CCT News Update
Dearest Friends and Ministry Partners,
Warmest greetings!
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING. March has always been a busy month for us here at CCT particularly due to preparations for the annual membership meeting which we held on the 24th. Highlights of the meeting included presentation of reports on the year 2010 by yours truly, by Ron Chua, treasurer, and by the various ministries. New officers of the different ministries were elected, and new corporate members were accepted into the Group.
Several minutes were spent remembering the lives and service of Pastor Luis Pantoja and Pastor Sixto Apura who recently went to be with the Lord. Their families were given reproductions of the painting Serving Like Jesus which hangs in the head office lobby and which was used on the cover of CCT’s 2009 annual report.
ASA Philippines Foundation president and co-founder Kamrul Tarafder was specially cited for technical advice given to CCT over the past several months.
Pastor EJ del Mundo spoke on the year of Jubilee as described in Leviticus 25 and made a powerful challenge to corporate members to “give more time to God, be more involved in reaching out to the poor, and not miss the opportunity to serve the Lord.”
The whole 5 ½ hour event, which ended with a fellowship dinner, was a wonderful time of celebrating God’s work among the poor in the Philippines. CCT is embarking on its 20th year as I write this. As always, we humbly pray to simply be used as channels of His blessing, as bringers of good news to the poor.
COMMUNITY CENTERS. We have moved into a five-year period (2011-2015) in which one of our major goals is the conversion of CCT branch offices into community centers. Most of CCT’s 133 branch offices today are simple offices from which microfinance services are dispensed. A few of these have space from which basic medical services are given; a few have worship facilities where believers in the community meet for Sunday services.
Starting with 24 offices this year CCT will convert each branch office into a community center which will be a staging point for the delivery of wholistic, integrated programs and services to the different basic sectors in the community. Each community center will be a one-stop shop integrating a church, a pre-school, a clinic, offices, and training rooms. Orientation and training of staff regarding this development, hiring of more staff (particularly licensed teachers), inviting of volunteer doctors, and seeking of bigger office space is now going on.
SIPAG PROJECT UPDATE. In our previous newsletter you were informed of SIPAG, a new project that aims to help 180 currently unemployed blue collar workers receive TESDA (Training and Skills Development Authority) accreditation and organize them into guilds. As of this writing, a total of 116 men have passed accreditation exams—39 in masonry, 41 in carpentry, 28 in painting, and nine in plumbing. Tyron Sarmiento, project organizer, happily reports that five of those men easily found jobs even before they actually received their certificates simply by mentioning to a construction foreman that they were TESDA accredited.
A significant amount of the 12-month project will be used to equip the workers with entrepreneurial skills. SIPAG project Manager Rolando Calimlim explains, “Someone with excellent hands-on skills but lacking entrepreneurial skills still often ends up jobless. The workers will be taught how to market themselves, how to package themselves, how to write simple proposals, how to estimate construction costs, and how to close a deal.”
The spiritual aspect of the men’s lives is addressed through weekly meetings with a format like that of the fellowship meetings attended by their spouses or mothers who are micro-finance community partners. The men meet on weekends. They will also undergo one-on-one discipleship. We have more information on this project here: http://cctsikhay.blogspot.com/
SAVINGS LED PROGRAM. In partnership with Hope International we are pilot testing a new program in nine CCT areas. We are setting up savings groups which gives poor women—who would not dare venture into a traditional savings bank—an opportunity to save up. Like our micro-finance community partners, members of a savings group will meet once a week for Bible study. They will decide together on the amount each person will save.These savings come in handy for unexpected happenings such as hospitalizations, fires, or natural disasters, or important events such as a wedding. For CCT the program is a platform for sharing the Gospel.
The savings led program will be piloted among children of microentrepreneurs, among street dwellers, and among the poorest of the poor. It is the first service we are offering in Surigao del Norte, a province where we have just begun to operate. Surigao del Norte has gained international attraction as a surfer’s paradise, but it remains one of the poorest provinces in the country. The program will also be piloted in Malungon in Mindanao where CCT already has a ministry to members of the B’laan indigenous group.
SCHOLARSHIPS FOR OUT-OF-SCHOOL YOUTH. During an annual conference of their dealers, one of CCT’s corporate partners, Universal Motors Corporation (local assembler and distributor of Nissan vehicles) gave out certificates of scholarship to 20 out-of-school youth. The scholarships cover food, board, and tuition for a 3 ½ month course in carpentry, electrical installation, and plumbing. The scholars will join 80 other young men who will study at the vocational-technical school in Magdalena, Laguna from April to July. Included in their training package is evangelism, discipleship, socio-cultural enhancement, and sports. When they graduate, the Covenant Community Service Cooperative will help them find jobs. You may click on this link for more information: http://cctmagdalena.blogspot.com/.
PEOPLE BLESSING PEOPLE BLOG. Although I have not been able to write as often as I wish, I have been able to share some reflections in my blog. One of my most recent entries is how I realized God wanted me to go into poor communities to minister. It may be read here: http://peopleblessingpeople.tumblr.com/.
The CCT Group of Ministries has begun to use a new, more vibrant logo in which the eye is drawn to the cross symbolizing Jesus Christ and the hope he brings.
As you continue to pray for the ministry of CCT and support it, rest on God’s promise that, “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.” PROVERBS 19:17
Serving with you,
5F Joshua Center, 1428 Taft Avenue,Ermita, Manila 1000, Philippines
Telephone: (632) 524-1819/524-1810/524-1835 Fax: (632) 524-1809 loc. 11
www.cct.org.ph
Email: ho@cct.org.ph
