As I write this, we are less than 24 hours away from departing for the nation of Uganda. Ten of us will be traveling to work with Redeemer Ministries this week and next week, including FIVE of our Crook County Christian School staff! Yesterday, during chapel, we shared with our students about Uganda, and they will be praying each morning this week in their classes with their teachers for the team, for Grandma Kathy, and for the people we will be ministering to. What a privilege we have to so openly practice our faith and teach students about the Great Commission and the love of God for all peoples. At Crook County Christian, we are committed to teaching and demonstrating a Biblical Worldview to our students, and not just being Christian in name only. We are so excited for the opportunity in front of us, and to partner with God in what He is doing around the world.
Uganda team traveling from CCCS
What is Project Uganda?
Practically speaking, Project Uganda is simply a partnership between Crook County Christian School and Redeemer Ministries in the nation of Uganda that helps families to thrive and to know the love of Jesus. Redeemer Ministries is primarily focused on women and children, with an emphasis on widowed and abandoned women and their families, many of whom are unable to care for their children without assistance. Biblically, Project Uganda is our practical expression and demonstration of the Great Mandate from Jesus to go and “…make disciples of all nations” and the practical expression of what the Book of James calls ‘true religion’. It is one of our opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
James 1:27
Who/What is Redeemer Ministries and what do they do?
Redeemer Ministries is the ministry organization started by Kathy Vaughan. Kathy is a resident missionary from Prineville to the nation of the Uganda. Her ministry to Uganda began as call to start an orphanage caring for abandoned children, many of whom were adopted by families in Central Oregon. Around 2015, God shifted the focus of the ministry from running the orphanage to helping address the underlying root causes of why so many children were being abandoned and orphaned.
Since that time, Redeemer Ministries has evolved and expanded its mission to help the orphaned, widowed and abandoned in Uganda by providing medical support, education, micro business loans, and support to help families thrive and to help change the lives and provide hope for countless men, women and children. The primary focus is women and children, and especially those who are abandoned, widowed or orphaned along with their families. In addition to meeting their practical needs, the most important need we meet is introducing them to Jesus, and letting them know there is a God who sees them and loves them.
What is the Redeemer Ministries farm project?
A few years ago, Redeemer Ministries purchased land in a village where a farm could be established. Several homes were built which provided a place for abandoned women to come and live with their children. These women are empowered to be able to provide food for their families, and the extra food is sold and the proceeds help their children be able to attend school and to provide for their future independence. By providing food security and a stable home, these women are eventually empowered to purchase their own land and homes, and then a new family is brought to the farm. It is a remarkable project that doesn’t just feed a family, but changes their entire trajectory.
Currently, we are digging a well that will serve and minister to the entire surrounding community. It is also Kathy’s vision to see a nurse’s station built to help provide basic medical care to those on the farm and in the village, along with a building that will serve as a gathering place for a church community and for community events.
How and why does Crook County Christian School partner with Redeemer Ministries?
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…
Matthew 28:18-19
The very last words of Jesus to His disciples were to “…go and make disciples of all nations.” By partnering with Kathy and Redeemer Ministries, our staff, students and families are provided with an incredible opportunities to participate in the Great Commission from Prineville. For the past 2 years, we have taken 50% of the proceeds from our annual Crook County Holiday Bazaar and sent them to Redeemer ministries to help support the work they are doing. This year, we have the privilege of taking a team to Uganda including 5 of our staff. Additionally, as a school, we plan on supporting a child in Uganda by helping pay their school fees so they can have access to a life-changing education. Our students will have a direct opportunity to participate.
This is a long-term partnership, and in the future, we will have the opportunities for high school students, staff and parents to join us on mission trips. Additionally, interested families will have opportunities to help support children with school fees, food security, and other projects that help change the lives of families forever here and for eternity. Together, we have the opportunity to give our kids a broader worldview and the practical ability to participate in the Great Mandate Jesus gives.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
John 20:21
How you can support the team traveling this week
As our team of staff and family travel to Uganda this week and over the week of Thanksgiving, the most important thing we need is people who will pray for us. We leave Wednesday, November 15, and we return Sunday, November 26. If you would like to know more about how you and your family can become involved in the work going on in Uganda, reach out to Pastor Aaron (you can contact Jodi in the front office). We would love to share with you practical ways your family can take part in the awesome work God is doing in Uganda and beyond.
What about projects in our own community and nation?
Crook County Christian School partners with several projects right here in our own community. The call to make disciples of “all nations” includes our own by default. We are located here, and God has called us to be salt and light to those around us. It is not an either/or calling but an and/both one. We are so excited that God has placed us right here in Central Oregon to make an impact to the families all around us, and that He has gifted us the opportunity to make an impact half-way around the world. Our students and families are so blessed that we get to be a blessing to others here and abroad. We love that our students get to participate in both.
This month, our Holiday Partnership is currently running, and we are challenging our students to bring in even more food than last year for families in need in our own community. Don’t forget to send food items with your students so we can fill the red bins located in the office and in both school buildings!
SOLA DEO GLORIA (Glory to God Alone)
More Info about CCCS
Are you a parent wanting to know how your child can thrive at Crook County Christian School? At CCCS, we aim to help students pursue God through excellence in Discipleship, Academics, and Leadership!
Reach out today and make a change that will benefit your student for a lifetime!
I am so excited to host this team and have them get a better vision of the work God is doing here in Uganda. And I love it that CCCS is partnering with us here at Redeemer Ministries! When the team returns, be sure to ask them for some stories of the God things they saw while they were here. I know they will have some!