The following update comes from the College of Theology and Social Sciences, our partner in Warsaw, Poland. Since the war began in February, this partner has been an example of refugee work done well, and we are pleased to be partners with them.
As of July 23, Poland has taken more than 4.95 million Ukrainian refugees.
Read MoreSince the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, The Outreach Foundation has partnered with Beni Husarciuc, a staff member of Cru in Romania, to provide medical and other supplies for relief efforts in Lviv that our friends in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church are providing. In June, a friend of Outreach joined Beni on one of his supply runs into Ukraine. What follows is a personal account of this visit that provides insight into the ways God is utilizing friendships developed over many years to come alongside people in Ukraine during the current crisis. For security purposes, we are withholding the identity of our friend who visited Ukraine.
Just as I was dropping off to sleep, the sound of an air raid siren blasted into the night. It was such a foreign sound that it took a minute for the meaning to sink into my tired brain.
Read MoreAs the world watched in horror, Ukraine was invaded by Russia on February 25. In less than a month, more than 3 million Ukrainians have joined millions of other refugees in Europe. On the nightly news, we have witnessed the tragic fallout from this catastrophe including bombings and sniper attacks, deprivation of basic necessities, the terror of families being separated. Heartbreaking.
But we have also witnessed hope. The Outreach Foundation is blessed to have relationships with several partners in Eastern Europe.
Read MoreThe Church of Ukraine is diverse, though more heavily populated by the Ukrainian Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic, and Ukrainian Greek Catholic traditions. On Friday morning, March 4, the Institute of Ecumenical Studies of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv held a round table discussion between key representatives of these major traditions. Tom Boone, our Associate Director of Mission and staff point person for our European Initiatives, was honored to be invited to this dialogue.
The purpose of the round table was to present how their various traditions are responding to the war. Also, each provided insights into their traditions’ official positions regarding Moscow. It was inspiring to see these leaders take time to express their views openly even as they are enmeshed in this war. One of the leaders was delivering humanitarian relief to Kyiv and showed us the traffic crossing a bridge and activity at a checkpoint.
Read MoreFebruary 28, 2022
When it’s darkest, that is when we can see the stars—a story from the front lines of the war in Lviv, Ukraine.
“It’s hard to imagine” Father Oleh reflects on what has become his daily routine. Oleh serves as a parish priest in the Ukrainian Catholic Church of Lviv and is Professor of Philosophy at the Ukrainian Catholic University of Lviv. His story is one of many stories of faithful church leaders helping people experience God’s love in their darkest of nights.
Read MoreFebruary 25, 2022
The Outreach Foundation is listening to voices of our friends from Eastern Europe and we are sharing them with you.
While the bitter cold of war continues to escalate, we are grateful to share with you the voices of our friends in and around Ukraine. Friends such as Father Oleh Kindii, a professor of philosophy at Lviv University and a parish priest. Today he received hundreds of confessions from people. Today he wrote, “On this day when Russia has launched a vicious attack on the country of Ukraine, we pray that the Good Shepherd may bring strength and wisdom to leadership and protection for the most vulnerable now in this unjustified, premeditated aggression. Prayers for all.”
Read MoreNancy Warlick shared this note and information from the Madagascar Mission Network:
There is great need at this time for prayer for God's people and rebuilding in Madagascar following the devastation caused by Cyclone Batsirai in early February.
Read MoreMany of us are reading despairing news out of Afghanistan and wondering how the Lord would have us respond. The Outreach Foundation has discovered that millions of people are fleeing their homes from places like Afghanistan, the Middle East, Iran, Pakistan, and Central Asia and converging in Europe. And they are discovering that God’s promise to Isaiah is for them. “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19).
Those who have left homes with little to nothing are encountering the gospel in Europe through the bold witness of evangelists, pastors, and house churches. And not just refugees. People in Europe are hearing the gospel alongside refugees such as the evangelistic outreach in Poland pictured here.
Read MoreOur partner Haiti Outreach Ministries just shared this important information concerning relief efforts. Please continue to pray for brothers and sisters in Haiti:
Dear friends,
HOM is now accepting financial contributions for earthquake relief in Haiti. We are working with our partner staff at Mission Communautaire de l'Eglise Chrétienne des Cités (MICECC) to provide food and medical supplies. Our medical staff is interested in making a trip in September to provide much needed care. Longer term, we are exploring the possibility of rebuilding homes and drilling a well to provide clean drinking water to the community. All this is possible through the relationship our Terre Noire church has with the church community located in Cavaillon, near the earthquake's epicenter. We will be working through that relationship to provide assistance.
Financial contributions will help us to meet needs in the earthquake ravaged area as transportation and safety considerations allow.
Read MoreNews has reached me that our seminary partner in Matanzas, Cuba, has been asked by the government to open one of their facilities (students are not yet allowed back on campus) to receive children (and their caregivers) who are suspected of having COVID-19. This comes as the local pediatric hospital is overwhelmed with cases. They have agreed to do this—an extraordinary act of service, as you can imagine. Please join me in prayer for this, that Christ may be glorified and that the seminary community is kept safe…
Read MoreDear friends of Tete Province,
I am overjoyed to report that our health clinic in Tete Province has been officially opened! I received word from Sebber. She was there in person and was able to get some photos. Sebber is wearing a blue coat, and the Head District Commissioner in Tete Province is in red. Sebber said, " Clinic finally opened. We give all the Glory to God Almighty."
