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 WCCM Christmas Projects 2023 |
shaunbwilson |
Merry Christmas, everyone! I wanted to share our ministry's Christmas projects for this year in case anyone feels led to participate. Here's a version of our email that I've slightly redacted due to the persecution some on our "Christmas List" suffer.
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WCCM Christmas Projects 2023
Last year, you helped 65 orphans, 70 impoverished children, and 40 of their parents celebrate Christmas in Nepal and across Cambodia.
This year, we’re thinking BIGGER!
Above: 35 Nepali orphans celebrate Christmas thanks to your generous giving in 2022.
Dear WCCMP Partner,
Each Christmas, World Class Cities Ministries reviews the needs in front of us and invites you to help the less fortunate celebrate the arrival of the King and Savior of the world. In particular, we give focus to those mentioned in Deuteronomy 24:19-22 and Matthew 25:31-40.
| Quote: | | When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. — Deut 24:19 ESV |
| Quote: | | And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ — Matt 25:40 ESV |
This year, we invite you to prayerfully consider blessing sojourners (religious refugees), orphans, widows, and impoverished children across India and the Philippines with a celebration of the greatest gift the world has ever known—Jesus Christ.
Here are the people we have identified as most in need this Christmas season through our verified strategic ministry partners:
85 Orphans – $297.50 (Fully Funded)
Dimapur, Nagaland, India
Earlier this year, WCCM moved its Asian headquarters from Bangalore to Dimapur in northeast India because of an opportunity to increase our effectiveness in accomplishing WCCM's mission to train ministers, plant churches, and provide aid to those most in need around the world. This Christmas, we are supporting an orphanage in Dimapur with 85 orphans, both boys and girls, ranging in age from 6–14 years old. These children are permanent residents of this facility, living there and receiving an education on-premises until they graduate high school. For $3.50 per orphan, we will be able to provide:
- A traditional Naga Christmas dinner, including a chicken with curry gravy dish, rice item, vegetable salad, fruit juice, and a piece of "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" Christmas cake;
- School supplies of: 4 notebooks, 5 pencils, 1 box of crayons, and a ruler; and
- 2 soccer balls and 2 volleyballs to be shared by all at the facility.
60 Orphans – $315 (Fully Funded)
Jharkhand, India
This orphanage in Jharkhand is an orphanage that focuses on adoptions. Since this orphanage has a higher turnover rate, our focus is to provide Christmas gifts that will benefit the current children but stay with the orphanage as new orphans arrive and are in need of finding comfort and interpersonal connections while they acclimate to their new circumstances. As of the writing of this email, the 60 orphans are both boys and girls aged 4–15. For $5.25 per orphan, we will be able to provide:
- A traditional Naga Christmas dinner, including a chicken with curry gravy dish, rice item, vegetable salad, fruit juice, and a piece of "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" Christmas cake;
- 2 soccer balls and 2 volleyballs;
- 60 high-quality children's books with a Biblical worldview for these children to "lose themselves in" as they await their adoption; and
- Approximately 40 high-quality stuffed toys for the children to embrace during this time of upheaval and uncertainty. Again, these items will each remain with the orphanage as the current orphans are adopted and new orphans arrive.
75 Refugee Senior Citizens – $431.25 ($231.25 Remaining)
Manipur, India
In Manipur, the state bordering the south of Nagaland, just 3 hours' drive from WCCM's Asia HQ in Dimpapur, a serious [redacted world religion] movement to persecute the Christian minority broke out in May 2023. More than 65,000 Christians have been displaced so far this year—their homes and at least 300 churches burned to the ground, and their agricultural land commandeered by the [redacted world religion] majority as the state and national governments turn a blind eye. At least 180 Christians have been killed for their faith, and the violence, gang rape, and murder of Christians have continued since May. (Additional reading: Christianity Today, OpenDoors, Reuters, Newsweek, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.)
Some of the 65,000 Christians who have been displaced have found asylum in refugee camps, while others are literally living in the local jungles, taking their chances with the wildlife rather than the mobs who seek to martyr them. One of our [contacts] is from Manipur and will be returning home to his family for Christmas break. We hope to send him back to his displaced community with enough wool blankets to provide for 75 refugees aged 72 or older who have been displaced and are currently hiding in the jungle. We can provide a wool blanket to one senior citizen for $5.75.
