Global Ministries

Global Ministries mission coworkers Tom and Monica Liddle share these success stories of Global Ministries scholarship recipients from East Timor.

Alberto Viegas was the intern at Imanuel Church when we came back to Timor in 2016. We worked together for 9 months before he went back to school in Indonesia. Alberto has been in Lospalos this month doing some research for his Master’s in Theology. His topic is the church and poverty. For his research, he’s interviewing church members about their lives, work, struggles, and faith. Since Alberto is Timorese, he’s familiar with what life is like here. But after studying theology for the past two years, his perspective has changed. He sees with new eyes. His questions are different. He’s more preoccupied with people’s suffering and the church’s response. He wonders how people interpret their world, their suffering, and their future. He wonders how Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom of God can kindle a new mission for IPTL’s ministry.

Porque él es quien hace la llaga, y él la vendará; El hiere, y sus manos curan. Job 5:18

El camino hacia el pueblo de Motara en Timor Oriental es un pantano de lodo durante la temporada de lluvias. Cuando llegamos a las 9:00 am para una clínica móvil, docenas de pacientes ya se han reunido. Las madres y los niños pequeños constituyen la mayoría, pero también hay hombres y mujeres de edad avanzada. Dos empleados de la Clínica Emmanuel y un médico del gobierno descargan varias cajas de suministros médicos y comienzan a consultar. Para cuando la clínica haya terminado, más de 60 pacientes habrán tenido la oportunidad de recibir atención médica que de otro modo no habrían tenido. Esta clínica es un esfuerzo de colaboración entre la Clínica Emmanuel y el Ministerio de Salud de Timor Oriental.

Download PDF Bulletin insert

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Matthew 10:8

The road to the village of Motara in East Timor is a virtual mud-bog during the rainy season. When we pull up at 9:00 AM for a mobile clinic dozens of patients have already gathered. Moms and young children make up the majority but there are elderly men and women too. Two Clinic Immanuel staff and a government doctor unload several boxes of medical supplies and start consulting. By the time the clinic is over more than 60 patients will have had the opportunity for health care they otherwise wouldn’t have had. This clinic is a collaborative effort between Clinic Immanuel and the Timorese Ministry of Health.

“…I am a worm and not human; scorned by others and despised by the people.”

Psalm 22:6

Lectionary Selection:  John 10:22-30

Prayers for East Timor:  

Good and gracious Shepherd, we have heard your voice and your invitation to follow. From day to day, in many and diverse ways, you walk alongside us. You are at work in the rising of the sun and its setting. The intricacies of creation and human relationships show forth your presence with us. And for that, we give you thanks. On this day, we lift up to you the people of Timor-Leste. We pray for the Protestant Church of Timor Leste and especially it’s vital ministry Clinic Immanuel Lospalos. Bless us with your wisdom, patience, and compassion. Guide us that with each person we consult we would see your own face. Amen.

Reflection for Advent IV: December 23, 2018

Luke 1:39-55

Reflection for Advent III, Sunday December 16, 2018

Isaiah 12:1-6; Luke 3:7-18

On Thursday of this week we’ll have 40 – 60 youth arriving at Immanuel Church Lospalos for a Christmas youth event. They’ll be coming from the eastern part of Timor-Leste for three days of fellowship, faith development and fun! This generation of Timorese youth is particularly vulnerable. They are, mostly, born after the independence struggle and are therefore somewhat estranged from the identity-shaping power of that time. They are pulled in two directions: traditional culture with its tight social fabric, and the modern world with its insistence on the autonomy of the individual. They have mediocre opportunities for secondary education and an economy with little in the way of employment possibilities.

Reflection for Advent 2, December 9, 2018

Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6

Walking into the Lospalos hospital, we followed a trail of dried blood drops up the stairs, through a hall and across a dirty tile floor to the emergency room. We don’t do x-rays or casts at Clinic Immanuel so a few of us were taking a kid with a broken arm to the government hospital. My colleague put the child on a dingy examination bed. I stepped over some used gauze lying on the floor to hold him while the nurses put on a temporary splint. He had just fallen while playing on the church compound.

Reflection for Advent 1, December 2, 2018

Psalm 25:1-10; Luke 21:25-36

It’s a Sunday afternoon and I’m walking up a rocky trail to the house of a family of Immanuel Church. As I get closer, I see a huge blackened pot sitting atop a cooking fire. Smoke from the fire wafts in the breeze and drifts off over the top of a barren hill. The mom comes out to tend the fire. She is likely boiling cassava or taro, both staple foods of Timorese. Meanwhile, about a half dozen scantily clad kids run around playing. Dad is down the hill digging up rocks. The soil here is full of them and before you can plant anything you have to extract them. And that only happens one way: with a crowbar and bare hands.