2023 Redemption Project: World Relief Cambodia

Each Easter, we partner with another ministry to serve those in need and advance the Gospel around the world. We call this the Redemption Project. This year, we’re partnering with World Relief to empower the local church to reach the poor in Cambodia.

 

Cambodia is a country climbing the ladder of economic development, with a growing middle class powered by rapid urbanization and industry. It’s made considerable gains in reducing poverty in urban settings over the last few decades, but over 75% or Cambodians live in rural areas and lack access to basic human services. Many households at the bottom rung of Cambodian society are left behind, suffering over-indebtedness, broken families, crippling hunger, and no hope for the future.

 

Cambodia is also a Buddhist country, with only 2% of the population identifying as Christian. In a culture that often turns its back on the neediest in their community, this small Christian population can stand out by sharing Christ and extending support to their neighbors. But this work is not easy for Christians who are often rejected by people around them because of their faith. So, how can the Cambodian church meet the crushing needs of their communities and spread the Gospel?

 

World Relief and the local Cambodian church want to redeem ultra-poor families through an innovative solution that uplifts poor families, body and soul. Through this model, the local churches identify destitute families in their communities and place them on a sustainable path out of poverty.

 

These families receive a series of critical interventions over a 12–18-month period to help them move from dependency to self-sufficiency. The interventions include:

  1. An emergency cash gift to cover the family’s most immediate needs.
  2. An income-generating asset, like a cow or a sewing machine.
  3. Routine training and discipleship so they can set realistic goals and have the support and tools they need to succeed, body and soul.
  4. Weekly participation in a Savings for Life group, which provides social connections, financial accountability to their neighbors, and access to loans for economic improvement.

 

Through this approach, the local church is empowered to take the lead in changing their communities for God’s glory. World Relief trains church leaders to not only provide the necessary economic interventions but also to share the Good News of Jesus with those they are ministering to. Step by step, household by household, these communities are transformed to look a little more like the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

We invite you to be a part of this change in Cambodia through our 2023 Redemption Project. Our goal is to raise $100,000 to support 40 families in need.

How You Can Help

Give Financially: Designate “Redemption Project” on your offering envelope or online donation. Your donation in any amount will help us support the gospel work of World Relief Cambodia.

 

Our goal is to raise $100,000 to support 40 families. A gift in any amount makes an impact for the Kingdom of God. Thank you in advance for your generosity!

 

  • $25 provides emergency support for one month.
  • $250 provides an income-generating asset.
  • $2,500 provides full support for up to two years.

 

Pray: Pray for the ministry of World Relief Cambodia, as they train and empower the local church to meet the needs of the ultra-poor in their communities.

History of the Redemption Project

MARCH 2008 BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENT

 

This Resurrection Season, we have the privilege of partnering with the ministry of Charasia in providing a Home for children at risk in Western India. By God’s strength and grace we can bring children out of the Red Light District and into a safe and loving Home where they can grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

This Sunday (Palm Sunday, 16 March) and the next (Resurrection Sunday, 23 March), we will be distributing 11×17 sheets out of which you can construct homes to remind you to pray for these children at risk. Along with these sheets will be an offering envelope. The Moody Church Missions Committee will be matching all gifts received up to $100,000.

 

Your generosity will provide food, shelter, and clothing for these orphans right now, and will also be used toward the designing of a new orphanage where 150 children can grow up experiencing the love of Christ.

APRIL 2009 BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENT

 

By The Hand Club needs your help.

 

Give 150 inner-city kids eight life-changing days of Christ-centered excitement at summer camp. Scholarships are $300 per child. To support this effort, make checks payable to “The Moody Church” and please note “Redemption Project” on your check and/or offering envelope.

 

You can also give a child a Camp Care Pack with basic supplies they will need while at camp. By The Hand Club will provide an empty Camp Care Pack along with a shopping list, which you can then fill with drugstore items for about $25 per child. To get your Camp Care Pack, visit the tables in the east and west lobbies today.

APRIL 2010 BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENT

 

Twenty-five years ago, four women from The Moody Church started Caris – a ministry that supports women facing unplanned pregnancies. Through free services, including counseling, accurate information, and ongoing relationships, Caris provides emotional support and practical resources so that each woman can be empowered to continue her pregnancy.

 

Bring Hope to a New Mom
…by filling a special Caris tote bag as part of our Redemption Project this year. Together, our partnership will make a difference as we impact the lives of many women and children in the city!