40 Church Planters in Training – $366
Nagaland, India
[Redacted] Bible College was started in partnership with WCCM in 2022 and is now in its second year of operation. The Bible College focuses on providing training at the Bachelor of Theology and M. Div. levels with Church Planting and Evangelism emphases. Our first class will graduate in April 2024.
Approximately half of the students who are currently enrolled are refugees who have been kicked out of their [redacted world religion] homes in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Thailand because they turned from [redacted world religion] and put their faith in Christ. They will be unable to return to their estranged families during Christmas break. The other half come from mostly very poor families who are involved in strong Christian churches.
These students eat the same thing every single day. Please understand that this is not hyperbole. Every day, they eat two meals. Each of these meals consists of rice and potatoes, and for one meal, a single egg is also eaten. Further, they live 10 to a dorm room with no air conditioning and a single oscillating pedestal fan per dorm room. The temperatures often reach a "feels like" high of 106°F every day for weeks at a time. They sleep on plywood bunk beds with 1-inch foam mattresses. These are the only conditions they can afford, but they are the conditions they are willing to endure for two years in order to receive their training in church planting because they feel the call of God on their life to reach other [redacted world religion] with the message of the saving power of Jesus Christ.
We want to encourage these young men and women and let them know that there are Christian brothers and sisters out there who believe in them and who want to encourage them by helping them to celebrate Christmas together this year. WCCM would like to provide a traditional Naga Christmas meal of a pork chop, rice, vegetable, juice, and "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" birthday cake for the 40 students and 10 staff and volunteers. Additionally, each student will receive two 200-page college rule notebooks and a pen—necessary tools for these college students that are hard for them to afford. This Christmas celebration will cost $8.15 per student and $4 per staff member.
5 Widows – $1,029 ($1,011 Remaining)
Cabadbaran City and Roxas, Philippines
- We are coordinating with our long-term partner in the Philippines to provide much-needed resources for five widows currently living in a poverty (less than $200/mo) or low income (between $200 and $400/mo) economic status. Three of the widows are able-bodied and ready to work with a small investment from donors like you.
- A 74-year-old widow and a 56-year-old widow are each in need of a female piglet ($70 each) and feed ($148 each). These widows each have a place to raise the piglets. Once the the pig reaches maturity, the sow will have a minimum of 3 cycles of giving birth to more piglets, and the piglets can generate more income whether they are raised as a new sow or sold. This venture is indefinitely sustainable to the widow.
- A 63-year-old widow currently runs a business making and selling a Filipino dessert called “cassava budbud,” a sweet dessert made from grated cassava, coconut, and brown sugar, all steamed in a banana leaf. She currently wakes up in the middle of the night to make her cassava budbuds by hand because they need to be ready to sell at 6:00 AM at the beginning of coffee time. (Similar to waking up early to “make the doughnuts” before the American commute to work.) The widow’s wake-up time will be greatly shifted if she is able to use machinery to do her work. She currently supports twin sons in senior high school. Needs: Casava grinder – $157; Coconut grater – $74; Steamer – $102.
- Two additional widows (75 and 59 years old) are not able-bodied and are in need of food. For $130, one widow can receive one months’ worth of groceries, including a sack of rice, meat, milk, and coffee.
200 Children Living in Poverty – $570 (Fully Funded)
Cabadbaran City and Roxas, Philippines
Our Philippines contacts (a husband and wife) who pastor two churches about an hour away from one another had a very effective evangelism tool in an Annual Christmas Children’s Celebration through 2018. Starting in 2019, the economic conditions became so poor that they could no longer afford to sustain it. We are hoping to help this church, which serves a community of families living in the poor (monthly family income less than $200/mo) or low income (monthly family income of $200–$400/mo) social classes. For $2.85 per child (ages 5–12), the church can provide a traditional Christmas meal of fried chicken, bihon noodles, a hot dog, rice, and a small toy.
Remaining Need: $1,608.25
Please prayerfully consider whether the Lord would be pleased if you took part in helping to fulfill these needs this Christmas. Even a donation of just $5.75 will provide a warm wool blanket to one more senior citizen who is a religious refugee as they celebrate the birth of Christ this year.
