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Author: CEDAR Fund

Reconciliation towards an Authentic Community

Written by: Bernard Wong (Assistant Professor (Theological Studies) and Associate Dean of China Graduate School of Theology, Board Member of CEDAR Fund) Scripture reading: Revelation 7:9-12 Genesis described the diverse and rich world God created, and the future will be even more abundant. The apostle John was shown a vision concerning Christ’s second coming, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…” (Revelation 7:9) From the beginning of the world, God commanded human beings to be fruitful and increase in number, giving rise to different nationalities and languages. The eschatological vision brings us several

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Transforming lives, Serving the Community in Myanmar

Banner image: The war-torn Karen State of Myanmar Written by Edward Lai (Senior Communications Officer) The situation of Myanmar following a military coup has captured international attention. Apart from mass protests demanding the restoration of the civilian government, tensions rise between the ethnic armed groups and the military junta. Myanmar is a multi-ethnic country, the conflict between the military and ethnic armed groups has lasted since its independence. Since the 1990s, CEDAR has been cooperating with Christian partners in Myanmar to carry out relief and development projects across the country to empower local residents to respond to different regions’ needs. Natural disasters, war and poverty have been ravaging the country for years. Yet, we have witnessed many former

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‘SHARE’ 240 – Special Issue: CEDAR 30th Anniversary ‘Beyond Feeding the Poor’

CEDAR turns 30 this year! As our colleagues look back on the past years of poverty alleviation work, what touches us the most is not simply how many people our work has benefited, but the smiles of the poor. CEDAR’s work is not simply to alleviate the poor’s hunger or to give them warmth; it is to show them a life filled with respect and one that is worth living. Under ‘Focus’ of this issue of SHARE, our Acting Chief Executive shares her past 30 years of serving the poor, just like CEDAR’s 30-year mission. ‘Blessings by Offering’ introduces our development work in Myanmar and shares the story of former beneficiaries returning to their villages to rebuild their

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The Letter from CEDAR | Apr 2021

Dear supporters, In early February this year, a military coup took place in Myanmar, capturing international attention. Even before the coup, CEDAR has been conducting relief work when conflict broke out in the Karen State. The relief activities were carried out in collaboration with the youth who had grown up, supported by CEDAR’s development projects. My heart is broken for those youngsters, imagining they are going through the same tumultuous experience they had in their childhood. When they were small kids, they fled to live in jungles. After years of recovery and growing up in our partner’s children home, they responded to the calling to head back to their home villages to rebuild and serve their communities. Yet

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Pray for Myanmar

From the beginning of February, people from different industries and backgrounds have continued to come onto the streets, a site that is familiar to many. In Myanmar, there has been bloodshed, countless have been arrested during the night and news outlets remain blocked. At the time of writing, at least 50 protestors killed since the military seized control on 1 February. Sorrow, anger and fear have filled the hearts of the people in Myanmar. We pray to our loving and righteous Lord to hear and see the people’s plight and those who are mourning. Coupled alongside danger and instability is the global pandemic. This will only cause the people of Myanmar to become even more impoverished. Alongside our

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The Letter from CEDAR | Jan 2021

Dear supporters, The new year has started in a blink of an eye. I am still puzzled about what had happened last year like everyone else. It seems that there were only “anti-pandemic”, “restricted gathering” and “number of infected people”. Every day we monitored these indicators like the weather to arrange our lives. People on the other side do not fare any better than us. Instead of being controlled, the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases continued to rise. Needless to say, the pandemic has severely hit the economy. Many of the infected people, especially the poor and the elderly, not only lack care from family, but also do not receive effective medicines. Some of them even died because

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‘Give You this Calf as a Mark of Reconciliation’ – Road to Reconciliation after the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda

Written by: Edward Lai  (Senior Communications Officer) “I give you this calf as a mark of reconciliation” says Innocent, a survivor in the genocide in Rwanda. He scrubbed the calf’s body with grass, held the rope tied to the neck, and handed it to the “new master” – the one who had tried to kill him with a machete along with other mobs. There are still many clearly visible scars on his face. Among them, there are two cross-shaped scars on the left cheek, one extending from the forehead down to the nostril, and the other from the cheekbones to the right side of the nose. When he lowered his head, there were also many scars come from

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The Real Meaning Behind ‘Seventy-Seven Times’

Written by: Bernard Wong (Assistant Professor (Theological Studies) and Associate Dean of China Graduate School of Theology, Board Member of CEDAR Fund) If a Christian has been wronged, other believers often encourage her to offer forgiveness immediately, for Jesus teaches us to “forgive a brother seventy-seven times.” We may think that a good Christian should endure unfair treatment, and ought to be forgiving under all circumstances. Did Jesus really mean that? “Seventy-seven times” is Jesus’ response to Peter’s question – “How many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?”(Matt 18:21-22) However, in the previous passage, Jesus had just discussed the situation of “if your brother sins against you”. Therefore, “seventy-seven times” must be

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Children Ministry – Commitment and Collaboration

Written by Clara Chiu (Head of Partnership Development) In order to transform the society, we first have to give children a chance to grow up healthily so that they can become leaders of good character who obey God’s will. We provide basic life and human rights protection, learning opportunities and spiritual courses for poor children in many countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. In the previous year, CEDAR supported 14 partners and carried out a total of 17 children and youth development projects. Among them, we have a 15-year-long project in Zimbabwe to empower children and families affected by HIV/AIDS in the suburbs of the local city of Mutare. In the first phase of the project

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“Do Gospel” with 16 HK’s Churches, Food Assistance Ministry Benefited over 3,500 People

“We are ‘doing gospel’, not only ‘spreading gospel’. Through our witness indeed, more people can receive the bread of life from the Lord through food assistance,” said by the representative of the Church on The Rock Yan Shing Church “Our church has only around 100 people and many of them are grassroots people, therefore we do not receive many donations. CEDAR’s ‘Journey through Pandemic Crisis – Short-term Food Assistance’ Funding Scheme has encouraged our church. After the completion of the food assistance project, we have allocated the same amount of fund (HK$60,000) previously funded by CEDAR to carry out the second phase of the project. In doing so, we have reached out to some disadvantaged groups that we have

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