Church Partnerships
Contents Choosing The Right Church Partnership 4 A Whole Of Life Church Response 5 Country Church Partnership 6 Church Partnership Countries 9 Advocacy Church Partnership 11 Church Partnerships In Action 14 Insight Trip Opportunities 15 Where To From Here 17 A field worker reading their Bible, Cambodia. Cover image location Banladesh. Page 2
Welcome Location Cambodia Thank you for considering a partnership with Baptist World Aid Australia. A Church Partnership is an excellent way to encourage your congregation s heart for ending poverty as it responds to God s call to be love in this world. Your Church Partnership will help make a lasting difference for real families in some of the world s poorest communities. Partner with Baptist World Aid today and help us end poverty for good! At Baptist World Aid, we re passionate about helping Australian Baptist Churches deepen their understanding of God s heart for justice and His love for the poor we re also committed to finding fresh and engaging ways to help your church family respond to God s call to be love in this world that s why we started our Church Partnership program! Your Church Partnership begins with a decision to support country or issue specific Baptist World Aid projects. There are a variety of Church Partnership models to choose from, so we can help you create the perfect partnership to inspire your congregation! As part of your partnership with Baptist World Aid, you will receive special resources, to help champion your Church Partnership across the life of your church. Watch your congregation s love for the world s poorest families flourish as you pray for, raise funds and learn about the Baptist World Aid projects you are helping to support. Whether you choose to partner with us for one year or three, your Church Partnership will help your congregation deepen its understanding of the injustice of poverty and grow as a community as it responds in love, together. This booklet will help you to imagine what a partnership with Baptist World Aid might look like for your church. As a new Church Partner, the details of your partnership are decided in conversation with Baptist World Aid. To begin a partnership, or to find out more, please contact your State Representative. We look forward to working, together, with your church to end poverty! Page 3
Choosing The Right Church Partnership A PARTNERSHIP TO END POVERTY YOUR CHURCH a partnership to support... BAPTIST WORLD AID Your church will: Be Open, Be Fair, Be Vocal, Be Generous, and Be Prayerful for the project you partner with. Country specific projects or Targeted advocacy work Baptist World Aid will: Ensure effective use of funds; provide project reports; provide promotional materials; provide educational resources and workshops; facilitate insight trips. Your congregation s love for the world s poorest people will flourish as they commit to supporting a Church Partnership tailored to suit your church! There are two main streams of Baptist World Aid church partnership: country specific partnerships and advocacy (or issue based) partnerships. Use your Church Partnership to support projects in a specific country! When you choose a Country Church Partnership, your support will help to fund projects in your chosen partner country and bless real people living in poverty. Baptist World Aid currently offers Church Partnerships in several countries. So, you can build your partnership to support a country that your church family already has a heart for, or choose a country it would like to learn more about. See page 6 for more details. Use your Church Partnership to support our targeted advocacy work! When you choose an Advocacy Church Partnership, your support will help to fund Baptist World Aid advocacy on issues of worker exploitation and bless real people living in poverty. An Advocacy Church Partnership would particularly suit churches with an active Catalyst group and churches who are passionate about issues of social justice. See page 11 for more details. Page 4
A Whole Of Life Church Response Be open Be vocal Be generous Be fair Be prayerful Hear God s Word. Learn about His heart for justice and His love for the poor. Champion the work of your church s partnership projects. Set and achieve generous targets as you raise funds for your partnership projects. Learn how your consumption affects the poor and choose to shop ethically. Pray without ceasing for the families impacted by your partnership projects. At Baptist World Aid, we are so grateful for the generous support of Australian Baptist Churches like your own. Without it, we would not be able to fund the breadth of poverty-ending work overseas that we are currently supporting thank you! However, we also believe that a Godly response to poverty means more than simply sending money to communities in need. That s why we want to help you build a Church Partnership that will encourage your congregation to live out a whole of life response to poverty and that s where our 5 Be s come in! A partnership with Baptist World Aid will give your church family the opportunity to Be open, Be vocal, Be generous, Be fair and Be prayerful and build a whole of life response to poverty that stretches far beyond the reach of financial generosity. As Christians, our response to poverty is essential to our identity. Jesus teaches us that to love means to act. And by loving in these 5 ways, we can help end poverty. In the first year of your Church Partnership, we encourage you to run our Be Love: Five Ways to Love the Poor discipleship series. There s a book, sermon series and bible study to encourage engagement across the life of your church. And, as a Church Partner, you are eligible to purchase all Baptist World Aid published books at a discounted price! A mother and her children, Bangladesh. Page 5
