As the school year starts, now is a great time to look for ways to partner with your local school. Separation of church and state notwithstanding, most schools have needs, know of needy families, and will accept help from anywhere they can get it. Step one is to meet with the Principal and ask what their needs are. Step two is prayer. If you’re in Arizona, I recommend connecting with Bridge Builders International, which has an amazing program of prayer for schools.

Our TCT partner churches in Asia have been inspiring me with the way they are meeting needs for the schools in their communities. While the needs may be different, the heart of service is exactly what I hope we can demonstrate where we live.

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One church just finished the first (TCT) training and decided to open a new road to the main road so everyone can drive motorbikes all the way to town. Teachers who come to the village have to park their bike on the roadside and walk to the school. Sometimes, after school, they found their gas tank emptied, flat tires or even lost parts. In moments like that, it’s really frustrating and disappointing. They never felt safe because they don’t know what would happen to their bike while they are teaching. People in this village could see the problem, but they felt hopeless and thought there was nothing they could do to change the situation because they were poor. But through TCT training, God changed their minds and motivated them do to something to show His love to their community. That’s why they created a new road.  It’s three kilometers long, and they were able to finish it in two days. Everyone is very happy, especially the teachers. Now they can drive directly to the village, have peace in their mind and can focus on teaching the children.  The teachers thanked the church and said, “Why didn’t you do this much earlier? It helps us so much!”

The church answered, “Because we didn’t have the material to teach us what to do until now.”

The teachers asked if they could have one copy of this material so that they can learn from it. The next Sunday, they went to visit the church and said, “If the church can do the things as the book says, then nobody will dare to criticize you because this book instructs so well, every detail. Even though we have been to university, we don’t have as much experience as this book.”

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After we studied phase four of TCT program about health and preventing illness, the Word of God reminded us that we need to live clean and have good hygiene in order to have good health. Therefore, we chose to build a fence around the kindergarten to protect the health of our young children. Because cattle are often wandering around the area and making a mess, the kindergarten is always dirty and smelly. It’s very easy for the children to get sick if they played among the cattle manure. We gathered and used what we already have in the community, such as bamboo, small tree trunks, and chicken wire, to build the fence. With 30 people working hard, it only took us half a day to complete the project. The teachers brought cold water for us and thanked everyone participating in the work. Now the kindergarten is clean because the cattle cannot come close. The next Sunday, after the service finished, teachers from the kindergarten stood up in the church and publicly gave thanks for what the church had done. We are encouraged so much because God’s name is glorified!  It made us want to do more projects so that His name will be exalted high.

Image courtesy of ILRI / Flickr.com