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What is Our Mission?

Our Board of Directors recently approved the following Vision, Mission, History and Profile descriptions for 2017: 

Vision: Believers without Borders for the Common Good

Mission: Connecting Resources with Needs 

As ‘‘believers” in God’s inclusive love and justice, we seek to cross social, economic, cultural, ethnic, and geographical boundaries to connect resources with needs and make a difference in the world through international service, community development training, and strategic charitable giving. 

History and Profile: 

Founded by Dr. Michael J. Christensen of Drew University in 2008,  WorldHope Corps, Inc. is a voluntary, faith-based, not-for-profit, organization registered in the State of New Jersey to facilitate community transformation; this through mobilizing volunteers, training community leaders, sponsoring international vision/mission trips, procuring and delivering humanitarian aid, and offering technical and relational support to individuals and organizations for the common good.
 
Following Henri Nouwen’s approach of “reverse mission” (i.e. those who seek to serve gain than what they give to others), Dr. Christensen has recruited, trained and taken scores of volunteers on vision/mission trips to Belarus, Ukraine, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Malawi and Uganda almost every year for more than 30 years.  These “believers without borders” have nurtured international friendships and offered works of service across cultural and religious divides.

As others joined Dr. Christensen in mission over the years, WorldHope Corps expanded its mission to include the following core programs: drilling village wells, providing youth educational scholarships, and offering community development training.  Special projects have included support for community orphan care and vocational training in Malawi, St George Hope Health Centre in Uganda, CitiHope Dental Clinic in Dominican Republic, and medical aid to the Children of Chernobyl in Belarus. We purchased our own Well-Rig and truck in 2011 and drilled over 50 village wells before transferring the equipment to a sister organization.  We loaned out $30,000 to two organizations and three individuals to start social businesses for the common good.

WorldHope Corps is a ministry partner of Sustainable Action Rural Sector (SARS) in Uganda, Shalom Coffee Cooperatives in Uganda, Mzuzu United Methodist Church in Malawi, and Communities of Shalom in the USA. Together, we installed a water purification system and opened a water store in rural Uganda, facilitated a fair-trade coffee venture in Uganda, built and rent out a Hope Scholarship House in Malawi to create a revenue stream for youth scholarships, and co-sponsor an annual soccer match for youth empowerment and HIV education and testing.

In 2016, WorldHope Corps elected a local board, opened a field office, and hired program staff in Mzuzu, Malawi.  For 2017, WorldHope Corps Malawi is focused on drilling and maintaining village wells, HIV/AIDS and community development training, granting educational scholarships, operating a Water Store, and distributing anti-Malaria mosquito nets to prisoners and poor families in rural areas.

The primary focus of the Founder and Volunteers of WorldHope Corps remains community transformation through specialized training, educational empowerment, and providing clean water; this through core programs and special projects.  We continue to come alongside indigenous, community-based organizations and congregations, as well as individual social entrepreneurs, to connect resources with needs and opportunities with sponsors for the common good.

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Let the River Flow: Why WorldHope Corps digs village wells

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