Programs : Church Empowerment

The effectiveness of ICM’s programs is dependent upon its commitment to the Church Empowerment Program. The goal of the CEP is to strengthen the effectiveness of the local churches to better equip them to serve the poor and needy living in their communities. All of ICM’s programs are delivered through partnerships with slum and rural church communities. This partnership allows the recipients of the tangible benefits of each program (medicine, food, preschools) to also receive an intangible social support network from a community of people who bring encouragement, counseling, connectedness and hope. This social network is an essential asset in the fight against poverty.

Counselor Training

Before beginning any program within a slum, ICM provides training courses for pastors and their church members in the Biblical instruction and counseling skills necessary to address the needs of those who will be receiving help. These newly trained counselors and pastors are available at every Feeding Program and Open Air Medical Clinic to encourage, answer and pray with those who receive aid.

In addition to specific training, ICM organizes monthly pastors meetings and periodic fellowships at which pastors hear inspirational guest speakers, discuss challenges, celebrate milestones and exchange information.

Door-to-Door Feeding

The Door-to-Door Feeding program provides pastors with 30 kilograms of rice each month (for up to 6 months) to distribute to families they visit. It is Philippine church culture for local pastors to visit families in their communities, offering to answer questions and share the Christian message. The Door-to-Door Feeding program also allows pastors to identify needs which may be served by ICM's programs. Most pastors visit fifteen different families each month, leaving 2 kilos of rice with each family. The families visited are normally not already involved in any other ICM program. In FY 2007/08 the Door-to-Door Feeding program reached over 14,500 families in 260 different slums.

Worship Training

The Worship Training program (known as Touchpoint) aims to equip the local church in the practice of Christian praise and worship. The team teaches worship techniques, new worship songs, and gives tuition in playing musical instruments to musicians and worship leaders who want to improve the praise and worship time in their churches and communities.

Twice a year, large Touchpoint events (Grand Touchpoint in June and Celebrate Jesus in December) celebrate with thousands of recipients from the previous 6-month Feeding and Medical programs. They include a time of praise and worship, performances by ICM recipient churches, and an evangelical message.

Film Showing

ICM teams show Christian films in slum areas at a pastor's request, working to gather crowds to watch the films. After the film a pastor talks about the implications of the film and discusses the hope offered by Christianity. ICM team members connect members of the audience with a local church. Pastors and trained church members contact those requesting follow-up within the following week.

Highlights of the Church Empowerment Program in 2007/08 include:

• Number of partnering churches in 2007/08: 1266
• Number of newly trained pastors and counselors: 2710
• Number of training and monitoring sessions held: 320
• Worship training: 7 conferences attended by 986 leaders from 117 churches
• Women in ministry: 4 conferences attended by over 400 women leaders
• Celebration events for ICM partnering churches: 25
• Attendance at celebration events: 36,004
• Film showings in remote villages and slums: 282 attended by 32,260 people

Children’s Christian Education

An important part of the Church Empowerment Program is ICM’s Children’s Christian Education program for children. In communities where ICM’s preschools are not operating, ICM provides teacher training and curriculum to local church members. These teachers hold weekly classes for children in their community. These classes provide structured adult-supervised education (and fun!) that is not readily available in the slums in which they live. These programs are popular in communities where little supervised activities are held for children.

Highlights of the Christian Education program in 2007/08 include:

• Number of active volunteer teachers: 361
• Number of classes held during the year: 6656
• Number of students attending classes each week: 28,255

“Part of the film showing ministry is taking health promotion films and films with good values to areas where the local people may have never seen a movie before. One of these is a remote mountain area called Eskaya, about three hours from the closest town. Many of Eskaya’s residents have never been beyond the nearest town. The people were really curious, especially the children. About 200 people came from the surrounding area to watch the films. Many responded to the message and discussion of the film afterwards. They begged the staff to come back again for another film showing so they could bring the rest of their families.” Reported by ICM staff in Bohol