Faith in Action

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE

… let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

I John 3:18

Congregational Mission Opportunities

Dear Friend in Christ,

I began my relationship with Church World Service as a local pastor looking for ways to enliven my congregation and engage them with the wider

world. Agreeing to assist in organizing a local CROP Hunger Walk, I had no idea that this was the beginning of a journey that would lead me to become CWS Executive Director. Truly, God works in mysterious ways!

I invite you on a similar journey toward transforming our world and your congregation. This brochure provides brief descriptions of various mission opportunities your congregation might explore. From joining in your local CROP Hunger Walk, to assembling CWS Kits or taking a Blankets+ Offering, to co-sponsoring a refugee, these options and more represent paths for your congregation to reach out to those in need around the world.

Church World Service is a highly effective and reliable way for your congregation to express its compassion for suffering people the world over. Through CWS, you offer emergency aid, self-help assistance, and hope to sisters and brothers in need – as vital a calling today as it was at our founding in 1946.

For all the ways you are already supporting CWS, I thank you. And I hope that you may find he e some new avenues for your congregation to live out its mission in the world. Who knows where God will lead you?

Blessings,

Rev. John L. McCullough Executive Director and CEO

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish far more than we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesusto all generations.

Ephesians 3:20

CROP HUNGER WALKSWhat does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

The CROP Hunger Walk brings your whole community together to assist hungry people at home and around the world. It’s a party with a purpose! Congregations from many different traditions in some 2,000 communities across the country join in 1,600 CROP Hunger Walks each year.

The money raised from the CROP Hunger Walk supports Church World Service work around the world in emergency response, as well as longer-term solutions like enhancing food security, providing sustainable safe water supplies and literacy training. In addition, up to 25 percent of the money raised can go to local hunger-fighting e forts within that community. Thousands of food pantries, soup kitchens, and other efforts benefit each year from the funds raised by their local CROP Hunger Walk.

By walking together, talking together, laughing together, participants learn more about each other and more about their world. Join in!

To learn more:www.cropwalk.org

Call your CWS regional office at 888-297-2767.

It’s been a blessing for us to see how many persons have been helped through the Walks, locally and internationally.

Rev. Alexander Veronis, Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, Lancaster, PA

U.S., Patricia Stutsman/CWS

CWS KITS

Church World Service Kits are bundles of love assembled by members of your congregation to assist people in need around the world and here at home. Assembling CWS Kits is a great hands-on service opportunity for women’s groups, youth groups, camps, schools, Vacation Bible School, and other congregational venues.

The contents of CWS School Kits, Hygiene Kits, Baby Care Kits, and Emergency Clean-up Buckets are simple small things – new pencils, a washcloth, toothbrush, cleaning supplies, for example – but having them can make a big difference after a disaster strikes! Kit components have been carefully selected based on years of experience to make the Kits as useful as possible, wherever and whenever they are sent. All components are easily available at local stores.

Kits may be sent to Church World Service year-round. Continuing support of this program is very important and helps to ensure that Kits are available for immediate response after a disaster in another part of the world or here in the U.S. These are truly gifts from the heart!

To learn more:www.churchworldservice.org/kits

Call your CWS Regional office at 888-297-2767.

The congregations and groups that have made, or are making, CWS Kits are extending a personal hand of caring to neighbors in need in Haiti and around the world. Thank you so much. Donna Derr, Director of Development and Humanitarian Assistance Church World Service

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… let us love, not inword or speech, butin truth and action.

1 John 3:18

BLANKETS+Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.

Matthew 25:40

From something as simple as a blanket, amazing things can arise… with your help. Your congregation can provide warmth and protection to victims of a disaster, seeds and tools to struggling farmers, and water and health to impoverished communities by holding a Church World Service Blankets+ Offering. Funds raised by Blankets+ support CWS emergency response and long-term community development work around the world, including here at home. Thousands of congregations across the U.S. hold Blankets+ events each year.

A free Blankets+ Congregational Kit provides a leader’s guide, a DVD with several video Minutes for Mission, an educational resource, a poster and other helpful materials – all the things you need to provide a meaningful “offering” opportunity for your congregation, while providing for your neighbors in need.

Blankets+ Offerings are a wonderful opportunity to involve all ages in mission outreach and deepen their appreciation of a holiday such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, or Valentine’s Day.

To learn more:www.churchworldservice.org/blanketsCall your CWS Regional office at 888-297-2767.

CWS enabled us to reach outside the four walls of our church to those in need around the world. And the enthusiasm generated by our efforts attracted new members. The more we did, the more we grew! Rev. Robert Kyte, U.C.C. pastor Jaffrey, New Hampshire

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RESETTLE A REFUGEE FAMILY

Since its founding in 1946, Church World Service has helped nearly 500,000 refugees begin new lives in the United States and continues to resettle about 8,000 more refugees and entrants each year.