Country Church Partnership Your Church Partnership will fund important Baptist World Aid community development projects in your chosen partner country thank you! It will help to put a human face on poverty and encourage your congregation to respond in a transformational way. projects run by local Christian organisations. Baptist World Aid chooses to work through local organisations because they are best placed to identify the unique challenges their communities could face when implementing projects. Your generosity will provide real families in your partner country with the support, resources, and training they need to form plans to address the root causes of their poverty and put these plans into action in their community! the lives of countless people for generations to come. You will hear amazing stories of hope and transformation, but you ll also be touched by the great need in our world. Your Church Partnership is sure to impact your congregation deeply, and teach them how to respond to God s call to be love in new and meaningful ways. What is community development? We invest in community development because we believe that the greatest power for lasting change in poor communities rests with the communities themselves. Your Country Church Partnership will support community-driven How your Country Church Partnership Works Community development is one of the most effective ways to help bring about lasting change not just for families, but for whole communities living in poverty! Through your Church Partnership, your congregation will bless A Self Help Group meeting, Nepal. Page 6
Country Church Partnership By choosing to partner with Baptist World Aid, your church is agreeing to: Commit to a one or threeyear Country Church Partnership. Give financially to meet your agreed Church Partnership targets. Be open to learning about your Partner Country and the issues facing the communities you are helping to support. Be open to learning more about God s heart for justice and His love for the poor. We have plenty of fantastic discipleship resources to help your church grow their understanding of a Godly response to poverty. Be vocal and speak out for the families your partnership supports who are overcoming injustice and poverty.pray without ceasing for your Partner Country and your own partnership journey. As a Church Partner, Baptist World Aid will: Monitor the projects you are supporting to ensure that your generosity makes the biggest impact possible. Give you annual updates on the work you are making possible in your Partner Country. Provide you with promotional tools to help you raise money for your Church Partnership. Help grow congregational involvement. As a Church Partner, you are eligible to purchase discounted discipleship publications. We will also provide you with advocacy kits as requested. Depending on your model of partnership, Baptist World Aid will also: Help you run a Maximum Impact Workshop to make sure your Church Partnership makes the biggest difference possible. Visit your church, to encourage your congregation and thank them personally for their support. Facilitate overseas insight trips where possible. Farmers receive training and learn better farming techniques, Cambodia. Page 7
Country Church Partnership We understand that the decision to become a Church Partner involves significant commitment that s why we offer both short and long term partnerships! Here s a breakdown of what our two levels of Country Church Partnerships look like: Commitment Tier 1 Tier 2 Annual financial commitment Up to $7,500 $7,500+ Timeframe 1 Year 3 Years Discipleship and education Discounted discipleship resources Maximum impact workshop Church visit State Representative Reporting back Written Annual Report Annual Video Update Christmas Appeal resources As a Church Partner, you may also have the opportunity of travelling overseas on a Baptist World Aid Insight Trip. See page 15 for more details. Self Help Groups meet regularly to learn new skills, Bangladesh. Page 8
Church Partnership Countries Baptist World Aid currently offers Church Partnerships in three partner countries - Nepal, Cambodia and Bangladesh. Nepal Nepal is home to more than 80 ethnic groups who, between them, speak 123 languages. As a multiethnic country, Nepal is also a nation of minorities and marginalised groups. 25% of its population live on just $1 a day. Baptist World Aid works in areas of Nepal where families are poor and greatly disadvantaged. Your support will allow our local partner organisations to work alongside these families, helping them to end poverty and prejudice in their communities. Your generosity will support initiatives like: Training in livelihoods, to help families grow their income. Health and hygiene programs, to help stop the spread of disease. The formation of community groups, to help end discrimination and foster unity. With the help of your Church Partnership, families in Nepal will bring about lasting change, not just for themselves, but for their whole community! Cambodia The social fabric of Cambodia has been enduringly shaped by its experience of conflict. The Khmer Rouge regime, which claimed power at the end of the Cambodian Civil War in 1975, was responsible for the deaths of more than two million people during its four-year reign. The lasting legacies of this dark period in Cambodia s national history have been poverty, and a deep-rooted distrust between its peoples. Conflict, however small, works against cooperation and the important work of ending poverty. That s why we invest in projects that build lasting peace in Cambodia, in addition to supporting community development work. Your generosity supports peace building in Cambodia by helping to identify influential community members and training them in conflict resolution. Self Help Groups foster unity so communities can talk about common problems and find solutions, Nepal. Page 9