Donations may be made through secure online giving at https://www.wccm.net/donate/ or by check at the address posted at the same link. You may mark your donation as Christmas Projects 2023, and your donation will be used to fund the above in the order they are listed. Or you may choose the specific opportunity that the Lord has laid on your heart and—if making a donation through PayPal—mark “I will specify on the next page” to write in which need you’d like to help meet. Funds in excess of the needs above will overflow to the next priority item in the list above. (For instance, Nagaland needs $297.50. If $400 is given for Nagaland, we will send $297.50 to Nagaland, and the remaining $102.50 will be sent to the Jharkhand project, and so forth.) If all of the above is funded and there are additional funds given for WCCM Christmas Projects 2023, we will use them to help fund additional humanitarian needs in Asia.
Thank you so much for being a WCCM partner and praying for those in such great need this Christmas. Again, we at WCCM wish you a merry Christmas season, and we look forward to sharing with you about the amazing results of the giving toward these Christmas projects in the weeks to come!
Make A Donation
COG World Missions Number 1029053
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Signature Themes: Connectedness | Futuristic | Ideation | Intellection | Learner |
Site Admin
Posts: 3211
12/15/23 4:51 pm
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Cojak |
Hi Bro Shawn, Me 'n Pay Pal fell out of love, so I will be late on a donation. When we send our support to our home church in NC in Jan will designate a gift then.
Love from a COLD Leesburg. 
_________________
Some facts but mostly just my opinion!
jacsher@aol.com
http://shipslog-jack.blogspot.com/ |
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Posts: 24277
12/19/23 7:35 pm
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shaunbwilson |
I wanted to say THANK YOU! to everyone who helped contribute to our Christmas 2023 projects and give an update as best I can!
As you can read in the testimonies below, many of the people we served this Christmas are under intense, life-threatening religious persecution. The delay in posting this update is primarily because those we served were extremely hesitant to share photos with their faces in them. We've done our best to remove any concern through redaction. I'd be thrilled if you'd consider joining our mailing list at the link at the end of this post.
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WCCM Christmas Projects 2023
This year, you helped
145 orphans, 206 impoverished children,
75 refugee senior citizens, 5 widows,
and 40 refugee church planters
celebrate Christmas in India, Philippines, and Bangladesh.
Above: 85 Indian orphans celebrate Christmas thanks to your generous giving in 2023.
Dear WCCM Partner,
Thank you so much for contributing to our Christmas Projects 2023! The financial and prayer contributions of partners such as yourself helped us meet all of our Christmas goals for 2023. Praise the Lord!
With your help, we were able to present the love and the light of Christ to 441 orphans, widows, refugees, and needy children in Asia. Please find below some of the testimonies and photos that were shared with us.
85 Orphans
Dimapur, Nagaland, India
Earlier this year, WCCM moved its Asian headquarters from Bangalore to Dimapur in northeast India because of an opportunity to dramatically increase our effectiveness in accomplishing WCCM's mission to train ministers, plant churches, and provide aid to those most in need around the world. This Christmas, we supported an orphanage in Dimapur with 85 orphans, both boys and girls, ranging in age from 6–14 years old. These children are permanent residents of this facility, living there and receiving an education on-premises until they graduate high school. With your help, we were able to provide:
- A traditional Naga Christmas dinner, including a pork dish, rice item, vegetable salad, corn, fruit juice, and a piece of "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" Christmas cake;
- School supplies of: 4 notebooks, 5 pencils, 1 box of crayons, and a ruler; and
- 2 soccer balls and 2 volleyballs to be shared by all at the facility.
60 Orphans
Jharkhand, India
This orphanage in Jharkhand is an orphanage that focuses on adoptions. Since this orphanage has a higher turnover rate, our focus was to provide Christmas gifts that will benefit the current children but will stay with the orphanage as new orphans arrive and are in need of finding comfort and interpersonal connections while they acclimate to their new circumstances. The orphanage provides for 60 orphans that are both boys and girls aged 4–15. With your help, we were able to provide:
- A traditional Naga Christmas dinner, including a chicken with curry gravy dish, rice item, vegetable salad, fruit juice, and a piece of "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" Christmas cake;
- 2 soccer balls and 2 volleyballs;
- 60 high-quality children's books with a Biblical worldview for these children to "lose themselves in" as they await their adoption; and
- Approximately 40 high-quality stuffed toys for the children to embrace during this time of upheaval and uncertainty. Again, these items will each remain with the orphanage as the current orphans are adopted and new orphans arrive.
