CORE VALUES

Loving God

Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you. 
Psalm 33:20-22

And He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Luke 10:27

God is the creator and sustainer of life.  He loves us and we enjoy our relationship with Him.  As we worship and honor Him by the way we live and work, He gives our lives hope and meaning.

Serving with Excellence

Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for me. Colossians 3:23

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 4:10-11

We aim for excellence in all we do. Our co-workers, partners and visitors receive our very best as we serve them. We are good stewards of our resources and consistently meet organizational service, environmental and safety standards.

Esteeming People

So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:27

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you so you must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Colossians 3:12-14

We value the uniqueness and worth of every person.  We treat everyone with respect & dignity.  Our relationships are characterized by truth and compassion.  We help people reach their potential.

Working as a Team

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? For though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Together we support, inspire and motivate one another and achieve more than individually (or even as a group of individuals.) In partnership with a network of local and global partners, we actively engage the knowledge, experience and skills of all team members.

THE MIQLAT STORY

In 2002, Dan and Kristen Gillespie were presented with an opportunity to move from their ministry in South African township communities to investigate God’s calling to serve elsewhere in Africa. Based on a word they had received in prayer, they went to Malawi looking for a “person of peace” to come alongside and support their work with the poor. In 2003, having found their Malawian "man of peace", they began bringing 15-20 people at a time to work with him in small rural churches. At that time, the program was to show the Jesus Film, lead Bible teaching for men, women and children, conduct medical clinics, and teach the villagers about hygiene and potential income generating activities. Kristen remembers that during Miqlat’s visits throughout the next two years, “We would walk the villages and meet the community, seeing orphan children suffering from malnutrition and lack of education.  As we returned every year, we would discover that many of the children had died, so we decided that specific care for these orphans needed to be established.” 

Kogoya Hope Center was opened in 2005, as a response to this need. “Within 6 months,” Kristen recalls, “we saw such a difference in the health and mindset of these vulnerable children, simply because we gave them a nutritious meal every day and tended to their many diseases.  They were now able to go to school because a uniform and materials were provided and their minds could develop because of the improved nutrition.” In the course of running the program, hygiene, life skills, and discipleship, agricultural and sports training were added to the basic nutrition and school support components, making the care given to our children more holistic.  Thuchila Hope Center was birthed through the Miqlat movement in 2011, after $60,000 was raised in just one Sunday by a church in northern California who had been faithfully seeking the Lord’s direction for a connection with a mission partner in Africa. The two Hope Centers combined currently provide for over 400 children from 19 villages.

By 2016, it became evident that though the Miqlat sponsorship support was growing healthy and bright children, more was needed. Attending local government elementary schools, our students sat in classes of 100 students per room with one teacher and few to no resources or supervision, making it incredibly difficult to learn and undesirable even to attend. Only 25% of our orphans were able to pass their 8th grade exit exams and move on to high school, even with the after school tutoring provided at the Centers. So once again, by the Lord’s guidance and provision, we have been led to expand our program and build elementary schools at our Hope Centers, beginning with Miqlat Primary School Kogoya in 2016, and Miqlat Primary School Thuchila scheduled to open in 2017. We thank the Lord for inspiring many of our supporters to challenge their home churches and personal connections to participate financially so these schools can become a reality and our children can develop to become all they were created to be.