Sharing the hope of Christ in Zambia

Philemon is a passionate advocate for the Sponsorship Program at EduDeo Ministries because he knows firsthand how effective it is.

By EduDeo Ministries | May 12, 2015

This story originally appeared in the print edition of ChristianWeek. View it here.

The brokenness in this world can be daunting. Heartache and pain, sorrow and suffering, injustice and hopelessness are everywhere.

EduDeo Ministries seeks to bring the hope of Christ to the world through quality, Christ-centred education. It’s focus is on children, the leaders of tomorrow. Research suggests many people make a decision for Christ before their 14^th birthdays.

Philemon is a program officer for the Education Department of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) in Zambia, a core partner of EduDeo Ministries. He is an inspirational example of transformation.

“It was difficult for Dad and Mum to send me to school because Dad was unemployed,” he says. “Mum started her own business, selling items at the market and selling cooked meat from home.

“When I was in Grade 9, my dad died and Mum went to the village. Even though I was selected to advance to Grade 10, I could not afford to continue my education because of the school fees. It was a hard struggle.

“By God’s grace, I received sponsorship support from CCAP to complete secondary school. After graduating, I prayed to God, saying, “Lord, give me something to do to give back!” That is when I met Reverend Peter Chipeta and began to work for CCAP. Now, when somebody says, ‘I don’t have school fees,’ I know how it feels. Please join me in prayer for God’s intervention in the lives of many more children like me.”

Philemon is a beautiful example of a child who was impacted by the prayers and support of others, and in turn became a leader who is impacting others. He is a passionate advocate for the Sponsorship Program at EduDeo Ministries because he knows firsthand how effective it is.

In his words, “I’m looking forward to this program growing so that more vulnerable children can access Christian education!”

EduDeo Ministries:

• works in more than seven countries
• partners with more than 1,000 schools
• impacts more than 5,500 teachers
• touches the lives of more than 200,000 children

To find out more here.

About the author

EduDeo Ministries

Finding our way in the Digital Age

Striving for greater relevance in a media-saturated world

By Kelly Rempel | May 8, 2015

I became a journalist at an interesting time. When I was learning the ins and outs of newspaper reporting (with a dash of radio and television thrown in), the digital era was just barely coming to life.

We did some research online, but it was a tedious process. A few of the most fortunate students had digital cameras, the rest of us were learning to operate manual SLRs and developing wet film in the dark room. Interviews were done in person, or via (corded!) telephone.

No Google. No Skype or Facebook. No texting or tweeting. No clouds or dropboxes. The dark ages. But we put out some really fine newspapers, if I do say so myself. Quality information for the masses.

In today’s world, however, what we published—sometimes requiring a lead-time of up to two months—would be considered irrelevant by the time it reached its intended audience.

In the last few years time and space have shrunk enormously, at least in a virtual sense. Many of those holding to the old journalistic paradigm of find a story, research, interview, write and deliver are hard-pressed to compete in the age of instant news, spread worldwide tweet by tweet, moments after it happens.

In a recent post on his blog Making the News Canada, long-time journalist John Longhurst observes, “Making people wait a day, week or months to get information is a path to a different kind of ruin today—the ruin of irrelevance. When people can Tweet or Facebook about events in real time, nobody needs a publication that promises to tell them tomorrow what happened yesterday.

“For communicators accustomed to bundling material into packages, this is a scary time. But there’s no going back. No longer does it make any sense to make readers wait until we’re ready to share information. They’re ready now.”

Here is the rub for ChristianWeek. For close to 30 years, we have done our best to publish news, comment and features that help to make sense of the world from a faithful Christian perspective. Technology evolved along the way, but the way we gathered and disseminated the news remained the basically the same for many years.

But now we’re finding the demand for instant, accessible content is changing the way we have to do things as we strive to remain relevant in a media-saturated market. As Longhurst observes, “nobody needs a publication that promises to tell them tomorrow what happened yesterday.”

This is the challenge that we are rising to meet, to share with readers information that is up-to-date, vital and life-changing, maintaining our decades-old mandate in a fresh new way.

You will notice more current, informative content on our website, as well as on our social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter. Please come check us out, give us a “like” or share content that you find especially helpful or interesting. Don’t forget to sign-up for our special e-news that comes out once a week, straight to your inbox, highlighting some of the top stories you may have otherwise missed.

Meanwhile, our print edition still publishes once a month. It provides more insight and analysis, telling the “story behind the story,” getting a little deeper into the issues.

It’s a brave new world, and as we find our way through, we appreciate your support so very much. Thank you for donating to ChristianWeek. Your financial gifts mean we can keep telling stories of what God is doing in Canada and beyond, both in print and online.

Relevance is where it’s at.

About the author

Kelly Rempel

Kelly Rempel is the Senior Editor for ChristianWeek.