Through People Reaching People, the McGregor’s continue to reach out to the poorest of the poor through transforming lives with the message of Jesus Christ by investing in economic, educational and evangelistic priorities.
Northern Kenya
This partnership has made a difference in the lives of thousands in some of the most remote areas of Northern Kenya.
Evangelism:
The 20/10 project (a vision of 20 new churches in 10 years) has allowed us to connect with five of the “least-reached” people groups, including the Borana, Gabbra, Rendille, Samburu and Sakuye peoples. Seven churches have been completed, with thousands of people coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Over one thousand baptisms have been performed across this region.
Economic Development:
St. Julian’s Centre: Patsy’s renovation and expansion of St. Julian’s Centre upgraded the facility to provide a place of retreat and refreshment for local residents, international visitors and missionaries. As Manager, her oversight, direction, witness and gift of hospitality allowed others the opportunity to be refreshed and renewed. As priest of St. Julian’s Fellowship, congregants were challenged to deepen their relationship with Christ and learn more of the Gospel’s saving message.
Education:
Our focus on education allows us to develop future Christian leaders in the schools, churches and local communities. By building two classrooms (2006, 2007) in Moyale, the border town to southern Ethiopia, and a girls׳ dormitory, in Kamboe, Northern Kenya (October 2007), we provided educational assistance and scholarships for those in an illiterate area.
Madagascar
As the McGregor’s returned to Madagascar in 2007, they expanded the People Reaching People ministry and identified and have continued to nurture future disciples in Toliara, located in the southwest region of Madagascar.
Evangelism:
As the Good News of Jesus Christ continues to be shared, plans are in place for recruiting an Evangelism Director to help oversee the churches expansion. The vision unfolds with building 30 new churches in 10 years.
CATHEDRAL COMPLEX: 2.5 acres of land was purchased for Cathedral and Bishop’s Residence in February, 2008. A final parcel of land was also purchased and the title process and sale completed in 2009. Construction of the Cathedral and Bishop’s Residence began in October, 2009.
More Church Updates: These new gathering places will serve as new structures or replacements for the current mud huts or wooden frames currently serving as their church facilities.
Ankilifaly: St. Lioka, complete and dedicated on November 18th, 2007 with over 250 people in attendance.
Morondava: Church construction complete; All Saints Church dedicated on November 1, 2008.
Sakaraha: Church construction complete and dedicated on November 29, 2008; attendance continues to build each month
Mahabo: Church construction is now completed and the church was dedicated on November 8, 2008. It is called the Chapel of St. Andrew.
Anketrika: Awaiting land purchase and additional donations.
Toliagnaro: Awaiting land purchase and additional donations.
Recruiting 30 new clergy and evangelists over five years and conducting 40 evangelistic missions remains a big priority. These new clergy and evangelists will help assist the five clergy and nine evangelists in this region of southwest Madagascar. The areas is approximately the size of England, with over 1,000 miles of coastland. It takes six days of travel on unpaved, very rough roads to travel from one side of the diocese to the other during the dry season. Travel during the rainy season is impassible.
The Anglican Church Arrives in Ft. Dauphin (Spring 2009)
God is causing revival to spark in Madagascar!!
In April, 2009, one evangelist and one deacon traveled 3 days by truck to Ft. Dauphin to scout out the possibilities of planting a church. A month later, they were followed by a team of 12 clergy and evangelists for an evangelistic mission. Much like the biblical accounts of Joshua and Caleb, they came back with the reports of a promised land. After an announcement on the radio, the first Sunday began with 17 adults and eight children and from that moment the church began to grow. The second Sunday gathered 25 adults and several more children. By the time the evangelistic mission team came back to Toliaro two weeks later, 50 were gathering for worship and were promised a visit in August from Bishop Todd, The Rev. Patsy and a visiting priest, The Rev. William Roberts and his wife, Ingrid, from St. Gregory's Episcopal Church, Deerfield, IL.
Upon our arrival in August, over 100 people had gathered at the airport to meet us–carrying two large banners with the logo of the Anglican Communion and announcing the beginning of the Anglican Church in Ft. Dauphin. They brought us into the VIP lounge where we gave thanks to God for gathering us together, and from the airport we went to the local primary school classroom where they currently worship and with the large group, had a short time of greetings and prayer with the congregation. After lunch we looked at various pieces of land to build a church, finding a large piece overlooking the mountains. The combination of ocean and mountains causes the landscape in Ft. Dauphin to be quite beautiful.