Church Partnership Countries Bangladesh Home to more than 160 million people, and roughly two thirds the size of Victoria, the South Asian nation of Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world. It is also one of the most disaster-prone nations. Most families in Bangladesh live in rural areas, where the levels of poverty are higher and people are reliant on seasonal work. Baptist World Aid works in some of the poorest regions of Bangladesh. Your support will allow our local partner organisations to work alongside families, helping them to build livelihoods and end poverty in their communities. Thanks to your Church Partnership, families in Bangladesh will be able to meet their basic needs like nutritional food, clothing, shelter, education, and healthcare. Your Church Partnership will help to end poverty and bring lasting change for whole communities! Your generous support helps improve the lives of women in Bangladesh. For more detailed information about the countries you can choose to support through your Church Partnership, please contact your State Representative. Page 10
Advocacy Church Partnership Your Church Partnership will support Baptist World Aid advocacy on issues like worker exploitation thank you! It will help your congregation receive fresh revelation of God s Word on justice, as you work together to create a fairer world. About our Advocacy And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. - Micah 6:8 This is just one of more than 2000 references to justice and poverty throughout the Bible! At Baptist World Aid, we believe that speaking up for justice is an act of worship and an important way of living out our faith that s why we have an Advocacy Team to provide our supporters with opportunities to Be vocal. Effective advocacy can bring about remarkable change and make the world a fairer and more just place. That s why we believe that standing up for the oppressed and marginalised is an essential part of a life lived for Christ. An Advocacy Church Partnership is a wonderful way to help your church family respond to God s call to Be vocal and defend the rights of the poor (Proverbs 31:9). How your Advocacy Church Partnership Works Your Church Partnership will support Baptist World Aid s work in advocacy, including worldleading research projects like our Ethical Fashion Report. Since the publication of the first edition in 2013, the Ethical Fashion Report has benchmarked and tracked the efforts of fashion companies to ensure that the rights of workers who make our products are upheld. These rights include a safe place to work, a living wage, and freedom from slavery. Now grading more than 300 brands on the systems they have in place to mitigate the risk of slavery and exploitation in their supply chains, this world-leading research empowers everyday shoppers to make ethical purchasing decisions. Your Advocacy Church Partnership could also help support the running of forums for fashion brands! These Fashion Forums encourage a higher level of engagement with Baptist World Aid, and provide an opportunity to educate companies on how they can better mitigate the risk of worker exploitation in their supply chains. And help the fashion industry to take an active role in ending poverty for millions of workers and their families. Children on their way to school, Cambodia. Page 11
Advocacy Church Partnership By choosing to partner with Baptist World Aid, your church is agreeing to: Commit to a one or three year Advocacy Church Partnership. Give financially to meet your agreed Church Partnership targets. The 2017 Ethical Fashion Report THE TRUTH BEHIND THE BARCODE Be open to learning more about God s heart for justice and His love for the poor. We have plenty of fantastic discipleship resources to help your church grow their understanding of a godly response to poverty. Be vocal and learn to be effective advocates. Take part in our targeted advocacy campaigns. Pray without ceasing for justice in our broken world and for your own partnership journey. As a Church Partner, Baptist World Aid will: Monitor the advocacy research you are supporting to ensure that your generosity makes the biggest impact possible. Give you annual updates on the work your generosity is helping to make possible. Provide you with promotional tools to help you raise money for your Church Partnership. Help you grow congregational involvement. As a Church Partner, you are eligible to purchase discounted discipleship publications. Provide you with advocacy kits as requested. Depending on your model of partnership, Baptist World Aid will also: Provide copies of our Ethical Fashion Guide for your congregation free, or at cost price. Help you run a Maximum Impact Workshop to make sure your Church Partnership makes the biggest difference possible. Visit your church to encourage your congregation and thank them personally for their support. Provide you with our Supply Chain Simulation resource pack to help your church engage more deeply with issues of justice in the fashion industry. Facilitate overseas insight trips where possible. Page 12
Advocacy Church Partnership We understand that the decision to become a Church Partner involves significant commitment that s why we offer both short and long term partnerships! Here s a breakdown of what our two levels of Advocacy Church Partnerships look like: Tier 1 Tier 2 Commitment Annual financial commitment Up to $7,500 $7,500+ Timeframe 1 Year 3 Years Discipleship and education Catalyst group resourcing Discounted discipleship resources Supply Chain Simulation resource pack Advocacy staff facilitated workshop Annual Church visit Advocacy staff Reporting back Written Annual Report Ethical report Ethical Guides for your church at cost Ethical Guides for your church free Thank you acknowledgement in Ethical Report Events Invitation to Report Launch Events As a Church Partner, you may also have the opportunity of travelling overseas on a Baptist World Aid Insight Trip. See page 15 for more details. Photo Credit CIFOR Page 13
