What We Do
Spread The Gospel & Show We Care
Our mission is to spread the Gospel to the lost in the 10/40 Window. However, as the saying goes, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. So while spiritual needs are our focus, we also help with physical needs.
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.
Proverbs 3:27
Orphans
Challenges with poverty and corruption are often most felt by the children. With no government programs, such as welfare or foster homes, children are forced to live on the streets due to the loss of one or both parents or are abandoned because their parents are not able to provide food and the necessities for them. With children living on the street and nowhere to go, they often end up in human or sex trafficking. Send The Light provides these children hope with shelter, food, and clothing, giving them a family and a place to call home. With a preacher and his wife as their house parent, they are also shown Christian love, and are taught about Jesus.
Widows
Disaster and disease leave many women widowed. It is difficult for them to find job opportunities to support themselves and their children with challenges such as illiteracy and lack of education. When poverty strikes, and there is not enough food for the family, they often make an unfortunate tough decision of which one of their children to sell. We provide these widows with a way to make a sustainable income for their essential needs by giving them a goat so they can sell the milk, or a sewing machine so they can go through the streets of their community to mend or tailor clothes to make an income. Having the ability to make a living enough to provide a roof over their head and put food on the table gives them a feeling of value and self-worth.
Bible College
The Bible College, located in Chennai, India, started in 1986 with six students offering a three-year degree program training men in the word of God. Currently, the annual enrollment is about 75 students, along with eight professors, who live at the college. Each day they start with a devotion, attend bible class, and spend time in prayer and studying the word. They can also be found preaching in the local streets and providing humanitarian services to the poor, needy, and sick in the community. Graduation is held each January, with many graduates and their wives returning to their homes to plant congregations, typically starting in a home or tent until they grow large enough to get land and build a shelter or church building. Thousands of churches throughout India and South Asia can trace their beginnings back to this Bible College.
Preachers Support
Two-thirds of the world's population, 5.1 Billion souls, live in the 10/40 Window, of which 90% are unevangelized, and yet only 10% of all missionary forces go to this area. Having 85% of the poorest in the world, preachers in the field rely on monthly support outside of their congregations to spread the Gospel. Send The Light helps with monthly support to provide food and basic needs for their family, transportation such as a motorcycle or bicycle, and medicine. We also assist with preachers' meetings to promote fellowship and encouragement along with further study of the word, as well as supply congregations with items such as Bibles and communion trays.
Water Wells
Water is an essential resource for people to survive that many of us take for granted; however, in many countries throughout the 10/40 Window, safe water is limited. Villagers do not have access to water within their houses and, therefore, walk many kilometers regularly to fill jugs from lakes, ponds, and rivers for drinking and cooking. This is the same water that most sewage drains into and is also used for bathing, laundry, and watering cattle, serving as a reservoir of contamination. People's health is severely impacted, and a majority of the children are affected by waterborne diseases. Send The Light is dedicated to providing safe drinking water by drilling water wells next to churches and orphanages for both members and the community to receive safe water as well as the living water.
Bible Translation
Can you imagine not being able to read John 3:16 and understand God's love in your language or find comfort in Isaiah 40? For millions of people, this is a reality. One thing we have realized in working throughout the 10/40 Window is that we can teach people about Jesus, but without having a Bible in their own heart language to read, it is difficult for them to grow in their faith. The native-speaking church-owned translation process now takes only about two years to translate the New Testament rather than the 20 to 30 years it used to take.
Medical Clinic & Bus
The poor and needy in cities do not have access to medical treatment, with doctors and hospitals turning those away who cannot pay. A free medical clinic is supported by Send The Light to provide free exams, basic medications, the initial diagnosis of diseases, and an opportunity to hear the Gospel. In the village areas, with no medical services available, the medical bus is a necessity, staffed with a doctor and assistants, as well as medical supplies and medicine. It is a welcoming sight to many who will wait for hours for their turn with their children playing. For most of the children, this is the first time they have seen a doctor. Every patient is greeted by someone to pray with them and offer the comfort only God can provide.
Building Churches & Orphanages
With the spreading of the Gospel and the constant need to take care of orphans, infrastructure and building maintenance becomes a necessity. Foundations are constructed, but we build our true foundation on the truth, and we rest the building upon the rock of God's will for us. Floors are laid to guide our footsteps coming together to study the word, celebrate the joy in baptisms, share the sorrow of a lost loved one, and simply fellowship with one another. The roof will shield us from the heat of the sun and elements of the weather, but also from false teaching and anything that would attempt to divide us. Windows allow the light and warmth of God's love to flow into the congregation and to see out to the glory of God's creation. Doors help us invite others in from a world of lost people who need to know Jesus.
Disaster Relief
We provide assistance to the countless lives affected by droughts, pandemics, storm damage, flooding, and more. In South Asia, where they are prone to monsoon rains, cyclones, and earthquakes, the disaster becomes more threatening due to inadequate drainage causing the water to mix with sewage. Sending the medical bus into these areas, we do as much as we can while using all available resources and providing necessities such as food, clothing, blankets, medical attention, and prayers for people in their time of need.