Sustainable ministry in an age of transition

Sustainability has been a theme running through much recent material related to ministry in developing nations, and even those in our own region of Oceania.  This has been part of the focus of those concerned with financial and personnel support, and it has been included in the literature from the Leadership Team, Ministry Directorate, and the Edmund Rice Foundation.  But what does it really mean for us?
The way in which ministries are initially set up to work is crucial to their sustainability. This is where local input from the very beginning is so crucial. Arriving, assessing, deciding, and implementing without the inclusion of the local people is a recipe for failure. Having the local people assess their needs and the manner in which a ministry is going to be able to function is essential.If practices are instituted that run counter to the genuine culture of the local people, then once the ministry becomes theirs to be responsible for, it will not survive without massive restructuring that the local people might not be capable of managing.

Terrace Timor Network (TTN) Christmas Gift List

For some years now, the Terrace Timor Network (TTN) have worked alongside the Timorese helping to build better futures through education, health and empowering and equipping them to trade a range of locally made products for a fair and just return. The TTN Justice Products range features beautiful handmade cards, traditionally hand woven wrist bands and organic, premium coffee from beans grown by our farmers and roasted in Brisbane by BlueSky coffee.

ER Network in the Philippines

One of the projects supported by the ER Network in the Philippines involves administrative support of 26 schools in Negros Occidental and Southern Leyte. They also run “out of school” programmes for youth who have left school as well as for young people who have never had the opportunity of an education.

In the course of their work, they discovered that some children who had been abandoned because they were regarded as "mentally challenged", were in fact, deaf and had never learned to speak from birth. At present the brothers are helping support thirty of these children in an orphanage and at school.

East Timor

Sally, Jennifer and Bill were invited to an evening meal at Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta’s house. They had a pleasant meal at a very nice, and very Timorese, house. There is a tentative promise that the Prime Minister may visit the card making project at Railaco Kraic on Thursday 25 February.

Many thanks go to Alex and Roni for their very good impersonation of Year 1 teachers at Deleco. They had the kids fooled (most of the time), and most of them learnt a bit of writing in Tetum and English and counting in Portuguese and Mathematics . It’s take your pick of language in Year 1!

The purpose of Edmund Rice Oceania Ministries is to ensure that ministries are governed and supported so as to carry out their mission effectively within the overall mission of the Oceania Province. The new structure is designed so that new ministries can emerge and ministries are supported - particularly those in developing nations. Promoting an Indigenous perspective and networking with similar ministries will be an important aspect of the work of this team. One of the hopes would be that this new structure facilitates partnerships between ministries and other organizations that are engaged in work with those at the edge.  An early task for the Ministries team and the Oceania Leadership Team will be to review all ministries with a view to developing an Oceania perspective. This review will assist in identifying ministries’ support and governance needs, as well as the possibilities that exist for networking and support between ministries. The review will also contribute to the process of clarifying and developing unifying policies to apply for Oceania.

Principles for Engaging with People on the Margins

 
We are called to directly engaging with Jesus asHe clearly identifies himself with those who are isolated, vulnerable, hungry and powerless.

 How do we prepare ourselves to start working in programmes that engage with people and communities experiencing extreme poverty and marginalisation? 

 Jesus' teaching as outlined in Matthew above appears quite straightforward and unequivocal; go out and give food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, clothing to those without, spend time with those isolated by sickness or imprisonment and give welcome to strangers. Why is this formula for action so important?