NACC, PHILIPPINES
The National Association of Congregational Churches, located in the Philippines, has planted the Promise Land Christian Church and School outside of metro Manila.  The church and school are located within one kilometer of Smokey Mountain, a huge government dumpsite where this mountain of garbage burns continuously … day and night.  Most members of the Promise Land Church, adults as well as children, are termed “mangangalahig” which figuratively means chickens scratching the ground for food.  Mangangalahig make their living by scavenging the dumpsite and selling items collected to junkyards.  Thousands of families live in makeshift shanties surrounding Smokey Mountain.

The Promise Land Church and School are growing.  The Department of Education in this area requires families to provide preschool education for children before entrance into grade school.  Because most of the parents of the Promise Land children are jobless, the cost of preschool is prohibitive and there is little hope of their children ever having the opportunity to receive an education.  The Promise Land School offers preschool as well as kindergarten, primary, and intermediate school.  More than 300 children have attended preschool at Promise Land and are now continuing their education in the upper grades.

The NACC, Philippines, offers a child sponsorship program in areas reached by its church planting ministry.  Child sponsorship through the Caring Community, the social action arm of the NACC, provides for education and the basic needs of a child for $245 annually.  Sponsors will receive a photograph and correspondence from their sponsored child.  To date, the Caring Community has 110 children in its sponsorship program with a goal of recruiting sponsors for 1,000.  Child sponsorship would be gratefully received from individuals, churches, Sunday Schools, or other small groups who have a heart for this mission ministry.

New sponsors will insure a brighter future through education for the sons and daughters of the faithful members of the Congregational Churches in the Philippines.

The NACC is striving to establish three new Congregational Churches in 2003. Community surveys assist the association in locating communities best suited for new church plants.  The NACC utilizes a combination of door-to-door evangelism, home Bible studies, mentoring programs, financial support, prayer support, and education for planting pastors, to help establish new church starts.  Ongoing communication and reporting from the new churches and planting pastors to the NACC are vital to the success of these churches. Currently, there are 32 member churches in the NACC.

COOK COLLEGE & THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL
Cook College and Theological School has been empowering, educating and enabling Native Americans for Christian Leadership since its founding in 1890.  Located in Tempe, Arizona, its educational aims today extend in three directions.

First, CCTS has recently received accreditation for its undergraduate associate degree program.  This program fills a vital need in helping talented Native Americans to make the transition from a traditional Native environment into a university setting.  This transition can be very difficult, and many Native students drop out of state universities during their first year.   At Cook College, however, these students are carefully nurtured by a devoted faculty and staff who understand their particular needs, and they are able to make this passage successfully.

A second important program at CCTS is the one-year Diploma program in Church Leadership.  The goal of this program is to prepare Native American students for success in lay ministry by providing foundational knowledge.  There is currently a serious shortage of Native pastors for Native American churches, and CCTS is extremely important in helping to meet this need.  Students who feel called into ministry are accepted without regard to their ability to pay tuition, and the school relies heavily on donations to make this program possible.

The third program takes place during two weeks each January, when alumni and others working in Native Ministry are invited to participate in continuing education workshops during the CCTS Winter Term.  This past January, over 120 men and women representing over 25 nations attended the workshops.  In addition to classroom instruction, they had the opportunity to catch up on old friendships, make new ones, exchange ideas, and form networks to help in their ministries at home.

The weeks were rounded out with worship, prayer meetings, and lots of singing.  Many would not have been able to attend without outside contributions for their transportation and fees.

Your prayerful and financial support of this important work among our Native American

Christian neighbors would be gratefully appreciated.  More information is available on their website:

www.cookcollege.org

Submitted by Susan LeFeber, a current CFTS student and member of the Ozaukee Congregational Church, Grafton, Wisconsin.  Susan attended the Cook College Winter Term Conference during January 2003 and participated with Native students in all classes and activities. 

Meet two students currently enrolled at Cook:

Jessica Charging Eagle is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.  Growing up on one of the poorest reservations in the country, she had few aspirations of getting an education, as the community offered few jobs and very little opportunity.  Raised by her grandparents, she remembers sitting on the front porch with her grandfather looking at the hills and all the nature that surrounded their humble home.  Her grandfather said to her many times, “Jessica your future lies beyond these hills.”  At the time she didn’t understand what he was saying to her because her future seemed limited by her environment, leaving little hope for opportunity.  Jessica came to Cook as the wife of a student.  After being on campus for a year, she enrolled in classes herself.  Jessica has been so successful as a student at Cook that she made the President’s List with a 4.0 grade point average.

Jerry Zephier grew up on the Yankton Sioux Reservation.  His father, Moses Zephier was a lay pastor.  Jerry has fond memories of his childhood in church and at camp meetings around the reservation.  As a young man he wandered away from the church and let alcohol consume his life.  Today, Jerry is a single father and active church member. He has graduated from the Lay Leadership Program and is now enrolled in the Associate of Arts degree program in Christian Ministry.  His goal is to become a lay pastor . . . like his father.

Please contact Ruth at the NACCC office for a “wish list” of items needed by Cook College & Theological School.  Sponsorship of one or more of these items would be a wonderful mission focus for churches, small groups, or Sunday Schools.