Compassion and Mercy Associates Newsletter
Your Hands to a Hurting World
March 2008
Dear Coworkers,
As you read these lines, CAMA is facing a very pressing challenge.
In fact, it wouldn’t overstate it to say that without a very generous response from friends like you
within the next several weeks, we could have a genuine emergency on our hands.
That’s why I’ll ask you to read this letter prayerfully and carefully. Because the simple truth is that a great deal hinges on your response and the generosity of other friends.
As you know, CAMA works in desperately needy areas of our world. Often our work entails responding to crisis situations, like providing relief to the thousands displaced by floods in West Africa. Or bringing hope and solace to those dying of AIDS in Cambodia.
In the midst of these vast human tragedies, we seek to do more than merely minister to those in great need. We seek to make the invisible Christ visible so that thousands will come to know Him personally.
In addition to relief and medical work in areas hard-hit by disasters and famines, the support of partners like you enables us to also provide clean water wells, initiate community development projects, and provide microenterprise training and loans to the poor.
Whether through disaster relief or long-term development, we strive to be your hands to a hurting
world, transforming the lives and destinies of “the least of these” who are so dear to the heart of God.
It’s not likely to surprise you that the needs CAMA serves are growing. In fact, to respond to steadily increasing numbers of requests from Alliance fields, CAMA has sent out 15 couples and three singles over the last 18 months. New countries include a creative-access country in North Africa, Mali, the Republic of the Congo, and Thailand.
In some cases, these works are entirely new. In other cases, additional staff were sent as “reinforcements” to help those already on the front lines of ministry who are sometimes stretched to the breaking point.
Clearly, these additional deployments represented a step of faith. They involved a 38 percent increase in our budget–from $1.3 million to $1.8 million. While obviously not a large sum to the largest relief and development agencies, for CAMA, this was no small matter and no little step of faith.
Unable to turn our backs on these poignant cries for help, we took this step knowing that God’s resources are not limited. What’s more, He has entrusted His people with the resources, the faith, and the compassion to meet these needs.
Quite simply, our prayerful conclusion was that we would
rather step out in faith and obedience and run the risk of being
sorry than to turn deaf ears to these cries in the interest of being
safe.
In the past, we have repeatedly seen God use His people to provide major amounts of funds at year-end. Because of this pattern, we felt confident that these gifts would materialize as they have so faithfully in the past.
Yet what we feel was a temporary decrease in giving at year-end, combined with our increased outreach, has now resulted in a shortfall of $206,431. This has caused us to draw on limited operating reserves to absorb this impact, but this is clearly not a scenario we can sustain long-term.
And that’s my reason for writing to you today. To ask you to prayerfully consider helping immediately with a generous and perhaps even sacrificial gift.
Please understand. I’m not in the habit of writing urgent letters like this. Thankfully, by God’s grace and the faithfulness of our partners, these haven’t been needed.
I also hope you understand that I’m not asking you to give to
CAMA, but through CAMA to ensure that our life-giving ministries
to God’s desperately needy children in many areas of the world are
not interrupted. Not only would that break my heart and the hearts
of those on the field, I think it would break God’s heart as well.
But it’s clear that we need nothing short of a minor miracle in the next several weeks to sustain all of our current work on these critical fields. And that’s why I’m reaching out to our friends and partners in the hope of a tremendous outpouring of generosity and compassion for those we serve in Christ’s Name.
Because the need is urgent as well as great, I’ll humbly ask you to do what God lays on your heart. Nothing more. And nothing less.
In addition to a generous gift today, some of our friends may want to consider a generous gift each month over the next several months. Such a surge in support could ensure that no CAMA outreach is jeopardized and that none of those we serve are ever abandoned.
I’m hoping that I might hear from you no later than March 28. With that in mind, will you take just a moment to read the enclosed response sheet?
When you check the appropriate box on the card and return it with your generous gift in the envelope I’ve provided, your support will be at work within days. The beauty of your gift is that it can quickly go where you cannot go, speak languages you cannot speak, and transform lives that couldn’t be reached without your partnership.
Because so many lives are impacted so profoundly through our work together, please join me in praying that all of our partners will respond to this pressing need.
May God bless you richly for all that you mean to those we serve. And for all that your faithfulness and friendship mean to me personally.
In His grip,
Phil Skellie
Executive Director for Compassion and Mercy Associates
P.S.—Isaiah 54 speaks of “lengthening the cords and strengthening the stakes.” As we have lengthened the cords of CAMA’s vital outreaches, know that we are also working diligently to strengthen the stakes (expand the base) of our support. In the meantime, the faithful support of our current partners is doubly crucial. For all you do, and especially for helping to stand in the gap during this critical time, I’m more grateful than you’ll ever know.
For federal employees: You can give to CAMA through the 2007 Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) drive. Our designation is #11918