Movie of CAR trip (approximately 6 mins) by Carolyn Jacobs and Pastor Steve Cauley in Feb 2008... Click Here!
History:
Église évangélique luthérienne de la République centrafricaine, Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic (ELC/CAR), has a membership of 70,000 with 550 congregations and 50 pastors. ELCA Global Mission cooperates with the ELC/CAR through support for a seminary, health care, literacy, women's development programs, and urban ministry in Bangui.
Selected Programs of the ELC/CAR
These programs are funded mainly through offerings from Lutheran churches abroad. To add your support, earmark your contribution C.A.R. companion synod and send through your congregation or directly to the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, 12707 North Freeway, Suite 580, Houston, TX 77060-1239.
- Village Education Project - Link your Sunday School students to school
age children in Central Africa through the Village Education Project. (Click here to read more!)
- Young Women's Scholarship Program - Supporting education for girls in the Central African
Republic is normally a low priority. Most girls do not
receive a primary school education, let alone attend high
school. (Click here to read more!)
- Women’s Center - Construction of a Women's Center was long considered an impossible dream by the Lutheran Women of the Central African Republic (FCC) in this poorest of African nations. Now, the Center Chez Marthe et Marie (Martha and Mary's House) will be dedicated February 20, 2008. It will provide space to teach literacy and skills for economic development, to start a banking and lending program, to train women in leadership, to operate a sponsorship program for the education of very young girls, as well as offer a place for spiritual nourishment.
Photos of the Construction - Click Each for a Larger View! |
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Tim and Janet Dray, architects from Minnesota, volunteered a year of their lives to supervise construction. FCC women are raising what they can, but most of the funding for the $170,000 project came from the ELCA Western North Dakota, Eastern North Dakota, and Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synods, as well as Minneapolis-based Lutheran Partners in Global Ministry. The three synods will be funding operating expenses for the Women’s Center.
Click photos below for larger view! |
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Front View of WC |
Women for Christ |
Tim & Janet Dray |
Completed Women's
Center |
 Scholarships for Young Women - Educating women is generally a low priority in CAR. In 1996, Lutheran women decided to start supporting the education of young women by offering scholarships to the Maigaro technical high school (3 years), and for those who do well, to a high school in the capital, Bangui (3 years). Occasionally, a woman is sent to a college or technical school in Cameroon. Supporting the education of women is a key leadership development tool for the church.
- Village Education Project (V.E.P.) - The ELC/CAR developed the Village Education Project beginning in 1998, to develop curriculum, recruit and train teachers, and provide primary education in villages without schools, as well as to organize parents and the community to support the schools. In phase one, village leaders and parents request a school and agree to provide teacher salary, housing and garden, as well as a temporary school structure. In phase
 2, after proving they can support a school, the village requests a permanent school structure. The ELC/CAR selects and trains teachers, oversees the curriculum and exams, and provides the permanent building. There are now 20 villages ready for permanent structures. Unless this project receives new funding, some of the schools may not be able to carry on past this year.
The ELCA missionary couple, Pastor Joyce Graue and Ian Graue, are under contract to the ELC/CAR. Pastor Graue is advisor to the Lutheran Women’s organization ( FCC – Femmes Centrafricaines pour Christ), which will operate the Women’s Center, and which administers the Women’s Scholarship program. The local FCC groups meet every Friday, 52 weeks a year. Ian Graue, is the advisor to the Village Education Project.
- Gallo Health Center - An additional request of the ELC/CAR is for help in building and maintaining a health center in the village of Gallo. A team of health care specialists from Global Health Ministries visited CAR last fall and met with representatives of the church, the government, the village of Gallo, and the hospital in Bouar. They have developed a proposal for the Gallo clinic, which would initially provide obstetric services, fracture and wound care, treatment for severe malaria, meningitis, and dehydration in children, and other services. It would coordinate with existing HIV/AIDS and other programs of the church. View a PDF posted on 22 Sep 2008
Hope Lutheran spreads "hope!" Read More.
Other synods in the USA that are companions with the ELC/CAR are:
- Western North Dakota Synod
- Eastern North Dakota Synod
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