Madagascar Mission Team Updates
Please pray for our mission team who will be traveling to Madagascar June 11–June 22.
Mission Team: Allison Beck, Connie Clark, Rod Friesen, Carol Hafer, Evelyn Hernandez, Kathy Miller, Patrick Kuwana, Patrice Tsague
Please visit the following websites to learn more about upcoming missions trips:
Dominican Republic Family Trip (June 9 - 15)
http://missionemanuel.org/ FPCO Mission Madagascar Trip (June 11-22)
www.FPCO.org/Madagascar
Some of the children of Topaz orphanage
|
Some of the children at the Bible Club we went to visit
|
|
Other children of Madagascar
|
The Children of Madagascar
|
|
A boy walking to the river to get water
|
A little girl taking care of her little brother
|
For more information on Biblical Entrepreneurship, click here.
REALITY IS…we have a unique opportunity to stand with our brothers and sisters in Madagascar.
Goal: To start or expand 100 Kingdom businesses that would eventually fund ministry in Madagascar by:
- Establishing a Malagasy business development team, consisting of 12-15 trainers, to lead and continue a sustainable business development process.
- Training 200 Malagasy in Biblical Entrepreneurship.
- Training 100 Orlando business men and women in Bliblical Entrepreneurship.
- Creating an economic development fund to help start or expand 25 businesses in Madagascar.
- Inviting Orlando business leaders to be a part of training or coaching Malagsy entrepreneurs and/or exploring business opportunities in Madagascar.
The start up costs for this project will be approximately $30,000.
Since 2005 our relationship with the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM) and Elizabeth and Dan Turks, Presbyterian Church (USA) missionaries there, has grown more and more deep. It is now the time to launch an initiative to help the church sustain itself and meet the needs of a populace confused by political instability and mired in a sinking economy. The January 2009 political coup is destroying the economy with rising inflation and shortage of basic goods. Prior to the political coup Madagascar was one of the poorest countries in the world (It ranked 152 on a list of 166 countries, based on per capita GDP). Now that much of the outside aid has been stopped and the tourism has decreased, the people are in a desperate economic situation. This is directly impacting the FJKM church. It’s also been inspiring to watch our Malagasy brothers and sisters in the over 5000 FJKM churches continue to do the work of the Lord during these desperate times.
The FJKM church has offered an invitation for us to come and help them establish a Biblical Entrepreneurship Center to provide an avenue for business start up and expansion. We have met some of the potential leaders and trainers who desire to start businesses or expand their businesses to employ people in Madagascar and provide financial streams for church ministry and outreach. The Business Development Initiative will tie FPCO to the FJKM work in a much deeper way than by merely sending money for spot projects here and there. Additionally, there is no greater call than to stand with Christians in crisis. Such a time as this requires bold commitment where we move more deeply in to the work saying to our Christian brothers and sisters that we not only stand with them during this crisis, we seek the welfare of the society along with them.
While many mission partners might be tempted to pull back and focus elsewhere, we sense the call of God to lean in, go further in our partnership to stand with our brothers and sisters in Christ in their time of need.