MARCH 2011 BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENT

 

In response to Jesus’ sacrifice to redeem lost men and women, every spring The Moody Church initiates a Redemption Project. This year, our project is again connected with Hope for Kids, a TMC ministry that cares for vulnerable children in Chicago and overseas through seven ministry partners.

 

Safe Families is a Hope for Kids ministry partner in Chicago that provides temporary, loving homes for children whose parent(s) are unable to take care of them. The approved Safe Families often receive a child with very little notice. This year, we are filling bags with items such as diapers, clothes and formula, to help the Safe Families during the first 24 hours as they get settled with the baby or child for whom they are caring.

MARCH 2012 BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENT

 

This Easter season, The Moody Church’s annual Redemption Project benefits As Our Own. Based in India, As Our Own rescues girls from certain enslavement and exploitation—adopting them into their family for life.

 

Pray for As Our Own at a special prayer meeting on Wednesday April 11, 6:45–8:15pm, in room 108. Use prayer requests on the Redemption Project handouts to continue praying.

 

Give a one-time gift to cover a child’s education, clothing, housing, or extra-curricular activities for one month. Gift amounts are listed on the Redemption Project handouts. Mark “Redemption Project” on your regular offering envelope.

 

Redeem a life by committing to care for God’s children through As Our Own. Visit the As Our Own kiosk for more information.

APRIL 2013 BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENT

 

As we celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection each Easter Season, the people of The Moody Church extend our worship into service with our annual Redemption Project. We remember how God redeemed our lives, and we celebrate His transforming work by loving others.

 

This year’s Redemption Project will care for children at risk through our Hope For Kids ministry. Here’s how you can help!

 

Pray for a Chicago child currently in foster care. Pick up a prayer card with a specific child’s information on it and a prayer bracelet to remind you to pray at the Hope For Kids kiosk.

 

Give to The Moody Church’s new adoption fund. $45,000 will partially cover the costs of bringing five  children home to our congregation this year. You may mark “Adoption Fund” on your offering envelope.

 

Join the community already caring for children at The Moody Church. At the Hope for Kids kiosk you can learn how to start the adoptive or foster care process, sign up to volunteer with ministries serving children at risk, or find out how to support others who are already doing these things.

MARCH 2014 BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENT

 

Give the New Testament to Arabic-speaking people in Lebanon and Western Europe by participating in this year’s Redemption Project: Giving the Word.

– Your gift of $100 will provide 36 New Testaments

– Your gift of $50 will provide 16 New Testaments

– Your gift of $20 will provide 4 New Testaments

APRIL 2015 BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENT

 

Each Easter season, we seek to put God’s redeeming love on display through our annual Redemption Project. This year’s Project demonstrates God’s love to Yazidi children in Northern Iraq, where a Christian organization has started a school in one refugee camp.

 

The Yazidis, one of Iraq’s oldest minority communities, have been targeted by ISIS. Hundreds of thousands of Yazidis now reside in refugee camps. The children in these camps, having lost families, homes, and any semblance of security or stability, have also been without any educational facilities for nearly a year.

 

As these precious children return to school, we can help show them Christ’s love by providing them with school supplies. $33 pays for a backpack filled with supplies. Stop by the Redemption Project kiosk for more info, to donate, or to pick up a Prayer Card.

APRIL 2016 BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENT

 

Jesus taught us to love our neighbors, and showed us that our “neighbor” can be anyone who needs our help. This year for our annual Redemption Project we’re showing this love to our neighbors by coming alongside refugee families in the Chicago area.

 

Chicago is a “hub” for the placement of many refugee families fleeing natural disasters, war, or genocide. Many arrive in Chicago with no resources and no money. In that situation, the blessing of a new baby becomes fraught with insecurity when the family doesn’t have the resources to care for the child.

 

The Moody Church is pleased to partner with the Devon Oasis Center to provide these essential supplies—including strollers, car seats, diapers, onesies, and more—that will help parents with newborn babies.

This year, for our annual Redemption Project, we partnered with Call of Hope for the Goat Project. The Goat Project provided female goats to needy Christian families in Ghana and Nigeria. The goats’ offspring can be sold at market, providing funds for school fees and other necessary items for the children’s education.

 

Since the Goat Project’s inception, over 10,000 goats have been provided to vulnerable children and their families. As neighboring Muslims witnessed the success of the project, they began asking for goats as well. Call of Hope then began including Muslim children in the program, which offered the unique opportunity to share the love and gospel of Jesus Christ. The love of God is a foreign concept to most Muslims, so showing them love in this material way is a powerful witness for Jesus.

