Living Hope Church

 

What is Girls Ministries?
Girls Ministries is a ministry for winning girls to Jesus Christ through love and acceptance. Girls Ministries provides an environment of support and accountability while helping girls to develop their gifts and abilities. In addition, girls build lifelong relationships with mentors who encourage girls to be spiritual leaders. Girls Ministries is dividing into three sections of clubs; Kids Clubs for nursery and preschool children, Girls Clubs for elementary school girls, and Teen Girls Ministries (TGM) for middle school and high school girls. Girl Ministries uses small beginnings to make a big impact on girls and their world.

Project India - School Project India - Children Project India - Children
Before the movie Slumdog Millionaire turned the eyes of the world to India, Assemblies of God missionaries Clark and Jennifer Jensen were well aware of the desperate needs of the children there. An estimated 18 million children survive on the streets of India; slave labor and forced prostitution are the norm for millions; and thousands of others are trafficked to India from other countries. Being a child in India is often a hopeless existence.

“Since our first visit to India over 20 years ago, we have been compelled by the plight of children who are victims of poverty, exploitation and abuse,” states missionary Clark Jensen. “Our conviction is that these children are as precious to God as our own. This truth motivated us to develop an approach to child care that is an expression of the local church where children are cared for in family settings rather than in institutions.”

The national Girls Ministries Department has selected Global Family Project India—Rescue, Family Care, Education as the 2009 Coins for Kids project. Funds will go toward the building of a rescue center in a slum community. During their stay in the rescue center, desperate children will receive needed medical care, counseling and training in preparation for placement in family care.

“We are so excited to partner with the Jensens for Project India,” says NGM Director Candy Tolbert. “I have visited the area in New Delhi where a rescue center would be built. The eyes of the children, and parents, there are empty and hollow. Without education and proper care, there is little hope of breaking away from the extreme poverty that grips their families.”

But Project India—Rescue, Family Care, Education will allow the Jensens to offer that hope to families through strategically placed rescue centers. Abandoned or orphaned children will find a safe place to flourish through education, nutritional food, medical attention, and God’s love.

“Our approach is that children brought to the rescue center who lack family support are placed in the homes of loving Christian families,” adds Jennifer Jensen. “Children’s homes and orphanages have fulfilled a valuable service, but the ideal place of nurture is within the home of a loving family.”

“Our goal for giving this year is $200,000,” Tolbert says. “Girls have set giving records two years in a row. Last year $178, 270 was given for the Bolivian Hope Center. We were blown away! We want to challenge girls to go even deeper in their expression of compassion for those with so little. Imagine what $1 more from each girls club member could do to change empty, hollow eyes to eyes full of hope and love.”

To learn more about the new Coins for Kids project and view the project video, visit http://ngmevents.ag.org/cfk/.


By: Lori Van Veen

Girls Ministries

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