Jubilee Centre currently works with 231 churches across five networks in Zambia. Through Willow Creek’s support, they have received vegetable seeds from Celebration of Hope over the past 10 years, making an impact in the lives of many like Kaira Lungu.

In 2021, Kaira received tomato seeds from Willow Creek and training from a local agriculture company, inspiring him to pursue a farming career. Both gave him the tools he needed to take a step into provision. But the story doesn’t stop there.

Kaira’s family lives at the church plot where our partner drilled a borehole a few years ago. Because the area is not serviced by the water utility company, the borehole provides the only access to safe drinking water. The water source helped Kaira’s garden thrive, and along with the knowledge he acquired from the training, he reaped an incredible harvest of tomatoes, selling 200 boxes of tomatoes for a total of 28,000 kwacha ($1,647).

This experience and income from growing tomatoes compelled Kaira to try fish farming and banana production. These ventures will allow him to be self-employed and eventually employ others as well. Seeds and agriculture programs empower our Zambian partners to create new employment opportunities, helping to alleviate poverty in their communities while pointing to the true source of hope and life: Jesus.

In December 2021, Willow Creek’s partner celebrated the construction of a brand new borehole in the Mwambenje community in Malawi. The local church and partner organization hosted a celebration of the borehole with government officials and excited community members in attendance. Because of the new borehole, it will only take ten minutes for hundreds of local women and girls to walk to and draw water—giving them the time and opportunity to pursue other ventures, like education. Churches in these communities can now hold gatherings with peace of mind that access to water and waterborne illness are a thing of the past.

Limpopo Church Network, our partner in South Africa, supports a rural community named Rivala. When they first started serving there, the community did not have access to potable water—the women and girls had to travel a far distance to fetch water with a wheelbarrow. The time required just to fetch water kept people out of school and work, compounding the high illiteracy and unemployment rates, leaving families to survive off of a small government assistance.

When the pandemic first brought the country into lockdown, our partner worked alongside a local church (AFM Arise Rivala) to provide food and hygiene supplies to the community. As the pandemic continued, they looked toward long-term solutions: They drilled a borehole well that gave 1,300 people access to clean water and hosted training on new farming methods to help increase crop yields. Both the well and the agricultural training gave the community the tools they needed to have food and income even through drought and harsh weather conditions.

Limpopo Church Network was able to help AFM Arise Rivala meet tangible needs and create a better world for vulnerable community members all in a way that pointed to the hope, life, and goodness of Jesus.

People and animals in Dhabri Bagidora, India were suffering from water scarcity. People used contaminated pond water to drink and cook with, causing many to get sick. In order to access clean water, many villagers, primarily women, had to walk 4 kilometers (2.5 miles), keeping them from education and employment.

One summer day, Kamlesh Ninama, a pastor from our partner organization, visited Dhabri Bagidora to preach the Gospel. He understood that there was not a single believer in this village. While there, he asked a woman for a glass of water. She was iInitially hesitant to give some to the pastor, but after a few minutes, she brought him a glass of polluted water. At first he thought that the woman was disrespecting him, but then came to understand that the village didn’t have any access to clean water.

The geographical setting in Rajasthan requires digging at least 300 feet into the ground to find fresh water. Since the villagers have little money, a borewell was unfathomable. Kamlesh felt compelled to help, so he worked with the village leader to bring the borewell project to this village.

When the borewell was installed in the community, people were overjoyed to have access to clean water for their family, animals, and farms. This borewell project also opened a door for Pastor Kamlesh to share the gospel. He returned back several weeks later and there are now 25 to 30 believers in this village!

Pastor Khalil’s church in Jordan, and the network of churches he oversees, have been faithfully serving refugee families for the past 10 years, providing food, education, and love to the people in their communities. Through their children’s ministry, the church met a 13-year-old girl who had come to Jordan with her parents and younger brother as refugees. As she shared her story, the church learned that her father left them and returned to Iraq. Her mother was now a single mom taking care of two children.

While the mother was expressing her fears about caring for her children alone in Jordan, the 13-year-old daughter comforted her. She told her mom, “God will be our father. Jesus will never forsake us.” The girl shared that being part of the church’s children’s ministry helped her know that her family was not alone. The support she received empowered her to remind her family of these truths and encourage her mother. This family is now a part of the church community, finding hope and a new future in Jordan.

In Cambodia, our partner, IHope, focuses on providing education to children to help them reach their God-given potential. They provide supplemental classes to help improve the quality of education for children in rural communities.

Srie Vy is one of the students in the supplemental class program with IHope. Her parents are temporarily living in Thailand to find work and she currently lives with her grandparents. Before she started her supplemental classes at church, she was unable to read or write. But through the classes she has significantly improved, because the class is located much closer to her home than the public school. She has dreams to break the cycle of poverty for her family through education and receiving a good job.

