But give a man a net …..

 The people of Sri Lanka have endured much in recent years.    They’ve had civil war, and a tsunami.  The monsoon rains come and wash their crops and chickens away or in another year they don’t come and so their crops get shrivelled in the heat.

Southern Sri Lanka is where the seat of government is (Colombo the capital), and where all the hotels and the tourist industry is based.   But travel north and it is a different picture.   North where the congregations of the Lanka Evangelical Fellowship of Churches (LEFC) are.   Most in this group of Baptist churches are either day labourers or subsistence farmers and so do not have the resources to weather the disasters that regularly befall them.

There is a saying, “Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day, but give him a net you’ll feed him for life”.   Care Sri Lanka, a UK charity, works in partnership with the LEFC churches to assist them in sharing the gospel of Christ as well as funding various projects aimed at providing individuals and families with a more stable income.

There are a number of facets to the ministries of Care Sri Lanka.  One is to settle and support pastors in the churches.  This can also include the provision of materials to build a new church or extend an existing one.  This activity can soon result in opposition from the local population.  In one case the church was able to obtain a suitable piece of land from a local landowner for a church but the Buddhist community stated that they wanted it and so the church was not able to acquire it.   In another area there was a thriving Sunday School which not only taught biblical events but also some academic subjects. The Buddhists told the children that they would break their legs if they attended the school and so stopped the work.

There are also many physical needs.  Food prices have risen and so there is a fear of famine.  This is met through the distribution of food parcels containing basic foods to anyone in need and in each parcel is a gospel tract.
There is also a need for stable employment and this is met through the provision of equipment and materials.  A farmer may require a spade to work the land and seed to grow a crop which can be sold in the local market.  A seamstress can put a sewing machine to good use even if requiring an overhaul.  Recently Care Sri Lanka was given some stacking chairs and whilst they were thinking as to how they could use them a hospital approached them asking if they had any chairs!!   To read more about this aspect of the work and what to do to meet the need go to  https:/www.care-srilanka.org/projects/