[Images Redacted]
75 Refugee Senior Citizens
Manipur, India
In Manipur, the state bordering the south of Nagaland, just 3 hours' drive from WCCM's Asia HQ in Dimpapur, a serious [redacted world religion] movement to persecute the Christian minority broke out in May 2023. More than 65,000 Christians were displaced in 2023—their homes and at least 300 churches burned to the ground, and their agricultural land commandeered by the [redacted world religion] majority as the state and national governments turn a blind eye. At least 180 Christians have been killed for their faith, and the violence, gang rape, and murder of Christians have continued since May. (Additional reading: Christianity Today, OpenDoors, Reuters, Newsweek, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.)
Some of the 65,000 Christians who have been displaced have found asylum in refugee camps, while others are literally living in the local jungles, taking their chances with the wildlife rather than the mobs who seek to martyr them. One of our instructors at the Yodh-Beth Bible College (below) is from Manipur and returned home to his family for Christmas break. We sent him back to his displaced community with enough wool blankets to provide for 75 refugees aged 72 or older who have been displaced and are currently hiding in the jungle.
Above: Arriving at a nearby refugee camp to distribute wool blankets from a central location. The senior citizens (starting at age 72 in the Indian culture) and those helping them travel emerged from the surrounding jungle to receive your Christmas gift to them.
[Additional images redacted.]
| Quote: | We received an incredible testimony from our contact who delivered these blankets. When he was crossing over the interstate checkpoint, the border guards stopped him to ask what he was doing coming to this area of unrest. When he showed the guards the blankets he was bringing, they immediately let him in to the state and assured him he would be safe on his travels—no one would mess with him.
Receiving these blankets was “the crowning glory of Christmas this year,” according to those who received them. The Christians of the state had decided not to publicly hold any Christmas celebrations this year because it was just too dangerous for them to do so. However, those in the field report that this delivery of blankets to the senior citizens of the area brought a “new surge of hope in the relief camps.” As a direct result of this Christmas project, 3 brand new Christian fellowships have already been planted in [this state]. |
40 Church Planters in Training
Nagaland, India
[Redacted] Bible College was started in partnership with WCCM in 2022 and is now in its second year of operation. The Bible College focuses on providing training at the Bachelor of Theology and M. Div. levels with Church Planting and Evangelism emphases. Our first class will graduate in April 2024.
Approximately half of the students who are currently enrolled are refugees who have been kicked out of their [redacted world religion] homes in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Thailand because they turned from [redacted world religion] and put their faith in Christ. They will be unable to return to their estranged families during Christmas break. The other half come from mostly very poor families who are involved in strong Christian churches.
These students eat the same thing every single day. Please understand that this is not hyperbole. Every day, they eat two meals. Each of these meals consists of rice and potatoes, and for one meal, a single egg is also eaten. Further, they live 10 to a dorm room with no air conditioning and a single oscillating pedestal fan per dorm room. The temperatures often reach a "feels like" high of 106°F every day for weeks at a time. They sleep on plywood bunk beds with 1-inch foam mattresses. These are the only conditions they can afford, but they are the conditions they are willing to endure for two years in order to receive their training in church planting because they feel the call of God on their life to reach other [redacted world religion] with the message of the saving power of Jesus Christ.
This Christmas, you encouraged these young men and women and let them know that there are Christian brothers and sisters out there who believe in them and who want to encourage them by helping them to celebrate Christmas together this year. You provided this group with a traditional Naga Christmas meal of a pork chop, rice, vegetable, juice, and "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" birthday cake for the 40 students and 10 staff and volunteers. Additionally, each student received two 200-page college rule notebooks and a pen—necessary tools for these college students that are hard for them to afford.
Below are some photos of the students’ Christmas pageant, caroling, and the Christmas dinner you provided.
| Quote: | | Although these 40 men and women are full-time students in residence at the college, they were responsible for planting 44 brand-new fellowships in [3 redacted countries] during the first half of the academic year (Sep–Dec 2023). They continue to invest practically in the surrounding areas, and the Lord is faithful to provide the increase, just as He said He would. |
5 Widows
Cabadbaran City and Roxas, Philippines
We are coordinating with our long-term partner in the Philippines to provide much-needed resources for five widows currently living in a poverty (less than $200/mo) or low income (between $200 and $400/mo) economic status. Three of the widows are able-bodied and were ready to work with a small investment from donors like you.
