Your Support Empowers the Church to Do God’s Work

A year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic caused shutdowns and work stoppages in every country where Compassion ministers through local churches. More than 280 new church partners had to halt registration of children they had identified for care. Therefore, the children were not available for sponsorship and the churches projected insufficient income to provide for them — in the midst of a historic health crisis. Thanks to your decision to stand in the gap to provide the funding the churches needed this past year, thousands of children who were not eligible for sponsorship received lifesaving benefits.

Although Compassion is not a relief organization, you helped these churches respond quickly, enabling them to fulfill their commitment to children — and families — in their communities. In Indonesia, staff have provided regular food packs, hygiene kits, access to medical care, educational assistance and spiritual support to children and families in desperate need, many of whom lost their incomes and faced hunger and illness.

Because of your gift, two churches – Gereja Toraja Jemaat Muktisari Bone-Bone and Gereja Toraja Jemaat Lambara Harapan – have been able to be a vital resource to families in their communities in the Sulawesi Selatan region of Indonesia. Both have been able to register children and monitor their health and treat malnutition. Staff have provided supplemental educational lessons to children and helped families with income-generating skills training.

Aventura Equips Churches in Indonesia

Church: Gereja Toraja Jemaat Muktisari Bone-Bone
Location:Sulawesi Selatan, Indonesia
Registered Children: This center has registered 100 children, 3-8 years old. Three children have been sponsored. 

COMMUNITY PROFILE

• The church is located in a village that is home to approximately 9,100 people.
• The village is located in plains area that has a dry climate.
• The primary language is Indonesian.
• Typical houses are constructed with cement floors, wood walls and tin roofs.
• The primary regional diet consists of rice and sago (a common local starch).
• Employment opportunities are day labor and subsistence farming.
• The unemployment rate is approximately 70%.

The church delivered supplies to families who were in difficult circumstances due to loss of work and travel restrictions brought about by COVID-19.

A Message From the Pastor at Gereja Toraja Jemaat Muktisari Bone-Bone

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ. I am Selvi Pagewang, S.Th. Pastor at the Muktisari Congregation Toraja Church. I am also in charge of child development center. We are located in South Sulawesi Province in Indonesia.

The people in our area are generally farmers and labourers. Their income is very limited so they cannot meet their basic daily needs, let alone pay for their children’s education. They really need capital to help increase resources, especially to help their children’s education.

Our presence here is very helpful, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding assistance that you have provided is very helpful and even has an impact on the management and staff. It especially helped children and their families through the health education that has been carried out in the community. There have been around 100 children and their families receiving assistance due to the COVID-19 situation.

In this pandemic situation, the staff are still passionate about serving, such as visiting the homes of children while paying attention to health protocols. They provide basic needs, health equipment, materials about what COVID-19 is and how to maintain health during the pandemic. They also provide child protection materials for parents.

We are committed to be able to serve the children in the community as well as possible so that when they grow up, they can be committed to being loyal to God, independent and responsible. The same hope is to change society, so that a generation will emerge with Christian character, who are tough and involved in the development of the nation and state.

We pray for you. May God’s grace and mercy be with you, even though it is realized how difficult the current conditions are, but may God in Jesus Christ always bestow blessings on you through work, health and family and whatever is missed in prayer may be answered.

Thank you very much, Lord Jesus bless you!

 

Church: Gereja Toraja Jemaat Lambara Harapan
Location:Sulawesi Selatan, Indonesia
Registered Children: This center has registered 102 children, 3-8 years old. Six children have been sponsored. 

COMMUNITY PROFILE

• The church is located in a village that is home to approximately 9,200 people.
• The village is located in plains area that has a dry climate.
• The primary language is Indonesian.
• Typical houses are constructed with cement floors, wood walls and tin roofs.
• The primary regional diet consists of rice and sago (a common local starch).
• Employment opportunities are day labor and subsistence farming.
• The unemployment rate is approximately 55%.

Children and their families benefit from essential supplies provided to them by the church over the past year. 

A Message From the Pastor at Gereja Toraja Jemaat Lambara Harapan

Greetings of love in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I am Rev. Peris Feryanna Mika serving at the Toraja Church of the Lambara Harapan congregation. I am the person in charge at the child development center. Our church is located in the South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia.

Through this opportunity, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Compassion and you who are directly involved in it. We were selected to partner with Compassion to launch a child development center as a means to equip us for a wider range of ministries. For children who are beneficiaries at our center, who from an economic perspective are less able to meet basic needs such as rice, soap, cooking oil, and others, especially during this global pandemic, the presence of the center is very helpful through its programs for this.

We staff members also feel the joy felt by all families and children of the beneficiaries. Our expressions of love become our consumption every time we distribute aid to the houses of children.

Therefore, once again, I represent all the children and the staff and I would like to thank you for all of this. We will evaluate many of our shortcomings during this program from time to time. May God be pleased that we will be more empowered to carry out every responsibility at the center properly. We also pray for Compassion and all the people involved in it so that they will always be given health and be given an abundance of blessings so that they can become channels of blessings for people in need.

Jesus bless you.

Thank you for making a difference

“He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will reward him for what they have done.” — Proverbs 19:17, NIV

Thank you again for choosing to partner with Compassion to reach children living in the most difficult circumstances. Your support has prevented hunger and illness, it has provided hope for the future, and it has demonstrated the power of Jesus’ love. We hope you feel blessed to read of the great difference you have made.