Indonesia (MNN) — Indonesia is rocked by earthquakes throughout the year, but often the devastation caused by those quakes goes unnoticed in world news, unless it’s on a large scale as in the case of the December South Asia tsunami.
On the Indonesian Island of Papua, the western half of New Guinea, the Association of Christian Schools International is helping rebuild damaged schools, churches and office buildings. And they’re doing it through the fundraising efforts of ACSI Christian school kids.
After the tsunami hit, ACSI schools around North America wanted to help schools affected by the tsunami, but there were not any placed in those specific regions. So instead, when ACSI discovered Christian schools in other regions of Indonesia that faced multiple earthquakes and damaged buildings, ACSI called upon the North American schools who were willing to help.
Dave Wilcox with ACSI says the fundraising efforts were more than just a nice thing to help people. He got to be part of channeling that money to help communities be a better witness for the Gospel. “It is not just building the body of Christ; it’s also expanding the body of Christ. And our kids here in North America really have something to be proud of, of doing something that really has made a significant difference in the lives of Indonesian kids.”
The 75-thousand dollars raised will build classroom buildings for seven Indonesian Christian schools. Wilcox says that will aid evangelism in the schools’ regions.
“These are schools that don’t only serve their local church communities; they also provide an outreach into a community that is multi-faithed. There are even Muslim kids attending these schools, and kids from Buddhist backgrounds. And so do pray for the ministries of these schools that as they rebuild and become attractive options again for the people in their communities, that they will be effective in winning the lost for Christ as well as equipping Christian kids to be responsive, faithful disciples of our Lord,” says Wilcox.
To see more pictures of the damaged schools and rebuilding process, go the the ACSI website. Follow the highlighted link above.