Church Partnerships In Action The Senior Pastor of Caringbah Baptist Church, Paul Summers, on its Advocacy Church Partnership with Baptist World Aid. Why choose to partner with Baptist World Aid? We choose to partner Baptist World Aid for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it s good to be a part of what our Baptist movement is doing. It s right and good that, as a Baptist church, we partner with Baptist World Aid. And secondly, I just believe that Baptist World Aid do a good job in ensuring that the work we support happens. For us to build a greater integrity in our churches, where finances reach their destination, going through an agency is (I believe) the most secure way to ensure that our money gets on the ground and does what we say it will do. I think that it s fraught with danger if a church bypasses an agency to get the job done, when we don t have people on the ground ensuring that the project is happening like an agency does. That s why we choose to work in partnership with organisations like Baptist World Aid and still be a part of the ministry work. This is the purpose for the church s existence. We don t exist for ourselves. We re not a holy huddle. We re here to be a light to the world. Christ s light. It is the very reason why the church is gathered. Why choose an Advocacy Church Partnership? When we first began our Church Partnership, I think we were the only church funding Baptist World Aid s advocacy work. Truthfully, it s not a flashy project to support, because, really, we re just funding research. We re not giving out mosquito nets or doing tangible things. But we are doing something that s very unique and different. And what we ve really loved seeing is that it s had a huge impact It really has! The research has brought change in corporate industries in Australia, which has benefited workers in places like Bangladesh. Social action happens when we meet personal needs. Social justice is about reforming both political and business structures, creating a space where workers are treated ethically. The majority of local church resources seem to be spent on social action, while little is spent on social justice. But they are two wings of the same aeroplane and an aeroplane won t fly with one wing. That s why I m keen for our church, as we look at our giving in its entirety, to give a proportion to social justice as well as social action. Ultimately, that s what we do through our Advocacy Church Partnership. Peacebuilding in a nation with a long history of conflict, Cambodia. Page 14
Insight Trip Opportunities See the impact of your Church Partnership firsthand. Insight trips are a wonderful way to gain a better understanding of how your generous support is being used to transform the lives of families living in poverty. And as a Church Partner, you may be able to send two or three representatives overseas to see the kinds of work supported by your generosity. On an insight trip, your representatives will: Learn what it means for a family to live in poverty. Hear amazing stories of how the work supported by your Church Partnership has helped to restore hope and dignity to the lives of parents who can now provide for their families! Gain a better understanding of how Baptist World Aid Australia works to make sure that your generous support is transforming the lives of families living in poverty. An opportunity to meet women from all walks of life, Bangladesh. Nick Scott Senior Pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, 2017. I was very impressed with the integrity and effectiveness of the work that Baptist World Aid is engaged with in Nepal. It has been a great experience for me to see this work first-hand. I would highly recommend others embrace such an opportunity. Page 15
Insight Trip Opportunities Your Safety Our priority is your safety. This may mean that insight trips could be postponed or cancelled at the recommendation of our Christian partners in the field or Australian Government travel warnings. Church representatives will need to be physically healthy and emotionally mature, as insight trips can be challenging and confronting. While on the trip, a staff member will accompany your group at all times. Baptist World Aid requires police and other checks to be conducted prior to approving your travel. Travelling with Baptist World Aid Although large overseas team visits can be a wonderful experience for churches, it can create some significant issues in the field. The communities we work with are often located in remote areas, making travel difficult and costly for large groups. Large groups can also draw unwanted attention in areas westerners rarely visit, which means it can be more difficult to ensure your safety. Also, if multiple churches were to make large group visits, then this would significantly stretch the resources of both Baptist World Aid and our Christian partners in the field who may need to take staff away from their daily work to host visitors. For these reasons, we ask that you limit your church representatives to two or three on an insight trip, where they will be joined by representatives from other Church Partnership churches. By allowing a smaller number from each supporting church to participate on an insight trip, it means all of our valued Church Partners can have the opportunity to make a first-hand connection with the work they support. Grant Hendry Senior Pastor of North Beach Baptist Church, 2017. It is an enormous privilege to participate in a Baptist World Aid [insight] trip. It is a wonderful, priceless, perspective-changing, cultural immersion experience, that rests on an enormous amount of high quality ministry by local partners. If anyone is given the opportunity - grasp it without reservation. An opportunity to see a Self Help Group meeting in action, Nepal. Page 16
Where To From Here? You probably have more questions about Church Partnerships and we d love to answer them! Why not book a meeting with your State Representative today? It will give you the opportunity to find out more about our variety of Church Partnership models, so you can find the right one to inspire your congregation. Region State Representative Contact Number Email NSW Cameron Eccleston 0413 647 043 Cameron.Eccleston@baptisworldaid.org.au Hunter NSW VIC, SA, TAS, NT & WA John Lewis 0401 320 019 John.Lewis@baptisworldaid.org.au Mark Purser 0417 146 855 Mark.Purser@baptistworldaid.org.au QLD Brent van Mourik 0411 655 975 Brent.Mourik@baptistworldaid.org.au Pumping water to irrigate crops, Nepal. Page 17
Baptist World Aid Australia Locked Bag 2200 North Ryde NSW 1670 Australia Phone: 1300 789 991 Fax: +61 2 9889 5151 Email: hello@baptistworldaid.org.au ABN 86 164 099 736 Baptist World Aid Australia is a member of the Transform Aid International Group.