World Vision is a Christian organization. Without proselytizing, our child-focused projects are offered freely, regardless of the recipient's beliefs, ethnic background, or gender. Yet we boldly tell anyone who asks that our faith is the reason we care, and in many places, our relationships with other Christians provide a foundation for our work.

Andre Fransisco, a 12-year-old choir member standing by the cross in front of his church, says, "I attend church each Sunday to learn about the resurrected Christ." World Vision works in Mozambican communities, providing development projects such as a maternal and child health clinic and schools, as well as supporting churches' efforts to bring healing and reconciliation to this war-torn land.

New Christians Need Trained Leaders
The Cambodian Church was as devastated by the Khmer Rouge as were the nation's economy and infrastructure. Estimates suggest that 90 percent of Christians and their leaders were killed between 1975 and 1979. Today many new believers come to churches every week--part of a spiritual awakening in the country. Yet the Church itself struggles with leadership development, theological questions, and issues like forgiveness.

The Training Timothys project is at the heart of what World Vision is and does, existing alongside our development projects in Cambodia that bring health care and other services to families. Christian leaders have asked World Vision for assistance in re-establishing congregations and providing training for emerging leaders. This project aids the Church by helping underwrite national pastors' conferences and equips congregations with supplies such as theological and Christian education materials, worship music, and Bibles.

Hands are folded in prayer over a Khmer-language Bible, a symbol of Cambodia's vibrant, growing Church.

The Hiding Place Helps Cambodians Learn About Forgiveness
Training Timothys also helps address the larger wounds in people's hearts that are the result of the Khmer Rouge's campaign of violence and cruelty. To help people and churches sincerely approach the issue of forgiveness, the project has collaborated with Cambodian Christian leaders to produce a statement on "Forgiveness of Those Guilty of Atrocities." This powerful teaching tool also is used to answer questions raised by the media regarding the Christian position on the subject.

In addition, World Vision translated into the Khmer language and is distributing the World Wide Pictures film, The Hiding Place. Its story of Corrie and Betsie ten Boom's imprisonment in a concentration camp by the Nazis for their Christian beliefs parallels in many ways the trauma of the Cambodians under the Khmer Rouge. It illustrates the possibility of forgiveness through Christ of even the worst abuses. Work is under way to produce materials and plan seminars around the showing of The Hiding Place and to distribute it as a witness to Christ's message of peace and reconciliation.

Church Partners Help World Vision Ministries
The Church and relationships with our Christian brothers and sisters also are key to World Vision's ministry in the United States. Some churches and denominations currently sponsor large numbers of children in a village or country, desiring to make an impact on whole communities of people. Many individuals and church groups also participate in World Vision's 30 Hour Famine, a youth-oriented program that in fiscal 1999 raised more than $8 million to help feed hungry people around the world.

Because churches are trusted providers of care for the poor in the United States, World Vision partners with churches and Christian ministries to develop projects that help low-income families in urban areas such as Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C. Similarly, World Vision's Appalachian Initiative is reaching out to help the struggling families of rural West Virginia with the assistance of local churches and faith-based groups.

The initiative's director, Ruston Seamon, who also is a local pastor, sees the community's challenges such as high unemployment, racial discrimination, and lack of cooperation among many churches. But he is convinced that people can overcome these obstacles saying, "The perception of the community itself determines how successful it will be and its ability to survive hardship."

Encouraging Others to Serve
One local pastor, Johnny Whitehair, and his congregation are benefiting from the new partnership between World Vision, World Servants, and Appalachia Community Care through this initiative. This pastor has participated in leadership training that has taught him team-building and communication skills, helping him encourage more pastors to join in the partnership.

Through World Vision's building materials GIK warehouse, The Transformation Station, Johnny's congregants access supplies to repair their homes, something they could not afford to do on their own. In return, the recipients are asked to donate 10 hours of service to the project or ministry, helping create a sense of community among churches and the participants. Other aspects of the project include a KidREACH tutoring program, programs for youth, and constructing community centers that provide facilities for these activities and places for people to help each other.

Johnny Whitehair is enthused about what he calls "doing something for Jesus." He believes that "when you serve someone else, you fall in love." And these relationships are rebuilding the low-income communities of Appalachia.