Burke’s identity. […]

Staying Engaged Throughout the YearAllison Coble2024-01-17T19:37:58-05:00

From Church to Child, Church and Community

Tags: Community Strengthening The Journey Church, a 175-member church in San Jose, California, is a small church making a big difference for orphans and vulnerable children in Zimbabwe. It all began when The Journey’s pastor joined a fellow church member on a trip led by World Vision to the rural community of Limpopo. Returning to their home church, the men shared what they had seen: heartbreaking loss due to poverty and HIV/AIDS, as well as life-saving work being done to address the issue. The Journey was inspired to take action and [...]

From Church to Child, Church and CommunityAllison Coble2024-01-17T19:24:35-05:00

The Call of a Missions Pastor- Pastoral or Prophetic Responses to Orphan Care

Tags: Community Strengthening In the three years I’ve worked as a missions director in the church, I have heard hundreds of people describe the experiences they’ve had visiting orphanages on various mission trips. And in spite of differences in location and culture, their stories are all similar. These stories usually go something like this: someone on a mission trip visits an orphanage for a day or two to ‘minister to the kids’ and do some work projects. While there, this person bonds closely with one particular child who wants to be held the whole time, [...]

The Call of a Missions Pastor- Pastoral or Prophetic Responses to Orphan CareAllison Coble2024-01-17T19:23:00-05:00

My “aha” moment. The story of a learning curve.

Tags: Community Strengthening It kept me up nights and made my head ache…not to mention my heart and my belly. I couldn’t wrap my head around the staggering numbers--millions of children who had been orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS and other causes. My heart was drawn again and again to Sub-Saharan Africa – the epicenter of the crisis – even though I had never been there. I began to dig deeper and the stories, as Kay Warren often says, were “seriously disturbing.” I was moved to action. I began to join forums, attend meetings [...]

My “aha” moment. The story of a learning curve.Allison Coble2024-01-17T19:20:06-05:00