Love in Action
With a population of more than 1.2 billion, India is the world’s largest democracy. With more children entering elementary school, the need for universalizing secondary education has emerged. Equally important is building the skills of India’s rapidly expanding workforce, whose ranks are joined by some 8 to 9 million new entrants each year. Moreover, a large proportion of the population lacks access to good quality health care, and progress in improving health indicators is slow. India also has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in the world.
India’s growing economy is placing huge demands on critical infrastructure – power, roads, railways, ports, transportation systems, and water supply and sanitation. While the government has raised its investments in infrastructure, the investment gap remains daunting with an estimated $1 trillion required to meet the country’s resource needs over the next five years. Accordingly, India is encouraging private participation in infrastructure development.
Meredith Hogue, and Oasis church member, is currently serving the people of India during an extended missions trip where she is helping them to learn English. For more information on this mission, visit Meredith's Tumblr.
RomaniaReaching the "unreachable"
Romania is a country in southeastern Europe with a rich history of villages and castles. Agriculture is the main livelihood with almost half the population living in rural areas. A communist bloc country for many years, Soviet-style politicians ruled Romania with an iron fist. Now, like most of Eastern Europe, the country is struggling to compete in a free-market economy. More than that, Romania is struggling to find its soul.
In June 2012, Oasis sent a team to meet with a local missionary couple with a heart for the Romania's Gypsies: a group of people considered outcasts who cluster in gypsy villages and distrust most outsiders. We visited a number of villages with the message of truth and freedom that can be only found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. During the day we ministered through children's activities and maintenance and repair. At night, we ministered through a video presentation.
Click to see video testimonies from Oasis's missionaries.
GhanaReaching an open door for the Gospel
Ghana's population is made up of six main ethnic groups (tribes), 60% of which claim to be Christian. Ghana boasts the highest percentage of Christians in West Africa, but belief in traditional animist religions is still common. Many self-proclaimed Christians have simply added Christianity to a long list of other beliefs and lack a real understanding and acceptance of Jesus's sacrifice for them. Many of Ghana's churches are merely social gathering places where little or no actual Biblical teaching takes place.
Oasis has been working in the Fiaconya region in Ghana's Dodoway district: an area about an hour north of the capital city of Accra. The daily minimum wage there is less than the equivalent of $2.00/day, and many are unemployed or must travel long distances to work, as jobs are scarce.
When Oasis sent missionaries to Fiaconya in JUly 2010, we were blessed to see over 900 professions of faith. Since returning home, we've sent more than $5,000 in financial aid to build a church and dozens of Bibles to support the many active Bible-study groups that have sprung up in the region. We pray that some of these groups - which meet too far away from the church building for their members to attend regular services - will turn into church plants in the future.
How to pray for Ghana:
