Church partnerships in the U.S. and abroad are foundational to World Vision’s work. These are some of the churches and Christian leaders World Vision has been privileged to minister alongside over the years.
Korea — Jesus said others would know we are his disciples by the love we share (John 13:35). In this photo from 1955, World Vision founder Bob Pierce embraces a pastor while the Rev. Han Kyung Chik, founder of Young Nak Presbyterian Church in Seoul, looks on at one of World Vision’s first pastors’ conferences in Korea. Dr. Bob and Rev. Han were lifelong friends and partners in establishing World Vision in Asia. (©1956 World Vision)
Romania — Metropolitan Daniel (right) observes Dr. Sam Kamaleson — World Vision’s much-loved vice president at large for evangelism — speaking in 1992 at a World Vision-sponsored pastors conference for Orthodox priests in Romania. This convocation provided a springboard for relationship-building between Protestant and Orthodox Christian traditions in the country after the Soviet bloc dissolved. (©1992 World Vision/photo by Randy Miller)
El Salvador — Pastor Raul Ernesto Torres, a local minister in El Salvador, worked with World Vision’s San Julian development by providing spiritual and material relief, following two massive earthquakes. Damage and injuries occurred in every region of the country, including here in Sonsonate, from the 2001 temblors spaced one month apart. Pastor Raul’s stirring words reflect the passion he shares with World Vision: “God has placed me in this world to serve others.” (©2001 World Vision/photo by Katia Maldonado)
Rwanda — Deborah Rillos finds fun in a hands-on approach with children in Mudasomwa, Rwanda, as part of a group of U.S. pastors visiting communities benefitting from World Vision’s work in 2005. They rejoiced, cried, and resolved to help equip this largely invisible community reeling from poverty and HIV and AIDS. (©2005 World Vision/photo by Karie Hamilton)
Cambodia — Pastor Roth Ourng preaches from Psalm 15. His path to becoming a Christian minister began in 1993 with his observation of World Vision staff distributing clothes and working in his village of Samrith, Cambodia. Later, a glance at the first verse of a Bible lying open on a staffer’s desk led the ordained Buddhist monk to request a Bible for himself so he could “understand who is this God.” A little more than a month later, he found faith in Christ. (©2008 World Vision/photo by Jon Warren)
Kenya — In June 2006, Pastor Alex Kamana visits Tinges and Kinasek, whose parents died of AIDS, providing food and spiritual encouragement to the sisters in their village in Kenya. His participation in World Vision’s Community Care Coalition — a group energized to help deal with the effects of HIV and AIDS in their villages and families — taught Pastor Kamana valuable lessons. “During training, we learned about advocating for the eradication of female genital mutilation as well as HIV and AIDS issues and looking after chronically ill patients.” (©2008 World Vision/photo by John Kabubu)
Sierra Leone — To prevent the spread of Ebola in Sierra Leone, World Vision took an interfaith approach, training and arranging for 30 pastors and imams in May 2014 to visit churches and mosques and discourage rumor-mongering, dispel misconceptions and denial about the disease, and replace fear with hope. Chief Imam Koker (pictured) and fellow Muslim leaders reached 3,000 worshipers with the health message, and on another evening, Pastor Peter Kainwo and other Christian ministers spoke to 3,500 people in 15 mosques. (©2014 World Vision/photo by Jonathan Bundu)
Minnesota — Eagle Brook Church’s partnership with World Vision in Mozambique yields impact on both sides of the globe as church members interact with the communities they have committed to serve. Colleen Wilcek (third from left, in blue) traveled with other representatives of the Minnesota congregation in 2013 to Mozambique to see how their sponsorship donations and church’s generous giving make what their pastor terms a “monster impact” for impoverished communities. Colleen’s experiences energized not just her own family but her entire church family. (©2013 World Vision/photo by Andrea Peer)
Bolivia — Prayer is a powerful weapon to combat spiritual darkness. In 2011, World Vision’s U.S. President Rich Stearns joined in fellowship and prayer with leaders from a variety of denominations in Viloma, Bolivia. Earlier, the assemblage brainstormed ways World Vision and their churches could work together to address serious problems in the community, like alcoholism and abuse. (©2011 World Vision/photo by Jon Warren)
West Virginia — Single dad Mark Irvine, 34, stands outside his home in impoverished Flemington, West Virginia, with his youngest son, Dakota, 8. Behind them, World Vision U.S. program volunteers from Christ Church at Grove Park in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, continue working on Mark’s home as they have been doing all week in July 2012. The team worked on the roof, put in new windows, and painted the kitchen, bathroom, and house exterior. Leanne Roland, the church’s director of missions, says, “We can come two hours down this highway to be a blessing and to be blessed.” (©2012 World Vision/photo by Laura Reinhardt)
