Welcome to ECR

We are in a GAME CHANGING TRANSITION to ECRNext

We're unveiling our new website early, building it as we're anxious to begin to communicate the exciting expansion ECR is making. Standing on our past we will continue to implement and coordinate landmark programs as well as new ones. Most exciting is taking lessons of the journey that much of Africa and ECR has been on these past almost 25 years with HIV/AIDS and.... well you'll see.

A Very Important Past We Must Not Forget

ECR was birthed in 2003 in Zambia at the peak of and geographically in the heart of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa

ECR was founded to help awaken the potential of the Church to have a transformative Christlike, compassionate, comprehensive, coordinated response with other partners to turn around the HIV/AIDS pandemic AND a range of issues causing human suffering.
There is a story out of Africa that needs to be told
There are lessons out of this that can change everything
We call this next phase 'ECRNext'

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A Crucible of Suffering:

Africa and AIDS

It was REALLY BAD

Through the 1980s and 90s many nations considered AIDS in Africa as 'just another crisis"

It was not.

- Much of the Church saw HIV/ AIDS mainly a health issue and was not very engaged.

- By the year 2000 HIV/AIDS was a raging fire in Africa,

Over 6,000 people died everyday- 9/11 doubled.
Over 8,000 a day became newly infected with what was then a death sentence.
10 million orphans

THEN something happened...
...GOD MOVED.

The Nations woke up and started to engage
The Church in Africa experienced a historic GREAT AWAKENING,
a witness of God's caring reaching village house to the White House
Countless volunteers came forward through the Church and capacity built to help these to care for the sick, educate children, help people to help themselves.
ECR has gleaned from the hard won lessons the promise of so much more to come!

'Let us press on and make history again'

ECRNexT is a movement, an expansion of what Africa has been a part of above to the next phase, an awakening of the Church as points of presence for transformation.

DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT

A Biblical Theology of the Poor and Transformational Development

ECR Co-Founder and Executive Director began developing a "Biblical Theology of the Poor and Transformational Development" seeing this 'Great Awakening' and how God was at work through over 7,000 ECR volunteer caregivers out of the churches and community organizations in Zambia. ECR worked with and helped build capacity of this army of volunteers through the churches and community organizations these were part. Traveling, it was observed God was doing this in the areas most affected, in places like Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Botswana, and more. What brought these people out of the Church in mass to volunteer to do the very difficult work of caring for the sickliest of the sick, before the life prolonging AIDS drugs arrived, and after making a massive difference in getting these to the people in places of need too far for the sick to travel to, these were a bridge from the sick bed to the clinics.

How did this happen? Spending a lot of time visiting with caregivers and speaking with them in different places these were found to be extremely rich in two areas. One, most of these were rich in their Biblical faith. Two, they were rich in the pains of life and the brokenness of the world that the arrival of HIV/AIDS brought an abundance more of this currency- seeing closest brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, mother and father suffer in quite horrible deaths and they could and knew very little they could do. In the earlier day most who got sick, sicker and died didn't have even pain medicine to ease their suffering. There was the pain of seeing so many children no longer have a parent to take care of them.

We found that people often discover their passion for a need out of their pain.

In the scriptures, we were able to distill what these had discovered, that they were part of God's plan to touch and change the world of someone else. Many of these started new works to help orphaned and vulnerable children on the brink of becoming street children like many children orphaned earlier ended up as street children. Others started home based care visitation works. These we found were reflecting having been made in the image of God, and the imprint of the one who is the creator- where there was nothing, He made something. Where there is formless disorder, these turn that into order and usefulness. On visitation when these caregivers introducted themselves, they stood so proudly saying their name and how long they've been a caregiver- "I'm Gracious Phiri" and I've been a caregiver for nine years". These found a purpose for their lives that changed their world and allowed them to help change somebody else's world.

In this and the following areas ECR has been working with the Church and communities, interventions we have been doing and look to scale up with Biblical text so rich in speaking of fruitfulness, courage, world view, stewardship, and more, we have seen Jesus' Word of John 14:12 come to pass of His people- "Greater works than these you shall do because I go to the Father", and John 17 oneness Jesus prayed for His Church that coming together we shall be a witness of God in the world. Africa, rich in people of faith, individuals rich in their faith, and the abundance of pain in a world of areas promise capacity to scale up interventions in these areas that ECR has been involved in:

Health- Prevention, Treatment Referral

Addiction Support & Recovery | Community Whole Health Approaches

Economic Transformation

Gender Based Violence

Survivor Support from medical to legal | Safe houses |
Sensitizing churches to sensitize communities | 'NO means No' Prevention Campaigns |

Church, Family and Community Based Support

'Families Matter!' | Coaching Boys into Men | Faith Matters! |
Church & Leadership Development and Seminars |

Family based approach to development vs. exclusive gender siloed approaches

Crises and Climate Relief

Changes in climate patterns while argued in the west, the impact of sustained years of drought, lakes drying up starving hydroelectric power production, desertification. This is causing multi-country crop failure leading to hunger and starvation, extended power outages for days affecting businesses, home sustainability

MORE INFORMATION AND
HOW TO CONTACT US COMING SOON