In 2021, there were a total of 2,000 children who attended the supplemental education programs through our partner in Cambodia, just like Srie Vy. Just imagine the ripples of change they’ll create in their families, community, and country.

In rural parts of Central America it can be nearly impossible for parents to get a birth certificate for their newborn baby due to a variety of obstacles: Most babies are born at home with a midwife, rather than in a hospital, and never receive a birth certificate. Many families live 25+ unpaved miles from the nearest city and don’t have access to a car or bus to register their baby. Some families also don’t speak Spanish, which is the main language in Costa Rica, so they are unable to communicate important information to acquire the document.

Without a birth certificate, these children do not have access to their rights as citizens. They will grow into adults without the right to own property, vote, enroll in school, or access aid from the government. Even their marriages will be unofficial without a birth certificate. Kids without birth certificates face a life of hardship without the rights that citizenship affords them.

Carmen Alvarez is the director of Red Viva, one of our partners dedicated to supporting children in poverty. One day a young girl approached her in tears. She asked if her name could be registered in the “Book of Life” since she had no documented name as an unregistered child.

Carmen was so moved by this young girl that she started the Yo Existo program, which allows rural midwives and health care providers to easily register newborns for free using their cell phones. Yo Existo empowers kids as full citizens of their countries, giving them access to their rights regardless of where they were born.

Enlace is a non-profit organization that serves communities in El Salvador by empowering local churches. One of the pastors Enlace supports is Pastor Jhony Alfaro, who began pastoring the Perla Preciosa Church in the village of Guarnecia, El Salvador, in 2013. Over the last four years, this church of 58 members has worked to build effective partnerships with neighbors and community organizations as they implemented community health campaigns, including life-saving latrines and waste management education. This work positioned them to respond with incredible speed to the pandemic crisis and has enabled them to provide and distribute thousands of meals and trauma counseling for hundreds of families since the spring of 2020.

Within the first few weeks of lockdown in March, the church mobilized volunteers to gather clothing, food, and hygiene aid for over 300 people. The volunteers, who were also fishermen, provided families with a steady source of protein for many days. They would fish early in the morning and then distribute their catch to families all afternoon. The fresh food relief did not stop there, many people offered what they had to provide for others. These same fishermen and farmers were also in vulnerable situations, but through great generosity and incredible efficiency, they gathered and managed resources to serve a whole community throughout the ongoing months of extreme hardship.

Now the church is at the center of an agricultural recovery effort in their region. They are helping local farmers with seeds and other inputs to plant and harvest essential crops. Their leadership has blessed and inspired so many.

Pastor Jhony is a constant source of encouragement. As Enlace staff worked with church and community leaders in Guaernecia, Pastor Jhony was often heard saying, “Let’s do this with everything we’ve got!”

Saq B’e is a faith-based, non-governmental organization that was founded in 2007 to provide disaster relief efforts in response to the tropical storm Stan that hit in 2005. Over time it expanded to involve community development, health, education, and compassion programs in order to provide sustainable growth. We partner with Saq B’e as they partner with churches to alleviate hunger through farming programs.

In order to make lasting change, our partners invest in women, giving them the resources and training to have sustainable agricultural programs, like the poultry program.

One woman who has benefited from the poultry program is Blanca Livia Gomez. Her husband abandoned her, leaving her to raise her seven children. By receiving chickens and support, she has started various small businesses that provide food to her community. She tends and cares for the 14 chickens and five chicks, which provide 30 eggs a week! Her income has provided tremendous opportunities for her kids: Three were able to graduate from school and two are currently in school, but two were not able to attend due to the lack of money. Those two decided to travel to the United States in search of an education. After a long and worrisome journey, they both arrived, separately, in the United States. Blanca is tremendously grateful for the support of Saq B’e and how they have given her and her kids a new, hopeful future.

AVI, our partner in the Dominican Republic, provides training and support to pastors who want to create holistic change in their communities. Enmanuel’s life and ministry changed drastically through the impact of AVI.

Enmanuel grew up seeing the power of the church first-hand: His mother was a pastor and founded 17 churches throughout the San Cristobal providence. Despite that foundation, Enmanuel walked away from his faith at a young age and pursued politics, eventually serving as the governor in his province of San Cristobal.

One day, he was involved in a political conflict and was shot and nearly killed. While he survived that terrible incident, he had an encounter with Jesus and re-committed his life to serving Him. Enmanuel became a pastor and quickly got connected to our partner AVI, who provided holistic vision training on making a community impact. Enmanuel had clarity on what his calling was.

Enmanuel was led to start a prison ministry and has created a program to visit prisons around the country to bring food, clothing, medication, and counseling to the incarcerated. His vision is to take care of inmates—even upon release—and he meets them in their home villages to connect them with the pastors and churches so they can have a hope-filled future.

Enmanuel’s ministry has proven to be so effective that they have the lowest recidivism rate in the country. He has been asked to work in more prisons now with the help of the authorities, opening the door for the Kingdom of God to move in new ways!