Offering new life to 2.3 million people in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic
CENTRAL
EUROPE
CAMPAIGN www.everyhome.org.au
JULY 2011
CENTRAL
EUROPE
CAMPAIGN
Offering new life to 2.3 million people in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic
A
n ambitious campaign to present a modern, culturally relevant and Internet-backed presentation of the Gospel to more than 2.3 million people is underway in Central Europe, targeting the historic cities of Prague, Bratislava, Vienna and Budapest. The region has a Christian heritage that dates back more than 1,000 years, but for millions, the Gospel has been reduced to mere symbolism and tradition, reserved for infant baptisms, weddings, and funerals. “The result is significant,” said Ondrej Garaj, EHC’s National Director for Slovakia, Regional Director for the C.I.S., and coordinator of the Central Europe Campaign. “The people say that they are Christians, but they do not believe in God!”
Ondrej has worked tirelessly with church leaders in Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to change this by coordinating gospel outreaches that have a clear and compelling message for a 21st century audience. Gospel booklets and Bible-study materials have been created for home-to-home distribution, complemented by a dynamic, interactive presentation of the message in four languages on the web.
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“We want people to understand what Christianity is all about, who God is, and what He is like.”
The campaign website contains additional information for people who want to learn more about the Gospel, connect with local Christians, or join online chats. The site also helps local churches and prayer partners become involved in the campaign, providing updates and information as the outreaches unfold.
“We want people to understand what Christianity is all about, who God is, and what He is like,” Ondrej said. “For many people it will be the first time they are invited to think about Christianity. We need to do it in a more relevant way so that people will start searching to learn more about life’s important issues, become connected with Christian fellowships, and hopefully be transformed for God’s kingdom!” Based on historical averages, EHC expects to receive at least 23,340 written responses from the home-to-home distributions. Ondrej is urging EHC partners to pray that thousands of people, especially young people, will be drawn to the campaign website to learn more about the Gospel. Ondrej believes that the web-based aspects of the Central Europe Campaign will help attract young people to Jesus Christ. “The Gospel needs to be presented in an understandable form by using culturally relevant vocabulary, language and expressions, especially if we want to impact the youth," he said. "The project is focused
CZECH REPUBLIC SLOVAKIA AUSTRIA HUNGARY
on people who are far from the church, had with one another. Ondrej not only which is the majority of the population in accepted Jesus as his Saviour, he became these countries.” an effective and outspoken evangelist. He joined the international staff of Every Ondrej has a special passion for sharing Home for Christ in 1991 as the National the Gospel with people in Hungary, Director for Slovakia. Under his leadership, Slovakia and the Czech Republic who lived more than 2.7 million homes have been under oppressive Communist rule prior to reached with the Gospel, resulting in more the breakup of the former Soviet Union than 35,000 responses. and subsequent downfall of Communist governments across Central and Eastern The Central European Campaign is Europe. Decades of concerted efforts to scheduled to run through June 2013 but remove Christian beliefs from the hearts can easily be expanded beyond the capital and minds of the people created a spiritual cities to include nationwide efforts. The void that is still affecting millions who Internet component of the campaign is have no hope. Ondrej knows how deep also open-ended. that despair can be. “We want to make contact with people who do not attend churches,” Ondrej said. “We want to establish communication and develop friendships with them, help them understand basic issues about God, Jesus, and the meaning of life. We want to answer their questions and invite them to visit Christian fellowships, give them gospel The pastor’s presentation of the Gospel booklets and invite them to visit our touched Ondrej’s heart. He was also website. We want to see lives transformed attracted to the fellowship that Christians through Jesus Christ.” As a young man, Ondrej was a member of a Communist youth organization in Czechoslovakia. As a committed atheist, he wanted to learn about Christianity so he could refute Christian beliefs. He made the “mistake” of attending a church service one Sunday.
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EVERY HOME GLOBAL CONCERN Healing the sick, helping the poor, educating for a better life
MALAWI
It’s not uncommon to think that our success and lifestyle are the direct result of the good decisions we made, the hard work we put in and the opportunities we took advantage of in life. But what if this wasn’t true? Take, for instance, one of the earliest decisions made about your life, ‘Where would you be born?' It’s a decision that severely affects the rest of your life’s opportunities. There was a 50% chance that you would be born into a set of circumstances that would limit your earning to $2.50 a day, and an 80% chance that you would be unable to earn more than $10 a day. If you aren’t in either of these categories, then you did so against the odds, for this was a decision you had no control over at all. If you were born in Malawi, your average earning would be around $1.39 a day for a man and 84 cents for a woman. To put that in perspective, a Coke in Malawi costs 45 cents, so after a hard day's work all you would be able to buy are 2-3 soft drinks. The people pictured here learn how to make new and nutritious foods such as soya milk, samousas, and different vegetable dishes. Sometimes they even use their new cooking skills to generate an income by selling their dishes.
