George writes: Working at Tearfund...

Here is what I said in church recently about my work...

Jesus said in John 10.10 that: 'I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full", which I think accurately sums up Tearfund's purpose....

Tearfund is a Christian relief and development agency. We work through Christian organisations overseas, bringing practical help and hope to people living in poverty. We also send teams from the UK who work in disaster situations, for example in Darfur. Our vision is to see lives and communities transformed by God's love. We help people in need regardless of their race, religion or gender. We work in Africa, Asia, South America and the UK, and our work includes HIV and AIDS, food security, advocacy and water and sanitation to name a few issues.

I'd like to give a brief example which I think encapsulates Tearfund's vision and purpose. Last summer I visited a Tearfund partner in Kolkata in India. The partner is called Emmanuel Ministries, and it started in the 1970s by a husband and wife who opened up their home to people who wanted to come and talk about their problems. Now, they have 3000 slum and street children coming through their education projects every day, they work with over 1000 prostitutes and have several community development projects in the slums. Some of the children that they helped in the projects, and who used to live on the station platform or in the slums, now help to run the organisation. This story is just such an amazing testimony as to what can be achieved when we dedicate our lives to God. This couple have given hope and a future to thousands of children and have been such a witness to the love of Christ in places that have seen such suffering. It really exemplifies what is at the heart of Tearfund's mission – that the church of Christ can reach out with compassion and love to bring practical and spiritual hope.

Tearfund tries to be a channel through which people in the UK can support those living in poverty. We have five main ways supporters can get involved – praying, living, campaigning, giving and going. We are asking supporters to pray for Darfur particularly at the moment, given the further deterioration of the situation there. Two million people have been forced to leave their homes, and about 200,000 have been killed. Please see www.tearfund.org/praying for more detailed prayer points.

Secondly, we also encourage supporters to think about the way that their lifestyles impact on the poor, particularly in the light of climate change. Many of our partners in Africa are reporting that weather patterns are changing causing droughts and floods. We encourage people to get involved by campaigning – at the moment we are concentrating our campaigns on climate change and trade. If you would like to take action please see the campaigning part of our website. We also produce a quarterly campaigning magazine called Global Action, which you can order from the website. Finally, we also encourage supporters to visit and work with Tearfund partners – we have trips every summer for a variety of lengths of time.

Come and ask me if you have any questions, or look at our website: www.tearfund.org.

Comments

[Fan of Tearfund]

I was in church on Sunday and I really enjoyed George’s fascinating talk. Please continue to keep us up-to-date with this worthwhile cause.