The Sunday service was lovely. Almost 200 people were in attendance, approximately 25 of them being visitors. 53 of these people were baptized, small babies, young people and elderly men and women, all surrendering their lives to Christ. The mayor and his wife were in attendance and Patsy sang a beautiful song in Malagasy and English before Todd preached. Unannounced and unknown to us, Anglicans have been waiting for several years for a church to built in Ft. Dauphin. One man has literally been carrying around The Book of Common Prayer in his pocket for 15 years, waiting for the day he could worship with other Anglicans in Ft. Dauphin. He had tears in his eyes when he expressed his gratefulness for this new church plant. The Anglican Church continues to grow, prosper and be blessed by our Lord.
The other great outcome of this marvelous weekend was that contractors have been selected for the building of The Bishop's Gather Place in Toliara, which will serve as the Diocesan Centre and Bishop's Residence. Beginning in October 2009, the Anglican contrators whom we met in Ft. Dauphin, began their work. Please continue to pray for this project. Over seventy percent of the necessary funds have been raised and an additional $50,000 is still needed to complete this work. Donations are accepted via SAMS , PO Box 399, Ambridge PA 15003. (For additional information, please see our Donate to PRP Link).
Economic Development:
PRP purchased two hectares of land for the purposes of rice cultivation, overseen by the women of the community. We expect to have two crops annually, with funds supplementing the food costs for clergy and evangelists. Money has been donated for the purchase of more land to help the Diocese to become self-supporting. In 2009, an application has been submitted to purchase an additional 20 acres of agricultural land to use in the development of a women's cooperative. Today, economic development has included over 60 acres of agricultural land, with 40 Malagasy trained in small business principles. Two training sessions were led in 2009 by Board Member, Syd Verinder.
Donations have also been received to purchase 500 mosquito nets for the rural villages to help prevent Malaria for the people of this region.
Additional economic goals include developing several micro enterprises and The Miaraka Resort and Spa, focusing on employment opportunities for the local women. Miaraka, a Malagasy word meaning “together” reminds us to partner together as people who make a difference in the world. This project will begin in 2009, located north of Toliara. In May and November, 2009, a team met to help finalize a business plan and make a formal recommendation for a potential land purchase. Ninety-nine acres of land, along the Indian Ocean, near Soalara have been donated in exchange for the building of a secondary school in the area. The next steps include a survey plot to be developed of the land, to be completed in early 2010.
Work continues to be underway in gathering grant support, funding and partnerships to help finance microenterprise developments throughout Madagascar.
Education:
Education is an imperative tool in making disciples. In order to fulfill this responsibility, we are recruiting a Discipleship Director to help oversee the following projects.
On-going training has taken place in Madagascar since April 2007. About fifty Christian leaders have gathered for three, one-week sessions for the purpose of reproducing Christian leaders at the local level. Several evangelism training sessions are scheduled throughout the first quarter of 2009. Currently there are seven new evangelist students being discipled through ongoing classroom training. People Reaching People also currently sponsors the education of 25 students throughout S. Madagascar.
A mission team of students from Tennessee visited from March 9-15, 2008. They participated in training our clergy, evangelists, laity and students in discipleship. Additional training included a Chicago-based short tem mission team who visited in January-February 2009, Downline Ministry training for Clergy, Laity, and Bishops in March 2008 and again scheduled for March 2010, as well as an Evangelism Mission which was held in Ft. Dauphin in late April. Be sure to view the 2008 Downline Ministry video in our links section. Revival has begun! The Downline ministry team will again visit Madagascar in March, 2010.
Development plans in Madagascar include building a dormitory at the local University, which would sponsor Christian leadership development. It is also a priority to build a school and a multipurpose training center on the Cathedral complex.
in 2009, the Malagasy Mayor and people of Soalara donated the church a sizeable parcel of land bordering on the Indian Ocean in exchange for the construction of a school for the children of the community. The community has the desire and vision to educate their children, allowing them to see improvements in the economic, social and environmental conditions of their area. Work on this project will begin in 2009-2010. See the attached link for a Poverty and Hope Project Worksheet. http://www.canterburydiocese.org/povertyandhope/information/madagascar.pdf
The popular, UK-based Alpha Program was introduced by the missionary team visiting from the Chapel of St. Andrews, in Florida as well as two participants from Tennessee. Their student materials were translated into Malagasy through a grant award and the missionary team members led the teachings to dozens of participants in July, 2009. Click here for an additional article: SE Florida Diocese Net Missionary Article
Sudan
Education and Evangelism:
At the end of 2006 Bishop Todd was invited by Bishop Justin, Diocese of Maridi, to lead an evangelism training program. Todd was joined by Blair Carlson, an ordained priest serving in Minnesota. Forty participants gathered for the training followed by a two day retreat for 24 deacons and their wives who were to be ordained priests in four different dioceses in southern Sudan.