Our Missionary Partners.
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You can find out about Eric and Sandra's ministry here; http://www.cms-uk.org/Community/Details/tabid/159/projectId/218/language/en-GB/Default.aspx May 2011 From Eric & Sandra Reid....It is with great sadness we inform you that Sandra's father died suddenly and unexpectedly on Tuesday afternoon at the age of 88. Please pray for Sandra's mother and also for Sandra and her siblings. We are now in Zamboanga and Sandra's sisters from the US have arrived.The funeral will be next Wednesday. Yours Eric & Sandra
January 2011; A Letter from the Reids ...A Happy New Year to you all.
Unfortunately since then we have all been down with the flu.Sandra is still recovering.Just what we needed as we're due to leave on the 7th.Could we ask please for your prayers for Sandra's mother again please.She has been re-admitted to hospital as she has been vomiting a lot, including some blood.They are doing tests but don't yet know the cause.She is due to start her radiotherapy next week too. Please pray for us, that we'll be able to get all the packing done quickly
November 2009
GREETINGS FROM ERIC, SANDRA, PETER & ATIYYAH READ in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Dear All,
As we celebrate the birth of Jesus we thank God that he sent his son and through him has set us free. As we learn more and experience this freedom touching every part of our lives we continue to be inspired by the vision of what we are doing here. Our continued prayer is for the churches here to experience this freedom we all have in Christ Jesus - whether it is from oppression of witchcraft, or from their poverty, or from illnesses or ignorance - Christ Jesus came to make each of us 'whole' again, just as we are created in His image. When we think of this we can rejoice at Christmas and wish you all a JOYOUS CHRISTMAS!!! And thank you very much too for your support, emails & prayers for us throughout the year. We will be on leave later next year and look forward to seeing many of you then.
Wishing you every blessing for 2010.
October 2009
Dear friends,
“Why do we live in poverty?”
The people of Kapolowe Gare were discussing this pervasive issue. They decided to focus on one common reason which they felt they could start addressing. It is the fear of witchcraft. “Ifpeople see I have money and my life is improving they will bejealous and I will be bewitched”. Because of this people will not improve their houses, send their children to school or even want to be seen buying meat. “Others will get jealous and will bewitch us!” If someone gets any money they will just waste it on drinkingand other destructive activities. It also acts as a major disincentive to trying to improve your life and that of your family. If you dohave a bit of wealth you live as if you do not, and if you don’t whybother doing anything about it?
But as people in the church were reminded that they are standing in the victory of Christ over witchcraft, they decided this bondage of fear should be tackled.At that time Joseph and Seraphin from our team were training them in the use of ‘participatory tools’, activities to help bring out ideas and information from people about their lives and community. One tool is the use of drama and sketches. Some members of the church and community decided to use this to tackle the problem described here. They developed their own script and presented an exaggerated comic drama about witchcraft to bring up points for discussion.
About 50 people watched and enjoyed the sketch and then discussed it afterwards. One man said that he would not be afraid and would start to use his money wisely, and as proof, in the next few days he bought four iron sheets for his leaking roof. This is a beginning, but the group was a bit disappointed that there was not a greater impact. However, as the pastor wisely reflected, one activity will not solve a problem that is so deeply ingrained within people’s lives.
Victory over witchcraft.
The church’s faith in Jesus’ victory over witchcraft gives them the courage to lead in this, and the church plans to continue its teaching on this. But what this community achieved was that they themselves recognised that this fear of witchcraft contributes to a negative outlook in life which strengthens the grip of poverty. The church knows that resolving this issue alone is not going to eliminate poverty, but they see this as being the key to unlocking the door towards development and poverty reduction. Without resolving this they have worked out that any other efforts are going to be fruitless.
Ethical borrowing
Together with the community they are also thinking about starting savings and loan groups. Each member of the group contributes money regularly and then one or a group of members borrow the money to engage in enterprise, repaying the money usually over a fairly short period so others can benefit from loans too. This has some similarities to the micro credit experiment we did, but because the money belongs to the group and they know each other, repayment of loans is normally 100 per cent and on time.
Empowering themselves…
We have worked with Kapolowe Gare for a year and a half now. We watched their ‘seed actions’ grow, from a simple action of caring for a homeless man and cleaning wells to a more confident tackling the health centre issue, and now courageously addressing the issue of witchcraft, with other plans to tackle malaria and agricultural projects! They have done all their activities out of their own resources without any outside help, except for the training MKM gives, and managed to get the other churches, the village chief and health personnel to work together. The church is leading this awakening process of the community. In the vision of our programme this is exactly where the church should be – a place of influence, and to be salt and light around them. But the work is not done yet.
Other news
In early June Sandra conducted a leadership training course, for some of the church leaders that we are working with and, as always, for any of the diocesan staff who wished to attend. For the first time a number of staff did attend, with some very positive feedback.
In July Joseph went to Kalemie on Lake Tanganyika, about 1,000 miles north of here. In one village, 22 churches from nine denominations attended! Kasongo and Seraphin also went to Kasumbalesa on the border with Zambia to conduct training for five churches. Plenty of follow up work now.
Praise and prayer points
Thank God for the commitment and strength and wisdom of Joseph and Seraphin, who are the only full time MKM members, and who are tirelessly following up the churches in the programme. Pray for their young families as they are left behind for long periods when Joseph and Seraphin are doing field work.
Thank and continue to pray for Kapolowe Gare Church, that they will continue to ‘establish God’s kingdom’ in their community and for the Holy Spirit to mightily work in their midst; pray also for protection, especially as they tackle witchcraft.
Pray for guidance and opening of doors as we start to search for partners for this community in providing for some outside resources they will need as they plan for more complex and bigger projects. We are looking at both local and international funding agencies.
Continue to pray for God’s sustaining grace for us and the team that we may continue to be clear in our vision
With love from us all
Eric, Sandra, Peter and Atiyyah
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