A values movement is happening in the Philippines, and SEND International is part of it.

Philippines (MNN) — There’s a values movement going on in the Philippines. It’s happening in the schools, and SEND International is helping the values education program move forward.

Phil Burns with SEND says it’s an open door, “The government has said that it would be great to use the public schools environment to start teaching children so that when they come out of that, they’ve got a much higher standard of values instilled in them. So that’s why they’ve opened the doors and said to a number of people, ‘Come in and help take care of this for us.'”

The program is a three-way partnership, between the schools, local churches and the Non-government organization (of which SEND is involved). Right now, there are eight schools and eleven churches involved in this year’s program. That’s 3500 students in grades 4-10, not to mention their parents.

The impact is far-reaching, and the church has caught the vision for ministry. Burns says, “Each local church will sponsor a school that is near them and provide the teachers, and then provide an after-program, follow-up ministry for those students and parents that would have an interest in following-up from the values thing in the classroom that might be held in a community center or maybe the follow-up would be held in the church, but the idea is to wed a local evangelical church with the values education program and the local schools.”

It’s a great opportunity to make a difference, Burns says, and God is working, “We’re two-thirds of the way through the initial years’ pilot program, and already there have been a number of church-sponsored follow-up programs at which children have come to Christ, parents have come into the church together with their kids to participate in the program. So, it’s not just, we think it’s going to happen, we’re already seeing it happen in a very limited sense while we’re just in our development stage.”

And the excitement is there for the potential growth of this values movement. Burns emphasizes the value and great impact of being a part of this work, “This is a place in which small efforts and even significant efforts made here will multiply themselves, because the Philippines is a tremendous impact worlwide through its diaspora and thousands of missionaries that are now being sent out. So this is a great place to invest and we’re glad to get a chance to make that known to other people.”

SEND needs people to be involved in curriculum development, training aspects, funding and prayer. If you’d like to be a part of what SEND is doing, visit their website at www.SEND.org or call (248) 477-4210.