Medair – South Sudan
Medair is a Christian humanitarian organisation that responds to conflict, disease
and disasters so that the world’s most vulnerable and hard-to-reach people can live
with dignity and hope.
Medairs International Global Support Office is based in Ecublens, near Lausanne,
and the Westlake church family includes many past and current Medair staff.
Westlake has supported Medair for many years, and since early 2015 we have
focused our support on Medair's programme in South Sudan.
Since 1992, Medair has been a lifeline to those hardest to reach in South Sudan.
They travel by boat and canoe from village to village where floodwaters no longer
recede to provided training, supplies, and supervision for local community health
workers. And they provide health and nutrition care for the most vulnerable, including
pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and their children.
South Sudan has one of the highest number of people displaced from their homes
and communities in the world. Many of these people have been forced to flee
because of violence and insecurity or they must relocate in search of food. They do
not have adequate shelter and basic household items. Access to healthcare and
water and sanitation is very limited, which drives the spread of preventable diseases
and malnutrition – particularly among young children.
See details of Medair’s work in South Sudan:
https://www.medair.org/countries/south-sudan
Westlake Church Lausanne devotes at least 10% of its annual income, plus one-off offerings, to promote the spread of the Gospel around the world, through word and deed. There are four streams of support: Church Planting, Practical Compassion, Bible Translation, and the Persecuted Church.
Specific projects that we support:
Myanmar
Christianity first reached Myanmar in the early 1500, but the task of spreading the gospel became a challenge due to the fact that most Burmese were devoted Buddhists. The foundations of the Protestant Church were laid by the lifetime work of American Baptist missionaries, Adoniram and Ann Judson who arrived in Rangoon (now called Yangon) on July 13, 1813. In 1962 Buddhism became the official religion of the country resulting in much hardship and all sorts of restrictions on the Christian minorities. As of today the church has grown in the midst of tribulation and many have risked their lives to spread the Gospel.
As the Church in Myanmar grows, so does the need for local leadership and reaching remote areas in the country with the gospel. Westlake is privileged to partner with a group of our brothers and sisters in Myanmar who have taken on the challenge of teaching and discipling young people from various tribes and people groups before sending them back to their own people.
Port'espoir
Port'espoir is a local ministry co-initiated and led by Westlake members, seeking to bring the love and freedom and compassion of Jesus to women working the streets of Lausanne. You can find their website here.
Open Doors
Open Doors has been serving the persecuted church for 70 years in 71 countries
where more than 380 million Christians are severely persecuted for their faith.
Open Doors takes its name from the heart of their mission: to go everywhere in the
world where Christians are severely deprived of religious freedom. Indeed, they
believe that God opens doors for them to fulfil their calling.
As a church, Westlake is supporting an Open Doors family ministry program in the
Persian speaking world through a secure online platform. The goal is to help families
grow in the knowledge of God and build family relationships based on Biblical
values.
For more information about the Open Doors work in
Iran: https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/persecution/countries/iran/
As a church family, Westlake is united in prayer with the persecuted Church and
meets every last Monday/month to pray for their persecuted brothers and sisters.
Wycliffe/Seed Company
Westlake supports Bible translation around the world through Wycliffe Bible Translators, and its affiliate, Seed Company.
For many years, Westlake supported Seed Company’s translation of the Old Testament into the Saramaccan and Aukan languages of Suriname, a project that is nearly finished now. You can see a video about the project here. We continue to support other projects of Wycliffe and Seed Company around the world.
World Vision
Through their giving in Sunday School our children support two children in Albania. For more information, please visit their website.
CABES - Contacts Amitié Bible entre Etrangers et Suisses
CABES is a team who seeks to share God's love with non-Westerners who have come to the French-speaking part of Switzerland in order to find refuge or to flee poverty. This sharing includes welcoming people and developing friendships as well as sharing the Gospel.
This project began in 1990 with Jean-Pierre and Suzanne Besse's ministry with a few other people, such as Jürg and Annemarie Loeliger. At present, CABES is a Scripture Union ministry. For more information, please visit their website.
GBEU - Groupes Bibliques des Écoles et Universités
Groupes Bibliques des Écoles et Universités (GBEU) are groups of students with a vision to see students transformed by the Gospel to impact their places of study, churches and society. They study the Bible, pray and share the Gospel with their other fellow students. GBEU provides guidance and training through a team with the spiritual, practical and financial support from the friends of GBEU. For more information, please visit their website.