 

By God’s grace, we were able to raise thousands of dollars and bless hundreds of families, mightily blessing poor families in Africa and building a bridge to reaching Muslims with the gospel!

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. (Jeremiah 29:7)

 

To mark the 10th anniversary of the Redemption Project, we carried on D.L. Moody’s legacy of ministering to local children right in our own neighborhood. George Manierre Elementary School in Old Town has nearly 400 students in pre-K through 8th grade, 99% of whom are classified as low-income.

 

For the last few years, we have partnered with Manierre Elementary to minister to the children and their families.  We know that when students are proud of their school environment, they thrive — so our goal for 2018’s Redemption Project was to help revitalize the interior of the school.

 

By God’s grace, we were able to raise thousands of dollars and send service teams from Moody Church who were on-site to help repaint, repair, and renovate classrooms and office spaces.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” – Isaiah 52:7

 

In 2019, we were grateful for the opportunity to partner once again with Call of Hope for the Motorcycle Project. By God’s grace, the 2017 Goat Project was successful beyond what we hoped, and many families came to Christ after experiencing the generosity of the ministry in distributing goats to Muslims and Christians alike. Because of this, pastors in Northern Africa were in need of transportation to travel more efficiently around the villages and disciple the new believers.

 

The Moody Church was able to raise over $60,000 to purchase motorcycles, fuel, and discipleship materials for these African pastors!

 

Amidst the challenges facing our city from the global pandemic, we built a church-wide response to support frontline medical workers, first responders, and those most impacted by the crisis.

 

While most of us were social distancing at home, our medical workers were on the front lines of the battle against COVID-19. Those hit hard by either the virus or the shutdown were struggling to keep their heads above water. Many were facing significant personal, mental, and spiritual battles. So, we worked together to share Jesus’ love with them in a tangible way during these unprecedented times.

 

Our 2020 Redemption Project, Frontline Warriors First, served the men and women putting themselves on the line to care for others, and also those left most vulnerable during the pandemic. See the impact we had in the graphic below!

It is a blessing to honor God by loving our neighbor! Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the 2020 Redemption Project over the past couple of months. We’ve received many emails and thank-yous from our local frontline workers and first responders as well as from our missionaries around the world. Take a look at the impact Moody Church has had, by God’s grace, through our Frontline Warriors First giving! Continue scrolling to see a wonderful letter we received from the COO of Stroger Hospital that we’d like to share. May we all be encouraged and continue to walk in generosity towards our city, nation, and world!

In 2021, we partnered with Living With Hope for our annual Redemption Project. Living With Hope addresses a critical physical and spiritual need by providing mobility devices to people with disabilities in Africa.

 

It is estimated that 35 million people in Africa live with disabilities and require a wheelchair, but most do not have access to one due to financial barriers. Due to their lack of mobility, people with disabilities face exclusion from schools, workplaces, and even from their own communities. They are forced to crawl on the ground or be carried. The gift of a wheelchair restores dignity and provides opportunities for success.

 

Since 2018, Living With Hope has distributed close to 1,500 mobility devices. For their wheelchair clinics, Living With Hope brings therapists and wheelchair mechanics to properly assess each individual and retrofit the wheelchair according to their needs.

 

Most importantly, a team comes to every distribution to evangelize and to show the compassion of Jesus to each individual and their families. Each wheelchair recipient receives a Bible and hears the Good News! You can help lift a person with a disability out of the dirt and bring the hope of Christ to many without hope.

 

Our original goal was to raise $75,000. But through your incredible generosity, we were able to raise $176,000 to fill several shipping crates full of wheelchairs and gospel material for delivery in Kenya. See the video below for how your giving made an impact.

Albania is a predominantly Muslim country with a long history of hostility toward Christianity. Decades of atheistic state government forced many Christians out of the country or into hiding. Believers faced harsh punishment for their faith, and many clergymen were killed. But today, the church is rapidly growing in Southern Albania as a new gospel movement is reaching people for Christ.

 

The 2022 Redemption Project supported our ministry partner Hands of Providence as they advance the gospel around the Albanian city of Korçë, meeting the desperate needs of its people and sharing with them the love and hope found only in Jesus.

 

Hands of Providence worked through the local church to launch a full-time evangelism team, minister to vulnerable children, and plant churches.

 

Together, we raised over $147,000 for this project. Praise God!

 

We hope that this Easter season, as we celebrate the risen Christ, that you’ll join us in supporting this incredible gospel ministry.