CWS enlists local congregations across the country to assist arriving refugees with the daunting challenge of adjusting to their new country. CWS member communions and 34 local offices and affiliate agencies recruit and support these congregations in this very hands-on ministry of compassion. CWS affiliates also work with local congregations to ensure that the newcomers have food, clothing, and other essentials, along with friendship and guidance, as they learn English, find their ay around town, enroll their children in school, look for work, and become self-sufficient.

Congregations consistently find that this minist y is transformative for them as well as for the people they assist.

To learn more:www.churchworldservice.org/refugees

Call 212-870-3300.

Those fi st days were hard. We spoke no English, had no friends. But that sponsor was very nice. They found us an apartment, got the kids in school, helped us learn English and find ork.

Samka Deumic, refugee from Bosnia

U.S., CWS

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that, some have entertained angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:2

ALTERNATIVE GIFT FAIRS

…they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means.

2 Corinthians 8:3

The increasing interest among congregations in alternative gift fairs represents an exciting opportunity to enlarge the horizon of what gift giving is all about, and to explore a new dimension of faithfulness. Gift fairs can also be a lot of fun as folks select symbolic gifts for their loved ones – for example, supporting literacy training for an avid reader.

Our Alternative Holiday Fair Packet is a great resource for congregations who want to organize a lively alternative to our consumer-oriented observance of the holidays and other occasions. Instead of giving more things, give more meaning by honoring friends and loved ones with a gift to Church World Service.

Our packet contains: simple instructions on organizing an alternative gift fair, a promotional poster, an alternative gift list, reproducible vignettes of the gifts, and an order form for additional resources, including our lovely holiday gift card. Our attractive Best Gift catalog is also enclosed.

Join the growing movement of people who are exploring new, meaningful ways to say they care by making gifts that really make a difference.

This experience was a real eye-opener for many people. It changed the way they looked at holiday giving – instead of giving frivolous things, they felt that they were making a real difference in the lives of real people. Terry Lord, Westlake United Methodist Church, Austin, Texas

U.S., Kathy Clark/CWS

To order materials or to learn more:www.cwsbestgifts.org

Call 800-297-1516.

GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES…if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needsof the afflicted, then your light shall shine in the darkness.

Isaiah 58:10

Church World Service invites congregations that have foundations or mission funds to partner with us in one of four major areas of our work.

Food for All: Support programs addressing the global food crisis through long-term social and economic food security initiatives, as well as emergency and supplemental feeding programs serving vulnerable populations.

Water for All: Support sustainable water development around the world. The need for safe, accessible water has never been greater. As water supplies dwindle in some areas, affordability can become another critical issue. Scarcity can provoke frustration and violence. Water for All provides water for health, water for food, water for peace, and water for the future.

All Our Children: Support youth empowerment, education and long-term economic development programs, as well as emergency, remedial and supplemental programs serving vulnerable children and youth.

Indonesia, Paul Jeffrey/ACT

Emergency Response Ready: Support a revolving fund that allows Church World Service to rapidly respond following a disaster. Expenditures for rapid response are reimbursed to the fund when subsequent “appeal” funds are received from member denominations and the general public.

Congregations who support Global Partnership Initiatives will receive information about these CWS signature programs, as well as updates twice a year on the creative and life-saving work they choose to join.

For more information: CWS Foundation Office

Call 800-297-1516. foundations@churchworldservice.org

We are impressed with the unique difference in Giving Hope (a signature program of All Our Children), because children and youth are “empowered” to work assertively on their own terms toward achieving sustainable income goals… We are also impressed that it is not a program that goes away when the grant expires. Its future is assured. Jeff Barker, President, St. Marys United Methodist Church Foundation St. Marys, Georgia

Pakistan, Paul Jeffrey/ACT

CONGREGATIONAL LEARNING

…learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

Isaiah 1:17

Church World Service provides a variety of resources that help congregations learn about their world and reflect on God’s call.

Informative, engaging, inspiring, and available at no charge!

Speakers/preachers: Church World Service regional staff are available to come and speak to your congregation or group. Our staff are widely traveled, well informed about global concerns, and happy to tailor their presentation to your particular context.

Contact your CWS Regional Office, toll-free 888-297-2767

Refugee speakers: Refugees resettled in the United States have a powerful story to share. CWS affiliate offices across the country can assist you in locating someone to speak to your congregation, women’s group, or youth group about their experience.

For more information, contact your nearest resettlement office: www.churchworldservice.org/refugeeaffiliate

or CWS at 212-870-3300 or irp@churchworldservice.org

Curriculum, fact sheets, worship resources, and more: Church World Service has created a variety of resources for use with groups across the age spectrum. Our “Build a Better World” series for children is widely used in congregations, Vacation Bible School, and camp settings. “Making Poverty History” provides a variety of engaging, interactive activities for youth and young adults. Our “Facts Have Faces” series provides easy-to-digest, user-friendly introductions to various global issues, and our “Enough” series examines the various impacts of climate change on the world’s most vulnerable peoples.

To order or to learn more about these and other materials:www.churchworldservice.org/resources

Call 800-297-1516.

