Hope Center - History

 

 

Exceeding Our Goal!
Brookside set a goal to raise $25,000 in a one time love offering on April 6th to construct a multipurpose building for the Hope Children's Center in Zambia.
Brooksiders responded with over-the-top generosity and gave $134,176! In response to this, we are taking an advance team to Zambia at the end of September to investigate first hand what options we have to use these excess funds. In so many ways, God's fingerprints seem to be all over this project.

 

To find what is currently happening with the Hope Center Project, check out the website at hopechildrenscenter.blogspot.com

 

The Hope Center and Justice and Mercy
Brookside's 2008 Justice and Mercy Initiative is about fanning into flame what God has already been awakening in us as a church. Beginning last fall, as we studied Nehemiah together, it seems as though God has been inspiring us as a church, and as individuals. He's inspired us to care even more about the broken and to be a people who develop an outward focus. So we are championing the value of serving and helping those in need.
We want to be the hands and feet of God's love for a broken world. One of the expressions of this desire is to find a place that we can help those suffering in extreme poverty. We have chosen to partner with Cornerstone Church in Ames, IA to help launch an orphan care center in Zambia.
Africa is being ravaged by AIDS. In Zambia, the UN estimates that roughly 20% of the adults (ages 15-49) are already HIV+. As the adults die from the disease, they leave children abandoned as orphans in a country too poor to provide adequate assistance.
AIDS is the greatest humanitarian crisis of our day and Africa has been the epicenter of the tragedy. There are over 12,000,000 orphans in sub-Sahara Africa because of AIDS. But it is into this suffering, that Christians can show up to demonstrate the depth of the love of Jesus. It is this compassion that is motivating Brookside to take an offering for the construction of the building to care for orphans in Serenje, Zambia.

 

Why Serenje, Zambia?
Serenje is located on the "Great North Road" about 250 miles north and east of the capital city of Lusaka. It is an agriculturally rich and beautiful land! With a population of over 12,000, it is the hub of market activity for much of the region, drawing in many thousands more.
There is no industry and almost no commercial farming. Most of the people get by with subsistence farming, barely able to produce even enough to feed themselves. And the situation continues to worsen.
Two factors have led to the desperate state of the people in Zambia. Economically, Zambia has one of the highest percentages (78%) of people living below the poverty line in the world. Coupled with that, the prevalence of AIDS/HIV has had a significant impact on the population of Zambia. For example, though Serenje is a small town of 12,000, officials believe there are hundreds of orphans in the area.
The children left in the wake of these ongoing economic and medical calamities are indeed vulnerable. And while the large humanitarian aid organizations find themselves unable to reach beyond the urban centers of the country, God is using His church to bring hope, life and help to many.

 

Local Zambian Leadership
One of the key Christian leaders in the Serenje area is Pastor Navice Kalunga. His efforts have helped establish scores of churches in and around the region. Pastor Navice maintains an ongoing network with these churches, offering help and training for the pastors of these churches. And everywhere Pastor Navice goes, there are orphans to care for. Navice and his fellow pastors find themselves reaching many for Christ. Yet simultaneously finding themselves stewarding a burgeoning number of orphans - and the almost impossible odds of feeding and sheltering these children on their own.
Through their involvement in Africa in the last few years, Cornerstone Church in Ames, IA has developed a strong relationship with Pastor Navice. Recognizing his leadership and heart for God, Cornerstone has already begun the work of partnering with him and his network of pastors so that the advancement of God's church can continue and the orphans can be cared for. That is why they are establishing the Hope Children's Center.

 

 

This will not be a residential orphanage. It will use a combination "day care" and "foster care" model. Orphans need the security and nurture of a loving family. Many of the Christian families in the churches are eager to take in orphans, but they simply lack the resources to feed them. The Hope Children's Center will identify these families by way of the pastors. The children will attend a government school, but afterwards will receive a meal and some Bible instruction from the Hope Children's Center before returning to their "foster home" that evening.

 

Training Center for Pastors
At least quarterly Pastor Navice will gather his network of pastors for ongoing instruction and mentoring. During these times, the Center will serve to house and feed the men as well as offer a place for the instruction. This is a vital piece to the Center's ongoing ministry. The church must remain strong and growing so that lives can be changed for both here and for eternity.

Brookside's Part
Brookside will be funding the construction of the multi-purpose building. Once completed, this structure would be used to feed the orphans daily and also provide seasonal training for pastors. Other structures, such as a bathhouse, and a director's house would be constructed by the lead church in the project, Cornerstone Church. For the next few years, Brookside also hopes to establish a strong relationship with the Hope Center by sending teams of Brooksiders to help train the local pastors and to distribute food to additional orphans in the outlying rural regions beyond Serenje ("the bush").