Caring For China
www.caringforchina.org
Some of IPC’s longest serving mission partners are Cyril and Gabrielle Thomas of Caring For China. They started sending English teachers into southern China in the early 1980’s, just after the Cultural Revolution. Soon, there were teachers all over the country, sharing the gospel as their students asked about their lives. On Christmas Day in 1990, several teachers decided to volunteer at a local orphanage in Central China, hoping to spread some cheer to the babies and children there. What they found was heartbreaking.
The teachers prayed that somehow God would rescue the children from such a desperate situation. Four years later, their prayers were answered when the authorities asked the teachers if their organization would consider setting up a model orphanage that would bring the orphanage up to international standards and prepare the children for adoption. This was the beginning of the work with orphanages and CFC now helps manage 3 facilities in Central China.
Many of the children have medical issues or are disabled. In 1997, a medical program was started to meet their needs. Today the healthcare team is partnered with a local hospital and CFC has half a floor of a hospital, including an operating room. In 2005, a group of 40 IPC members visited China and got to see firsthand the work in the orphanages and meet the volunteers.
Today, Caring For China still recruits and places teachers in China. The orphanages are running well and the Healthcare program is reaching out to local villages to teach preventive medicine that they hope will result in fewer abandoned babies with birth defects. Adult training for special needs children is being administered and older children with special needs are being taught vocational skills through Caring For China programs.
Wycliffe Bible Translators
www.wycliffe.org
Rex - I grew up here in Orange County. I lived in Buena Park. While I was at Southern California College (Vanguard) I was in a Biblical Studies program, studying Greek and Hebrew. I had to take a missions class for my major. I never thought of myself as a missionary type, but saw that Wycliffe was different, with the translation emphasis. While praying if this was where the Lord was leading me, Wycliffe reps came to the school for a whole week. Coincidence? No! The biggest reason I'm a part of Wycliffe is I believe in what Wycliffe is about (general) and the part I play with them (specific). What I do makes a difference. Some ask why do I typeset academic material. There is a lot I could say here, but the organization's academic excellence has opened doors into countries we wouldn't be working in today.
Susan - I joined Wycliffe as an itinerant teacher in Africa and worked in Togo, Benin, Ghana, and Cameroon for 4 years and then went to the Philippines to teach at Faith Academy for 2 years before coming back to Huntington Beach to work at Wycliffe as a personnel administrator and to retrain as a counselor - which is where I met Rex and the kids! We married in 1997 and joined IPC at that time. Rex was a translator but because I'd had back surgery after my time in the Philippines and couldn't handle the rough roads to do to most village translation sites, Rex retrained to do typesetting - so we both had support roles, working with translators so they could focus on translation while we took care of other time consuming chores (like typesetting and home schooling and such).
The kids were born in the Philippines and seem to feel more at home there, it was a great school situation. Micah is taking a gap year after graduating from Faith Academy and plans to enroll at Vanguard in the fall. Cayla is a freshman at Katella HS. We will return this summer (end of June) for 3 years when Cayla graduates.
It's rewarding to be involved in people's lives and have a small part in fulfilling the Great Commission - we could do that anywhere I suppose but I am content to be in the Philippines for this.
Frontiers
www.frontiers.org
Pioneers
www.pioneers.org
Pravaham: A Community for Peace and Justice
www.pravaham.org/
Contact: Lucy Shyamsundar
IPC Contact: Anita Coleman
Pravaham means an "ever flowing stream". It is located in South India and was established in 1993 by the Rt. Rev. Ananda Rao Samuel, former Moderator and Bishop of the Church of South India. With very little outside help its ministries serve the marginalized, oppressed, poor, and rural villages among whom it is situated.
Programs include: