Susan from Sunrise Ministries in Cambodia 7/9

Susan from Sunrise Ministries in Cambodia sends us this update.  We can continue to be in prayer with them: 

The Cambodian government policies combined with the hot season hot heat successfully halted community spread of the coronavirus.  Friends working in medical fields and in the provinces seem to be confirming this. Don’t mean to gloat but everyone is back to work like normal, including our team and our Sunrise staff.  We aren’t sure how long this will last because the temps are cooling now for rainy season, and the airports are open.  Pretty tough to get in though, and the government quarantines the whole airplane if any passenger tests positive on arrival.  Basically we can’t leave if we intend to come back, and we’re glad to be here.  It is very surreal when we see the news worldwide.  We are thanking God for his mercy.

Although the economy is open, there are serious difficulties as our two largest industries have been significantly impacted.  Tourism has shrunk to near zero, and the garment industry is sinking fast.  This leaves many without any income.  Everything is lessened, even purchases from the guy that sells steamed eggs from a cart, or the one selling grilled chicken wings on the roadside (one of our clients makes the eggs to sell, and another makes bamboo skewers for the wings.)  Schools are closed through November (the next school year).  Prices for food are higher and the Prime Minister has been encouraging home farming on TV and Facebook.  As a result, Sunrise has increased rice distribution to our clients for the foreseeable future and we may discuss gardening at our next client meeting.  We are looking at ways of funding rice, including selling some unused furniture.

On a happier note, Sunrise is looking for ways to keep kids profitably occupied.  We’ve found some creative games that kids can learn to play—then make their own versions.  Our staff’s daughter helped us test out a game. The kids in the village loved it too!  Smiles all around! This game allows students to get creative with whatever math they’ve learned, from early elementary all the way up to calculus. We’re going to make a booklet describing these activities and pass it around to all our kids, as well as other organizations.

Thank you for your continued love, prayers, and partnership!

Susan and the Sunrise staff

Rise Prep Update 7/8

On behalf of the families at Rise Prep who received aid through the Redeemer Pandemic Fund, we want to say thank you for your generosity and care! We are grateful for your partnership that takes on tangible expression in the lives of our students and families.

While we are still working out the details for next year, thanks to Dayspring, we will be using their office space for the first semester next year. This will allow for students to be socially distant for in-person classes. We will also be using the nursery for storage and the social hall for teacher prep. We will keep you updated on these plans as the summer progresses. 

We want to thank Roy and Susie for their help with shopping for and setting up breakfast and snacks each week for the Rise students! Next year though, we will need new folks to help out with snack buying and prepping. If you are interested, please contact Juliette.

Praise and Prayer Requests From Sunday Agang

Given how COVID-19 has affected our friend and partner in Nigeria, Sunday Agang, Co has felt led to gather individuals who would like to regularly support Sunday in finances and prayer above and beyond what the church has been able to give. Please email Co by Sunday, August 2, if you are interested in joining the team who will be supporting Sunday either in prayer, finances, or both.  The most recent prayer items for Sunday Agang can be found below. To support Sunday financially this quarter,  send a separate check from regular tithes/offerings to Ed McKelpin at 4124 Folsom St. SF, 94110 or use the online donation button on the Congregation Page by Sun, Aug 2.  Be sure to note in your check memo or the online memo that the money is for Sunday Agang.

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 I am deeply grateful to have a church like yours, which is standing with me in prayer. This is the greatest need I have than anything else. Prayer aligns us with God’s eternal purposes and help us to serve God’s purposes in our generation. Here are some of my prayer items:

A. Praise Items

1. Thank God for granting me the privilege to be supported by GFCC and RCC during my doctoral studies at Fuller, 2003-2007. Since my returned to Nigeria as Christ’s ambassador and yours, have had the rare privilege of been used at different levels of leadership in my denomination. For example,  I have and I am serving as Provost twice in my denomination, it has never happened to any other person in the history of the denomination.Thank God for that special grace, thanks to your prayers and continuing financial support.

2. Thank God for granting Sarah and all our four children a successful completion of their various bachelor studies. Everybody is now a graduate.

