A Year of Multiplication; 2009 in Review

In 2009, life-giving work multiplied in many nations, as leaders were equipped to share the truth about the sanctity of human life and the Gospel of Christ.

• LIFE teams made 22 visits to 16 nations in 2009 to train and equip associate centers and movement leaders to start or further develop components of life-giving ministry. Several volunteer trainers from the U.S. joined us on these trips, and we are poised to build a whole team of volunteer trainers in 2010.
  
• Over 800 pastors and church leaders in Uganda, Zambia, and Cambodia have received foundational biblical training on the sanctity of human life. These leaders are now spreading this message to their communities and networks. We have been asked to provide further training for church leaders in Uganda, Ecuador, and Cambodia in 2010.
  
• Our partners in Uganda and Zambia facilitated follow-up “train-the-trainer” sessions for LIFE to teach leaders to train volunteer counselors to minister to the abortion-vulnerable. These leaders have begun to initiate life-giving efforts within their spheres of influence. Our Zambian partners are also responding to requests for other trainings, which they will teach in 2010.
  
• Our Eastern Europe Regional Office has facilitated the translation of brochures and LIFE’s training manuals into Russian, helped the seven associate centers in the region to develop strategic ministry plans, and is corresponding with teams in Georgia, Armenia, Russia, and Ukraine who are working to establish new life-giving initiatives.
  
• After hearing our partners in Guyana speak at a “Lawyers for Jesus” conference two years ago, an attorney in Trinidad began to engage with LIFE for assistance in starting a pregnancy center. This summer, she and her team launched the Elpis center, with a mission to “speak the truth regarding pregnancy, the sanctity of life, marriage and family. [They] want to bring God’s hope to women and families in crisis by providing counseling, practical support and guidance.”
  
• Mobile ministry tools have been put into the hands of key leaders in many nations. Over 700 12-week fetal models were distributed through our trainings, illuminating the reality of the development of life in the womb. Our training manual and other counseling tools have been translated into Russian and Spanish. In partnership with Christian author Randy Alcorn, more than 150 copies of Why Pro Life? have been distributed in print and digital formats, and a Portuguese translation is in process.
  
• Clinica Pro Vita in Romania has been working toward a vision of establishing a network of 25 pregnancy centers throughout their entire nation.
  
• CERVI in Brazil has been helping to equip leaders by speaking about the sanctity of human life at three events this fall, potentially reaching 6,000 people, and by working with other teams interested in starting life-giving ministries.
  
• The director of Showers of Grace, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, has traveled to Quito to provide LIFE’s Intimacy Before Impact training for a group doing life-giving work there, and has also provided consultation for centers in that city.
  
• Centro de Vida in Bolivia is helping to equip other individuals in Latin America—one woman from Chile traveled to observe the work of their center for three weeks so that she could return home to lay the foundation for a center. They have also been talking with individuals in Cuba who have expressed interest in life-giving ministry.