The new health clinic is in the rural village of Madzimaera. We have built a school and a church in this village and drilled a well. This clinic is about an hour's drive by vehicle to the nearest hospital in the border town of Zobue. Transportation to the hospital would be a formidable problem for the villagers who live around this clinic.
Read MoreHere in Brazil, we are now totally isolated. Cities are closed, no one can enter or leave if they don’t live there. The government decreed a curfew. If someone is caught walking around the city at night, they will be arrested. Almost 3,000 deaths were recorded yesterday (March 18) from Covid 19. Hospitals are in precarious states. There are no more empty beds, there are not enough doctors to serve all those who need care, and there are no medications to treat those who are there. As if this were not enough, politicians do not understand each other and try to take political advantage of the situation. Many pastors are hospitalized and a few are intubated. Please pray for the Brazilian people,
Read MoreThe Outreach Foundation is in regular contact with partners around the world, many of whom are sharing with us the upheaval that they are experiencing as the COVID-19 virus and the response to it burdens their ministries of medical outreach and compassionate service. We recently received the following COVID Appeal update from our partners in Pakistan and we were able to quickly release $5,000 from our COVID-19 Appeal because of your generous gifts!
Friends of Forman Launches COVID Relief Assistance
The effects of COVID-19 have been felt in many different ways all over our world. For some, it was the swift loss of a job in a shutdown. For others, it was the devastating news of the passing of a beloved relative. There was even the loss of touch with a church family that stopped meeting in person or enduring school from home with faulty internet service. Every change was a challenge, every loss was magnified by this pandemic.
Read MoreIn the aftermath of the August 4 explosion at the port of Beirut, your generous gifts have helped our partners to, literally, put things back together again in their places of learning like the Near East School of Theology (seminary training Presbyterian pastors), Haigazian University (Armenian Evangelical), Blessed School (for autistic children) and Philemon Preschool (for low-income kids). Repairs were made in the church sanctuaries of Rabieh Church (Presbyterian) and the National Evangelical Church (Presbyterian/Congregational), within sight of the port. Grants to ministries that serve refugees (Our Lady Dispensary and Together for the Family) provided a lifeline for those who were already living “on the edge.”
Read MoreCyclone Idai has destroyed homes and devastated crops, infrastructure and livelihoods throughout southern Africa. This storm exacerbated the humanitarian needs caused by flooding throughout Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe that has affected families since the beginning of March. Having lost homes and possessions, many families are sleeping on the ground with no protection from the elements. Many farmers have lost their crops.
Thankfully, our partners in Tete Province, Mozambique, are not reporting severe effects from the storm in their area, but we continue to seek more information about their situation.
Read MoreBeloved friends,
Tumekutana is coming up this week, and the pressure is on for all the final details to come together. We ask humbly for you to fast and pray with us this Wednesday as each woman makes travel arrangements. There are issues arising with visas, airfare, and personal emergencies that are coming up in the last moments and we need desperate and consistent prayer against the spiritual warfare that is taking place this week attempting to hinder each of these outstanding women from attending. As you are praying, here are some specific requests we ask you to take before the Lord:
Read MoreBob and Kristi Rice shared sad news about Rev. John Tong Puk at Nile Theological College in South Sudan. Please keep Rev. Puk's family, Nile Theological College and the Rices in your prayers.
"If the Lord Does Not Come"
As I nestled into the large outdoor couch overlooking the majestic African valley deep in Murchison Falls National Park during the early evening hours, I took out our iPad and quickly glanced at a few personal emails. One message grabbed my immediate attention and kept it. News had come from Khartoum that morning, Wednesday, June 13th, that Rev. John Tong Puk, a close colleague and friend, a leader in the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SSPEC) and Dean of Studies at Nile Theological College (NTC), where I teach, had died that morning. I read the message over and over in disbelief. I had just been with him and greeted him before his journey to Khartoum to see family. Could it be? It was like a dream. For the next twenty-four hours I kept saying to myself, “John Tong Puk is dead,” a statement of sheer disbelief and quiet quandary.
Read MoreIn April, I was able to take a small team into Syria to meet with three of the congregations of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon, which your generous gifts have sustained and encouraged. I cannot but be enormously grateful for those who chose to defy all of the possible “no’s” to come on this journey and be present to our sisters and brothers there:
Rev. Tom and Joy Boone, Julie Burgess, Rev. Jim Wood and Brian Collins. The fact that their families and congregations (Bethel Presbyterian Church, Cornelius, NC; West Hills Church, Omaha; First Presbyterian Church Norfolk, VA) sent them off with their (somewhat anxious?) blessing confirms their discernment that God’s YES preceded our journey. What follows is part of our daily trip blog, this one written by Julie Burgess while we were in Aleppo in April.
–Marilyn Borst, Associate Director for Partnership Development