From the desk of Aaron Moore
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These are the everyday challenges of ordinary Malawians. And these are the people with whom Every Home Australia works, in partnership with Every Home Malawi, to see them brought out of poverty. We do this through four main ways:
1. Water: the provision of pumps for wells and training in water and sanitation 2. Food: the provision of seed and training in agriculture to enable farmers to be able to grow enough food for their family for the rest of their lives 3. Health and Nutrition: the provision of nets for malaria and training on health issues like HIV/Aids and nutritional education on different food groups and what foods to feed children. 4. Micro-enterprise: the provision of materials and training in ways to generate an income such as soap making, knitting, chicken or goat farming and baking.
In each of these 4 areas Every Home makes villages in the north of Malawi, providing fresh water to over 2,110 people. sure its impact is of a long term nature. We don’t just give food hand outs, we provide people with the means to get their own food for themselves into the future.
The Chingorya well as pictured below, is located in a village in northern Malawi with a population of 480 people. Many of these We don’t just hand out mosquito nets, we people used to walk over 1km every day to educate families in ways to minimise health collect water and carry it back on their heads. risks, and generate more income to be able Sometimes they took water from the lake instead because it was closer but were often to buy their own nets in the future. We don't just talk about living a long life, we struck with water born disease as a result. This is the third well to be placed in this community educate about HIV/AIDS and save and serves fresh water to 120 people. The thousands of people from dying. villagers themselves dug the well and baked We don’t just install wells, we ensure the bricks for the interior, while Every Home communities can repair and maintain them provided the pump, cement and training in its by themselves. use and maintenance so that fresh water will continue to be available long term. Every Home has installed 40 wells in
EHC provided her with maize, cassava and It's not only where you are born, but also the abilities you are born with that can have fertiliser and she regularly attends training sessions to improve and protect the yield of a large impact on your standard of living... her crops. And that is why Every Home is helping people who are disabled. Mary Mbeu, as pictured below, suffers from a disability that limits her speech and other mental faculties.
Mary Mbeu proudly shows off her own cassava crop.
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Mary has 8 people in her household to look after, including one orphan, and she is extremely thankful for the support and inputs she receives from Every Home.
Erina Msonda, also being helped by Every Home, shows off the large roots on her cassava crop.
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It has been said before that, “To whom much is given, much is expected.” The world’s wealth and opportunities have not been distributed evenly throughout the world and we have been given much. We find ourselves amongst the richest 20 percent of the world who consume 80 percent of the world’s resources. But this wasn’t through any real choice of our own. Where we were born, and the abilities we were born with were decisions that were made without our consultation but now we all still have decisions to make.
Newton, pictured below, is 45 and was born with a physical disability in his left leg.
cassava, soya and banana crops for planting as well as mosquito nets for his family.
As a result, he has learned to walk by using a large pole for a crutch. He is married with 4 children and 5 grandchildren. None of his children are married, so all 9 of them live together with Newton and his wife.
But most of all, he received training to be able to cultivate his crops in such as way as to be able to provide for his family for the rest of their lives.
Every Home’s Food Security Program provided Newton with fertiliser, maize,
Newton and his wife.
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Despite his disability, Newton works harder than most and has even developed ways of cultivating his land by balancing on one leg and using his hoe as a crutch.
Newtown works to plough his field using only one leg.
“What will we do with what we are given?” Every Home supporters decided to use what they were given to help those who were given less. Thank you for choosing to make a difference in the lives of people like Newton and Mary. As you can see by their hard work and healthy crops, they don’t take your gifts for granted and the difference you make lasts more than a lifetime! Aaron Moore
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[ ISRAEL ] National Evangelism Committee
It is a joy to write this report of the National Evangelism Committee. God tells us to pray for peace so that the spread of the Gospel is possible. We learned clearly the reason this past year. We saw first hand in 2011 how much the spread of the Gospel can be effectively accomplished if there is not political unrest or war. We thank the Lord that the two big events of the year, the Boombamella New Age festival outreaches and the Feast of Feasts in Haifa were held without problems. We continue designing and distributing the Gospel of John with the list of fulfilled prophecies at the beginning, and a web site at the end. After receiving these gospels, thousands of people visited the web site and hundreds ordered Bibles. The cover was especially designed to be attractive to young people and the New Agers.
evangelists around wherever they went and try to prevent conversations from taking place so we would send all the teams out at one time to overwhelm the girls. Each year during the summer, the development town of Carmiel stages a four-day long Dance Festival. Each year thousands of Israelis flood through this beautifully situated Galilean town to view open displays of craftwork and dance renditions, and each year we are there to meet and share with them and leave gospel literature with them.