Teaching that there are solutions, that there are things I can do to make the world better, and that we can have a hand in shaping our destiny, has a real impact on young people. I see it brighten students’ eyes, lighten their spirits, and provide hope.

Jim Jarvis, Chicago, Illinois

Rolanda Hughes/CWS

Church World Service in action!Building a world with enough for all

Enhancing food securityGUATEMALA

Florencia Ajiatas, left, is proud of the cabbages she’s grown. With CWS support, indigenous families in at least 31 communities in Totonicapan province are learning to manage soil and water resources, increase and diversify their produce, and market their surplus. Through innovative techniques, families are increasing their production of tomatoes, chiles, carrots, beets, onions, cucumbers and cabbages in greenhouses and in family and community gardens. With ready access to vegetables, they are improving their family diets and health, and they can sell their surplus to provide income for their families.

Providing accessible, safe waterKENYA and UGANDA

“Seeing the girls empowered with education… girls fetching water near their homes and then going to school – that makes me happy,” says Deborah Katina (top right), Director of Yang’at (“care” in the Pokot language), a Church World Service partner in western Kenya. “By empowering women and girls, we’re improving life for the whole community.” In many parts of Africa it is the responsibility of women and girls to collect water for household use. This often means walking many miles to find ater, water that is often contaminated.

With help from Yang’at and CWS, families in two communities – one community in Kenya and the other in Uganda – are developing clean water

Guatemala, Rolanda Hughes/CWS

resources, some for human consumption and others for livestock. A variety of water structures are used: shallow wells, cattle troughs, tanks, and sub-surface sand dams.

“I think God sent Church World Service to West Pokot because God knew His people were suffering there,” says Katina. “When we go to the communities, we’re not just talking about water.”

Empowering childrenKENYA

Orphaned in 2003, Amina, below, and her little sister, Caroline, faced a very uncertain future. But thanks to the CWS Giving Hope Program, Amina was able to attend St. Zeno Youth Polytechnic School where she learned to be a tailor. “I am a professional in tailoring and dressmaking,” Amina says. “The proceeds from my business go toward my sister’s education and domestic expenses.” Caroline says, “I have benefitted from my sister’s business... if it were not for her, I would have had to drop out of school. When I finish y studies I would like to be a doctor and build a hospital in the village. With my hospital nearby, I will always be on hand to save lives.”

Giving Hope empowers youth caregivers in HIV- and AIDS-affected households to realize their dreams for economic self-sufficiency and community leadership through the organization of highly effective Working Groups that help restore what became broken with the death of their parents and other family members. Working Group households can become effectively self-sustaining in two years, at a cost of less than $300 per year – a fraction of the cost of typical “care and support” programs.

Kenya/CWS

Kenya, Henry Coates/CWS

Responding to emergenciesPAKISTANAs she sat beside her son, Pareena Bibi reflected, “The floods have taken away our beds, clothes, house and land. There is no stable family income anymore and this is our main worry.” In that desperate situation, CWS was ready to respond, providing Bibi’s family and thousands of others with food packages, including wheat flour, sugar, cooking oil and tea. CWS experience, training and preparation enabled it to begin providing coordination and pre-positioned emergency aid as soon as the flooding began in July 2010. CWS provided direct assistance to some 100,000 individuals, including food, tents, lanterns, cooking supplies and healthcare. Long-term recovery efforts include construction trade training centers to help build local capacity for reconstruction following the floods.

Assisting refugeesU.S.A.

Mahdu Nepal, with his grandfather at left, was six years old when his family was forced to leave its small farming village in Bhutan. “My grandfather was principal of a school,” he said. “For teaching the Nepali language, he

was put in jail for 24 months. After that the police came to our home and threatened us. By force, we came to Nepal.” Mahdu and his family are Lhotsampas – ethnic Nepalis whose ancestors began immigrating to southern Bhutan in the late 1800s. As the Lhotsampas and smaller ethnic communities escalated their call for a more democratic political system, the Bhutanese government stepped up its persecution. It revoked ethnic Nepalis’ citizenship and civil rights and, in December 1990, forced tens of thousands to flee to refugee camps in eastern Nepal. In response, the United States launched a program to resettle as many as 60,000 Bhutanese from the camps. Mahdu and his family are among the more than 1,000 refugees from Bhutan who have been resettled under Church World Service auspices. CWS and Kentucky Refugee Ministries resettled Mahdu and his family to Louisville, Kentucky.

U.S., courtesy KRM

To learn more:Subscribe to our online e-zine SERVICE or other online updates at

www.churchworldservice.org

Church World Service is a cooperative ministry of 37 Christian denominations and communions working to eradicate hunger and poverty – providing sustainable

development, disaster relief and refugee assistance around the world.

None of this work would be possible without the generous support of congregations across the country who see Church World Service as an important expression of their mission and outreach. Thank you!

Indonesia, Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance

Cover photo, Sri Lanka, Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance

Transform your world and your congregation!

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CHURCH WORLD SERVICEP.O. Box 968

Elkhart, IN 46515-9962

Printed with soy ink on recycled paper. PI 1103