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ALLIANCE
NEWS 2021 | ISSUE 01
WE HAVE A
NEW LOOK
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During the COVID-19 lockdown the Missions distributed a Sinhala and Tamil translation of the ‘Survival Manual in Times of Crisis’, published by the Evangelical Psychologists in Spain. It explains on how we could cope and deal with stress and complex situations, among the pastors fellowships. “During this pandemic many could not meet as a church. The Survival Manual helped many believers to focus on and face the situation during this time. Thank you NCEASL.” - Anuradhapura Fellowship “The COVID-19 pandemic was so challenging for all of us. During this time we really appreciated the Survival Manual and the guidance given in the manual which helped us to understand and face the situation with a bold spirit. Thank you NCEASL.” - Glory of Christ Prayer Church (Wattala)
The Missions conducted a special national meeting and a prayer event through Zoom on 15th February 2021. The Pastors prayed for the nation and were also given direction and updates on how to face and react to the current situation as a national church. Over 200 participants attended this event.
Twenty two Chairmen who lead pastors’ fellowships across the island gathered from 22 different fellowships on the 24th and 25th of March at Sanctuary House. They were updated on the present situation in the country. The Religious Liberty Commission (RLC) also shared with them information pertaining to religious freedom, resources on land, burial, and the right to information laws.
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RAASARANI REAPS A BOUNTIFUL HARVEST Raasarani resides in Mannar, and during the civil war, she lost her sight in one eye due to a head injury she sustained. Following her injury, she and her mother struggled and endured many years of immense hardship, as she was the sole breadwinner of her family. Raasarani is now a member of the We Can initiative, a project carried out by the Business Development Unit (BDU) of the Alliance Development Trust (ADT). We have supported Raasarani financially to purchase seeds and animal feed. Through this assistance, she is able to earn an income to support her family.
Under the Model Home Gardening initiative the BDU also distributed vegetable seed packets to 20 low income families in Hatton and Trincomalee as well as 10 kilogrammes of peanut seeds to 3 differently abled female beneficiaries in Mannar.
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Leprosy Elimination Initiatives The ADT shared leprosy awareness material with 134 churches from 7 districts. Twenty three participants attended a leprosy awareness programme held in Thulasipuram, Trincomalee. A leprosy awareness programme was held for 91 children and 04 teachers at Ariviyal Study Center, Ponnagar, Kilinochchi. On the 21st of March we conducted an interfaith awareness meeting for the Kalawana - Thapassarakanda water supply & health care society. The Ratnapura district PHI, spoke on leprosy and COVID-19 to a gathering of 36 participants. A leprosy review meeting was organized by the Leprosy elimination campaign in the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital auditorium on the 18th of March. Dr Champa Aluthweera the director of the ALC participated in the meeting. On the 22nd of January, the ADT health team held a nation-wide steering committee planning meeting with 23 steering committee members and staff. This meeting was conducted virtually. The Lanka Christian Church conducted its leprosy Sunday service in Tamil on the 21st of February.
The Colombo leprosy interfaith leaders planning meeting was held on the 18th of February with 21 participants at the Ramanghaya Nikaya, We l l a w a t t e .
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THE ADT JOINS HANDS WITH THE HEALTH PROMOTION BUREAU The ADT was invited by the Health Promotion Bureau to be a part of the core team; to help support, with community engagement for the COVID-19 vaccine and COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. In this effort, the ADT will initiate the interfaith model that was mobilised in our leprosy project. The WHO and UNICEF are also part of the core team that worked on this project.
Concluding 2020 COVID-19 Relief The ADT and the RLC distributed 300 relief packs to families that struggled to survive during the lockdown and were unable to support their basic needs. The relief packs were distributed in the areas of Dematagoda, Kotahena, Kochchikade, Wattala and Hendala. Relief packs were also distributed to 42 persons from Trincomalee and Batticaloa. 50 persons from Manmunai North DS Division and 8 pastors from Batticaloa also received relief packs.
Sanctuary House is back in action! The Sanctuary House hosted 30 pastors for the Annual Global Disciples training programme from March 8th to 12th. The leadership training programme was based on teaching pastors on multiplying discipleship. The training programme also included sessions via Zoom using our in-house high-speed internet (fibre-optic), which is now available at the Sanctuary House!
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New Blog
MinorMatters released three new blogs on their website - Religious Persecution of Women, The Necessity of Religious Freedom in the Growth of an Economy and Sri Lanka, Society and Justice. You can check it out on www.minormatters.org
Anti-conversion Laws On the 24th of February, the Youth Evangelical Alliance (YEA) convened a meeting of youth network and ministry heads to discuss the current controversy facing evangelical Christians and efforts to introduce anti-conversion laws in the country. During this meeting, the youth ministry heads were briefed on past moves to introduce anti-conversion laws, the content of the proposed laws, the church's response, and the potential impact of such laws on Christian work.
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Social Media Initiatives
Leading up to International Women’s Day on March 8th, the ADT carried out a social media campaign highlighting the issues women face under the 2021 campaign theme #ChooseToChallenge
The YEA's latest social media campaign talks about humility in leadership and the value of accountability regardless of the position one holds. For private circulation only
The latest social media campaign featured on Digital Citizen's Instagram platform allows you to check if your email has been compromised. Companies around the world suffer data breaches that impact all the customers on their database. When such a breach occurs, cyber criminals gain access to email addresses, usernames, cities of residence and even passwords.
ACT NOW initiated a bilingual social media campaign against forced cremation. The campaign contains statements on the issue by different social activists.
The Digital Citizen Instagram platform highlighted the incident of when Sri Lanka's country level domain for Google was redirected for some users on Dialog 4G networks to another page on the 6th of February 2021. Users were instead redirected to a page that highlighted specific ongoing issues in the country. ISSUE ONE | 07
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