International (MNN) — Last week, we told you about DOOR International’s 30 for 30 campaign, which lets donors feed a Deaf family for 30 days for only $30. But it’s one thing to say you want to feed families in need; it’s another to actually find those families.
Fortunately, DOOR International’s existing leadership-training programs are a perfect fit for their new COVID-19 aid programs.
The 2-by-2 teams focus on using locals who already understand their neighbors to reach those neighbors. As DOOR’s Rob Myers puts it, “We feel like indigenous Deaf people from their own communities are the best ones to train in order to lead, to evangelize, to disciple, and to plant churches within their communities.”
The 2-by-2 program works with Deaf leaders for six months to a year to equip them with knowledge and resources to preach the Gospel to their communities. The relationships and implementation of that knowledge are up to them.
Many participants in these programs are constantly on the lookout for ways to reach their communities, Myers says. “This crisis has actually opened up more opportunities because people who may not have been open to the Gospel before suddenly find themselves in need, suddenly realize that they have even less control over their lives than they thought they did before.”
And 2-by-2 teams who already have roots in their communities know who these families are. They know who needs help. So, with DOOR’s help, they’re taking the initiative to purchase rice, beans, and other food and distributing those essentials to those families. In many cases, this opens up conversations about the Gospel.
Photo courtesy of DOOR International
Take a team in Kenya, who reached out to a family of seven in their own town. Both parents are Deaf, meaning their labor options are limited, but the father is epileptic, meaning he can only work manual labor jobs. Two months ago, thanks to economic complications, he lost his job.
“They had some food that they had stored up in their home, and they began to ration that food considerably,” Myers reports. “The husband would go without lunch one day, the kids would go without lunch another day, and the food began to dwindle and dwindle down to the point where it was gone. They didn’t know what they were going to do.”
Then, the 2-by-2 teams showed up with a month’s worth of food.
“They were so overwhelmed. They immediately wanted to talk to them about why they were doing this, and it was an incredible opportunity for this family to open up and begin to hear about Jesus.”
Support a family for 30 days for only $30 right here.
Header photo courtesy of DOOR International.