The web site is: www.yeshua.co.il
Each evening the evangelists met at about 6p.m near the festival in a beautiful grassy park with Mt. Hermon in the background. After a picnic and prayer together, they went out two by two to the festival. They met many people sincerely seeking the truth and willing to listen. Praise God for this annual event and the opportunities it gave to the evangelists.
Each year during the Jewish holidays, New Age festivals are held and these are the venues for some of the NEC's most intense activity of the year. The first meeting for the Passover Boombamella Festival took place in February. It was held along the Mediterranean Sea not far from Gaza. At some point it was thought that the event would be cancelled because of the barrage of rockets that were fired into that very part of Israel in previous years. We asked for prayer. God answered with peace
Our methods throughout the year included street and beach campaigns, with a big emphasis on events which were characterised by large masses of people, university campus work, and large scale gospel literature distribution all over Israel in virtually every city and settlement with the "Jesus Film." Some cities have been reached for their second or third time through this highly effective method. Several congregations have been established as a direct result.
A few radical orthodox Jews tried to disturb our witnessing. Their resistance is predictable, but their disturbances are unsettling. Teenage girls would follow the
Our heartfelt thanks to Every Home for Christ supporters for partnering with us in the holy task.Thank you in his precious Name, Garry - Thank you for praying!
WINDS OF
CHANGE
From the President, Dick Eastman
I
saw a bumper sticker recently that caught my attention. It said: “Change Is Inevitable. Growth Is Optional.” The expression was clever and made me laugh. But the more I thought about it, the more I reflected on the serious side of life’s unexpected changes. Life-altering changes come in all shapes and sizes. Some changes are good and some are bad, but change is all around us. How many people are struggling through a failing marriage, a recent job loss or the mixed blessing of a new job that requires moving the family to another town or state? Happy couples may be preparing for the birth of a child, while others are trying to deal with the grief of a miscarriage or the loss of a loved one. What kind of changes are you dealing with today? Beyond personal challenges, we are also affected by unsettling changes in the world. The recent upheavals in Libya, Egypt, and Nigeria have filled the Internet and nightly news with scenes of destruction, violent protests, and death. The recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan may have claimed more than 27,000 lives and unleashed a nuclear catastrophe approaching the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Where will it end? As Christians, we have some amazing advantages when it comes to coping with difficult changes in life. First, we can hold onto the blessed hope of our salvation. As believers, we also know that our lives have a greater purpose and we have the hope of eternal life and the promise of heaven to give us hope and strength to carry on.
Second, we understand why there is suffering in the world. It’s because of sin. “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12, niv). Sadly, our lives are subject to unexpected and often unhappy changes because we live in a fallen world. Some of the unexpected challenges that come our way may also be directly due to the fact that we are Christ-followers. Jesus warned that a believer’s life would not be easy.“If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20, nasb). There is a price to pay for being a disciple of Jesus Christ, but a reward in heaven awaits. Many hundreds of EHC workers understand this daily as they wade through swamps and climb rocky mountains to take the Gospel to remote peoples who have never heard the name of Jesus. Finally, we can take comfort knowing that God cares about us and our challenges and He is intricately involved in our lives. In Hebrews 13:5 (niv) we have God’s promise: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” And the apostle Paul encourages us with the comforting news: “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28, nasb). As the bumper sticker said, “Change Is Inevitable.” The closer our walk is with the Lord through prayer and perseverance, the more we will be able to learn and grow from the experiences, giving God the glory through all the winds of change that affect our lives.
Every Home for Christ
Australia: PO Box 168 Penshurst NSW 2222 New Zealand: PO Box 31-260 Milford North Shore City 0741 www.everyhome.org.au
Telephone: (02) 9570 8211 Facsimile: (02) 9570 4738 Telephone: Free call 0800 900 200 Facsimile: 0061 2 9570 4738 ehc@everyhome.org.au