Alternative Christmas giving for individuals
How your church can get involved
2008 Alternative Christmas Gift Suggestions
A General Gift to Global Ministries helps to provide a Critical Presence among for our approximately 270 church partners in 70 countries in the world, supports missionaries serving in dozens of countries, provides educational resources for individuals, congregations, and other church bodies, and provides support for missionary visits to congregations and for People-to-People Pilgrimage experiences. Global Ministries is committed to Critical Presence, meeting God's people and creation at the point of deepest need: spiritually, physically, emotionally, and/or economically.
A Gift for Missionary Support allows Global Ministries to appoint new missionaries or to support the assignment of a particular missionary. Global Ministries partner churches and programs submit requests for persons in mission on a regular basis to fill their special personnel needs – usually a position involving skills or talents that they cannot fill themselves at the present time. There continues to be a large backlog of requests from partners for missionaries that cannot be fulfilled because of financial limitations.
A Gift to a Specific Project of our global church partners:
Latin America/Caribbean
Haiti: House of Hope I and II work with the poorest of the poor in Port-au-Prince in two shanty communities within the capital city. They work primarily with children by providing meals and teaching social skills such as conflict resolution and professional trades. House of Hope also has a program to promote peaceful resolution of conflict within the community. A gift of $20 can provide lunches for a child for a month. $100 can pay a child's school fees for a year.
Ecuador: FEDICE Chicken Project serves to provide women with their own source of income. Offering technical training and support, as well as financial tools and assistance, FEDICE helps these women to improve the quality of their families' lives. A gift of $10 can purchase feed for animals. $25 can purchase a chicken or other animal.
East Asia/Pacific
China: Small loans for farmers allow farmers to purchase goats which provide milk as a form of nutrition for children, elderly, and the sick. Goats also provide income when there is extra milk or a baby goat which can be sold or raised for additional milk. $44 buys a goat and provides $3 for the local organization which administers the loans.
Japan: Asian Rural Institute (ARI) Rural Leaders Training Program educates students to return to their home communities to help lead local agricultural communities in transforming local practices toward sustainable agriculture to make the best use of human and natural resources. Graduates help create a bright vision for the future in their communities. A gift of $20 can help to update critical resources. $300 could help maintain and replace technology and equipment at the Institute.
Southern Asia
India: Christian Hospital in Diptipur is in a poor area of India where 35% of people live on less than $1 a day, many patients are not able to pay the full amount for treatment. Often patients delay in seeking help and many arrive in critical condition and many do not survive. Therefore, the hospital is working to expand outreach programs and health education, "taking health care to the villages." A gift of $17 can immunize a child for life against the six leading child-killing diseases: measles, polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, and tuberculosis.
Bangladesh: Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB) provides women with micro-credit loans to begin small economic ventures that enable them to help support their families. These include tailoring; goat, pig, and cow rearing; running a grocery; seed production; and food preservation. As improvement is seen in women's status in the community and their capacity to help their families thrive, domestic violence has decreased. Women have also successfully campaigned to reduce alcohol consumption by the men in their families. Youth also are receiving skills training to prepare them for a career. $25 can help provide resources for a training event.
Middle East/Europe
Israel/Palestine: The Olive tree planting campaign is a joint project of the East Jerusalem YWCA and the YMCA of Palestine working to replant 50,000 olive trees. Over 250,000 have been uprooted since 2000 in building the wall around the West Bank and to prevent farmers from earning income to support their families. Olive trees have been cultivated for over 4,000 years and are a symbol of peace and traditional symbol of Palestinian people. A gift of $20 covers the cost of a young tree, including distribution, planting, and information on tending for the olive tree. Sponsor labels are inscribed with the donor's name and the quote "chose to keep hope alive."
Lebanon: The Arab Group for Christian Muslim Dialogue uses grassroots strategies to equip youth with conflict resolution skills. The promotion of peaceful conflict resolution and intercultural dialogue enable youth from different parts of the Middle East to engage conflict in a constructive and relevant manner. Your gift can help support the cost of a transformative experience for youth. A gift of $30 can pay for conference/workshop materials for one person, $40 can purchase one travel visa for conferences, workshops, and dialogues and $90 can pay for meals for one person for a three day workshop.
Africa
Angola: Project SIVAYA ("Praise the Lord") provides hymnals and Bibles in Portuguese, Umbundu, Nganguela, Fiote, and Kimbundu to people in rural areas where there is the most need. There is currently a critical shortage of Bibles and hymnals in villages. For a group of 300 people, there may as few as three hymnals and Bibles, most of which are incomplete or damaged. The cost of a Bible is about $10 each. Hymnals are about $15 each.
Kenya: Bicycles for Pastors – Most clergy in Africa are unable to afford the purchase and upkeep of a vehicle. Yet each pastor or evangelist might serve several preaching points or small churches. Urgent requests come for bicycles for pastors in Kenya, in order for them to reach their churches more quickly than they do on foot. Pastor of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa in Kenya attends six rural congregations or preaching points on average. Gifts of any size will help provide $200 to furnish a bicycle for a pastor serving in rural Kenya. A more modest gift could cover a bicycle wheel, handlebars, or pedals!
Gifts may be in any amount. The items mentioned above are simply suggestions. You may make your gift online here or you may send your check with information about the gift recipient and gift designation to:
Global Ministries
Office of Resource Development
P.O. Box 1986
Indianapolis, IN 46206
