sri-lanka-relief-project-1-1400x600

sri-lanka-relief-project-1-1400x600

sri-lanka-family-1-1400x600

sri-lanka-family-1-1400x600

sri-lanka-well-project-1400x600

{"cameraType":"Wide","macroEnabled":false,"qualityMode":3,"deviceTilt":-0.0073974020779132843,"customExposureMode":1,"extendedExposure":false,"whiteBalanceProgram":0,"cameraPosition":1,"focusMode":1}

sri-lanka-relief-project-2-1400x600

{"cameraType":"Wide","macroEnabled":false,"qualityMode":3,"deviceTilt":-0.042457718402147293,"customExposureMode":0,"extendedExposure":false,"whiteBalanceProgram":0,"cameraPosition":1,"focusMode":0}

sri-lanka-pastor-project-1400x600

sri-lanka-pastor-project-1400x600

sri-lanka-education-assistance-1400x600

sri-lanka-education-assistance-1400x600

By Steven & Peggy Beverly, Global Strategy Missionaries in Sri Lanka

Editor’s Note: The Ministry Sustainability project in Sri Lanka is among the four projects featured during Global Strategy’s 2018 impactX2 year-end campaign. Global Strategy missionaries Steven and Peggy Beverly are working alongside Sri Lankan church leaders, nurturing and developing pastoral leadership.

For Christian pastors in Sri Lanka, it is often a challenge to earn a living income, mainly due to the marginalization of Christians in an environment where Buddhism is the majority religion. For many years, Church of God pastors in Sri Lanka received a small, monthly stipend to support their ministry. The funds were never intended as a long-term solution, but the pastors, most of whom are barely able to feed their families, had become dependent on those resources. A lack of leadership hindered training and spiritual growth and maturity that should have enabled the pastors to become self-sufficient. This heavy dependence stipends was detrimental to the growth of the national ministry in Sri Lanka. In 2016, the remaining funds for monthly stipends ended, leaving many pastors without resources to provide for their family or support their ministry.

The Sri Lanka Ministry Sustainability Project is a holistic approach to developing a stable, self-sustaining, healthy and growing ministry in Sri Lanka. We are developing sustainability from six perspectives:

1. Administrative Sustainability
2. National Ministry Sustainability
3. Pastoral Financial Sustainability
4. Pastoral Care and Spiritual Sustainability
5. Local Sustainability
6. Relational Sustainability

The project is providing discipleship training, mentoring, counseling, ministerial support, resources for  the growth and development of national leaders, personal and ministry support projects, facilities resources, and formal education assistance.

Through the Sri Lanka Ministry Sustainability project, we are able to assist the pastors with beginning a business as a ministry with the goal of providing for their family and their ministry and establishing a positive influence in their village and community. We are also able to connect with educational programs to help pastors receive ministry degrees.

A significant aspect of sustainability is teaching the pastors to contribute to the ongoing stability and growth of the national ministry of the Church of God in Sri Lanka. Pastors are encouraged to help in the building up, growth, and development of the national ministry by giving back time, skills, and financial resources into the ministry.

The long-term goal of the Sri Lanka Ministry Sustainability project is to develop a ministry that can train and support its own leaders, supply the needed resources for national ministry, and become a strong, sending body.

To learn more about the Ministry Sustainability project in Sri Lanka or to make a contribution, click here.

To learn more about Global Strategy’s 2018 impactX2 campaign, click here.