Christian Witness Category
12.05.2017
Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:18
At Partners International it is our desire to come alongside leaders in their own towns, in their own countries, and help them achieve the vision that God has laid on their hearts.
We collaborate in order to transform communities, working with our international partners in areas where hope, help and resources are hard to find. We work with leaders to develop their proposals and start to build long-term relationships in order to show the love of Jesus in their community.
When it comes to real transformation, one of the programs in which Partners International participates is called “Adopt A Village”. Basically, this program helps to bring specific community development that a particular community needs. In this model, a couple is hand-picked for a specific community receives a combination of discipleship and community development training. They then research that community and move into the area in which they will serve.
Over a period of five to seven years, they initiate development programs tailor-made for their community. It may be as simple as setting up a preschool or digging an ‘arsenic-proof’ tube well for the community. They may even start savings groups or organize community-wide agricultural cooperatives.
As each initiative is implemented, the couple continues to model both Christian family values and a preferable, achievable, lifestyle through things like adopting better sanitation practices, building technology, agricultural practices, and training their neighbours how to do the same for their families. As each couple integrates into their community and wins the goodwill of the people, they are able to share their faith in a very natural way. In every case, a church is established for which the couple provides pastoral leadership.
This concept is not a “one and done” approach, each of these communities is truly transformed by a program that checks all the boxes for sustainable growth and ongoing development. The difference in an Adopt A Village community becomes very noticeable in a short period of time.
People are happy because they have a place to send their young children to school. Diseases like arsenic poisoning begin to disappear, and all of these initiatives enable families to improve their lives, helping them to leave extreme poverty behind because each family’s bread-winners are now more physically capable to earn an income.
Savings groups enable people to prosper, providing families with funds to deal with emergencies, grow their businesses, and provide for higher education for their children. Since no money is loaned by our ministry in savings groups, (it’s all people’s own savings), the community realizes that we are not trying to make money off of them. The end product is that the church can grow and be accepted in areas where the majority of people are non-Christians. This is really important in many places where Christians and the church can be places of isolation and persecution.
This particular program is designed to have high-involvement from our National Workers. It is time-defined, with clear partnership goals, regular communication, and accountability. The beauty of programs that we help to establish is that they are run by our National Workers who are fully invested in the villages where they choose to live.
When you sign up to “Support a National” your gift provides for the journey that our workers, and their families, are ready to take on or “Adopt A Village” and that supports a number of the initiatives within a specific community. As Canadians, we are so blessed, and many people have expressed interest in walking alongside a ministry couple through their journey from before they join the program to that of community transformation.
We are so grateful for all of you who support people and programs through Partners International. Your generosity helping to build God’s Kingdom!
Thank you for being on mission with us!
If you would like to donate please visit Support a National or scroll through our Donation page to find a project or group that you are passionate about.