- A 74-year-old widower and a 56-year-old widow were each in need of a female piglet and feed. These widows each have a place to raise the piglets. Once the the pig reaches maturity, the sow will have a minimum of 3 cycles of giving birth to more piglets, and the piglets can generate more income whether they are raised as a new sow or sold. This venture is indefinitely sustainable to the widow.
Above: The 56-year-old widow cares for the two piglets until the 74-year-old’s pig pen is completed.
Below: The 74-year-old widower (far right) receives his piglet after his pig pen is completed.
- A 63-year-old widow runs a business making and selling a Filipino dessert called “cassava budbud,” a sweet dessert made from grated cassava, coconut, and brown sugar, all steamed in a banana leaf. She was waking up in the middle of the night to make her cassava budbuds by hand because they need to be ready to sell at 6:00 AM at the beginning of coffee time. (Similar to waking up early to “make the doughnuts” before the American commute to work.) The widow’s wake-up time has been greatly shifted due to the equipment you have provided to do her work more efficiently—a 2-in-1 cassava grinder/coconut grater and a steamer. She currently supports twin sons in senior high school.
- Two additional widows (75 and 59 years old) are not able-bodied and were in need of food. Each widow received one months’ worth of groceries, including a sack of rice, meat, milk, and coffee. The pastors went to the market to help them buy their bulk dry goods and transport them home. They were able to purchase fresh meat throughout the month. Additionally, each received their prescription medicine for the month, which is in the red envelope in the center of the last photo.
200 Children Living in Poverty
Cabadbaran City and Roxas, Philippines
Our Philippines contacts (a husband and wife) who pastor two churches about an hour away from one another had a very effective evangelism tool in an Annual Christmas Children’s Celebration through 2018. Starting in 2019, the economic conditions became so poor that they could no longer afford to sustain it. You were able to help this church, which serves a community of families living in the poor (monthly family income less than $200/mo) or low income (monthly family income of $200–$400/mo) social classes. With your donations, this church was able to provide a traditional Christmas meal of fried chicken, bihon noodles, a hot dog, rice, and a small toy.
Videos: Sharing the Message of Christmas | Kids Worship | Kids' Ministry | Distributing Gifts | Christmas Gifts
| Quote: | Both churches continue to minister to the kids who were involved in these programs. In addition to the Children’s Ministry that continues on Sunday at each church, each church also has a Saturday program.
A new Saturday program was begun a the Roxas church where an average of 30+ previously unchurched children who attended the Christmas program have attended each week to do Bible-based arts and crafts and eat a special snack. This program is a financial stretch for this church. The pastors have asked if you will join them in praying "the Lord will bless them with coloring books, paper, bond paper (construction paper), scissors, plastic envelopes, crayons, colored pencils, pencils, and pens to do their individual handwork after the word of God.” Additionally, these pastors have shared with us that they have been sacrificing their own meals to afford to provide snacks to these 30+ children each Saturday. Below are some photos of this new weekly Saturday program. |
| Quote: | | In Cabadbaran City, there is a couple who attend the Cabadbaran Church and are part of the discipleship program there that have been doing Saturday afternoon children’s Bible studies and snacks for several months now. The Christmas program was a boon to their program, which is held in their home’s small backyard. Below are a few photos of this ongoing ministry. After the Bible study, they also prepare landang—a sweetened porridge made from the starch extracted from the inner trunk of the buri palm tree—for a snack after the session. |
Once again, we want to thank you for all of your support as we worked to present the love and light of Christ this Christmas to those most in need around the world. You made it possible for these people of invaluable worth to unwrap the greatest gift of all this Christmas: The joy that comes from knowing the presence of Emmanuel in their lives and the powerful hope that comes from knowing that He cares enough to provide through those who call Him Lord.
Thank you so much for being a WCCM partner and praying for those in such great need this Christmas!
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Signature Themes: Connectedness | Futuristic | Ideation | Intellection | Learner |
Site Admin
Posts: 3211
2/6/24 1:58 pm
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Cojak |
Thanks so much, the pictures are inspiring health here is failing, but keep on the firing line.  God is Good
_________________
Some facts but mostly just my opinion!
jacsher@aol.com
http://shipslog-jack.blogspot.com/ |
01000001 01100011 01110100 01110011
Posts: 24277
2/15/24 2:35 pm
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