3. Praise God for the successful publication of the textbook on African Public Theology on April 30th, 2020

B. Prayer items

1. Pray that all I do will be done to the praise of God’s glory (Ephesians 1:4, 6, 14b).

2. Pray that my family, my colleagues at the ECWA theological seminary Jos, and I will “do God’s work in God’s way, for God’s glory.” (James Hudson Taylor)

3. Since March 23, 2020, all institutions in Nigeria have remain indefinitely closed to contain the spread of COVID-19, which is on the increase in Nigeria. Unlike in the West and North America where theological institutions do not only rely on students’ tuition fees, but also on help from significant donors (e.g,, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School seeks and receives support form affluent christians not only in Chicago and Lost Angeles, but also in Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea), in Nigeria we solely depend on students' tuition fees to pay salaries and run other administrative costs. With the closure of schools across the country such fees are no longer coming in. Kindly pray that God will raise support for us to enable us to continue to pay the salaries of our 27 faculty members and 92 administrative assistants and security staff as well as other overhead costs.

4. Besides my positions as a husband, a father, brother, a friend, a neighbour, and  the Provost (President) of ECWA Theological Seminary, Jos, I have other several administrative responsibilities, which include among other things, Director of African Research Consultancy Center, The Regional Coordinator of Network for African Congregational Theology, and the Editor-in-Chief of the African Theological Journal for Church and Society. None of these is a paying position, except the Provostship, which is just an allowance that I am paid. Please join me in praying that God will grant me all it takes to faithfully discharge all my duties.

5. I have many writing projects, requests for endorsement of books writing by other authors, and request to review articles across the continent. Please pray that God will grant me all the energy I need for all those projects and requests. Between April and June 2020, I have submitted two manuscripts to Langham Publishers for publication. Please pray that they will be published soon.

6. Pray that God will provide all the finances my family needs to continue to support the indigent members of our Christian community and the society.

7. Pray that God will grant us good health and protection from Boko Haram, Coronavirus and Fulani herdsmen kidnaping and attacks.

8. Pray that God will grant the Nigerian government success in fighting corruption and the coronavirus pandemic and be able to reopen schools and the economy.

9. Pray that God will give us hope in the midst of the incredible economic uncertainty that Nigeria faces, which has not only  increase the dire situation of unemployment and criminality in the nation, causes despair, rape and suicide.

Warmly,

Rev. Sunday Bobai Agang, PhD (Fuller 2007)
Professor of Christian Ethics, Theology and Public Policy,
Provost, ECWA Theological Seminary, Jos (JETS)
Research Fellow in the Department of Theology and Ecclesiology, Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Love, Justice and Peace Advocate

Home Learning Parent & Teacher Connection (Lead Out Education)

Lead Out Education, a Christian non-profit in the Bay Area, is working to connect parents and teachers interested in starting a Home Learning Group. You can sign-up as a parent or teacher here. More info on their website. See forwarded letter below:

Many Christian parents are exploring alternatives to public schools for their children in the fall. One such alternative is for a small group of parents with children in the same or similar grades to form a Home Learning Group, hiring a teacher to teach their children in one of their homes. 

Lead Out Education, a Christian non-profit working primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area, is working to establish a Parent and Teacher Connection list which will provide a way for parents interested in exploring the formation of a Home Learning Group to connect with other Christian parents in their locality. The Parent and Teacher Connection list will also provide those parents the opportunity to connect with Christian teachers who would be open to be interviewed for a Home Learning Group teaching position. Please note that these potential teachers do not need to be credentialed. 

Our plan is to make the PTC list freely available to inquiring parents and teachers. They can contact us through the website https://leadouteducation.com/homelearning, or through the email or phone number noted below. 

If you are aware of Christian parents and teachers in your church and in your broader associations who might be interested in exploring schooling alternatives for the fall, we invite you to point them to our website where they can contact us. 

We look forward to helping as many Christian families as possible not just to weather this current educational upheaval, but to actually thrive in it. 

I would be happy to personally answer any questions you might have. 

In the Father’s Service, 

Janice Patterson
LOE Founder and CEO
650-728-7282
Jan@leadouteducation.com