Giving by Design
Giving by Design is the mission arm of Living by Design Ministries. Partnering with other organizations allows us to strategically apply our limited funds to the areas where they’re needed the most. We research these organizations and follow-up to make sure our project goals are being reached. If you would like to financially support this outreach of our non-profit ministry, we invite you to join our Discipleship Team by setting up a monthly recurring gift today.
A New Partnership In Uganda 2023
We are excited to announce our new partnership with United Christian Center in the Kampala District, Uganda. We are working with our good friends Ronald and Charlotte to support the Bible literacy program in their child development center. We have been receiving regular updates from Charlotte, and she is growing in her faith as she learns how to teach and disciple young children. A portion of our funding has gone toward Bibles and supplies as well.
During the month of December 2022, we were able to fund two exciting Giving by Design Projects. We are so grateful to be able to partner with these incredible organizations.
First, we partnered with an organization called Faith Comes by Hearing during their year-end matching fund drive. We love that this organization freely provides Bible recordings to communities worldwide and equips local believers to host audio Bible listening programs. Click here to access their database of audio Bibles in 1740 different languages. I have shared this resource with some of our friends in Africa, and they were amazed to discover the Bible is freely available to listen to in their native tongue.
Just before Christmas, we had an exciting opportunity to bless a family serving Christ in Ukraine. Yaroslav (Slavik) Pyzh is the president of the Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary, and he took a brief holiday in the USA with his family. One of our supporters ensured they received a copy of our Advent Study and a donation for Bibles (along with their gift of matching pajamas for the whole family). Here is a Christmas video update from Slavik that shines a light on the important work they are doing during the war.
Building Up the Church in Tanzania
In July of 2022, we partnered with our friends in Tanzania to supply nine local churches with Bibles for their congregations. Our financial investment provided six pastors with high-quality pulpit Bibles in their own language. A pulpit Bible is a special copy of Scripture beautifully suited for use in pulpits, lecterns, libraries, homes, or anywhere God’s Word is read publically. We also supplied three pastors with five study Bibles each for their congregations to utilize during small group Bible studies. Here is a powerful testimonial we received from one of the pastors we helped:
“My Bible is old and has small text. I can’t read without wearing glasses and sitting outside in a bright place. This one is big, and the text is easy to read. God bless you for this gift; I will take care of it until my great-grandchildren come to use it. Every day I will read this Bible with my wife, even at night using the light of our small lamp.” – Pastor Moses Mwanyekule
Sharing the Gospel with the Ukranians
In the spring of 2022, we partnered with the Billy Graham Association by donating to support their Rapid Response Team chaplains serving in Ukraine. Our hearts hurt for the people of Ukraine, and we wanted to direct this quarter’s Giving by Design funds toward an organization that is actively sharing the gospel message with them. These chaplains are coming alongside families who are hurting and afraid and shining the light of Christ in a war zone of immeasurable suffering and loss. They’re meeting people during their pain, praying with them, crying with them, and listening to their struggles.
In May of 2021, we partnered with our friends at Wheat & Honey Co. to donate ten handpainted Bibles to the Freedom Shield Organization. They are a non-profit organization rescuing women and children from human trafficking. You can click here to see the event recap on the Wheatful Woman blog.
“Your donation allowed Wheat and Honey Co. to have the EXACT amount of Bibles needed for each guest at our Wheatful Women event to have a personal Bible to encounter the Lord through, pray over, and journal in for a woman rescued by Freedom Shield.” – Britt Goff, founder of Wheat & Honey Co.
“Thank you for the Bibles you donated to our organization! The Bibles provided go straight to our safe houses where we care for rescued victims of sex trafficking. Each woman in our program gets to choose a Bible to keep with her. We are so grateful for your generosity on their behalf!” – Carrie Grace, Executive Director of the Freedom Shield Foundation
Report of Gospel Crusade on September 8-15, 2021 in Tanzania, Africa: The crusade lasted five days, and in all those days, we witnessed God perform many healing miracles. Many people accepted Christ, and now they have a special class where they can learn new life in Christ every weekend. During the crusade, 24 adults and 32 children were born again. We are thankful to Sarah Koontz and Living by Design Ministries for sponsoring the crusade. Your donation helped us buy 50 Bibles to give to the new converts, as well as gospel tracts to hand out to attendees. We gave the remainder of your gift to the preachers and gospel singers who helped lead the crusade. I would especially like to thank God, believers, preachers and all those involved in one way or another to ensure the crusade was a success.
Pastor Sondus Siggalah
In 2021, we partnered with World Vision to provide access to Scripture for families earnestly seeking to grow in their faith. The International Bible Fund provides Bibles to World Vision communities based on specific needs expressed for each country.
Owning a Bible is something that many American Christians take for granted. Christian homes often have more than one – Bibles tailored for children or teens and different translations. But in communities where World Vision works, Bibles are often rare.
A Bible For Every Believer
In 2020, we partnered with Voice of the Martyrs to bring the light of God’s Word to hostile areas and restricted nations around the globe. Brave men and women from VOM are risking arrest, imprisonment, beatings and even death to get God’s Word into the hands of those who otherwise might never receive it.
Establishing Godly Lives at
Arise School
The Arise Community School is located in an impoverished village, Sanya Juu, in the outskirts of Moshi, Tanzania. Children between the ages of 3 and 14 can attend the school which provides pre-primary and primary education. One of the fundamental principles of the school is that every child in the community should have the opportunity of an education irrespective of their family circumstances, ability to pay, or their religion, faith, tribe or ethnicity. We partnered with Arise School from 2018 – 2021 and believe that the school teachers and administrators are living out the truth of James 1:27.
exuding god's love in africa
Tanzania Bible Distribution Project
In 2019, we partnered with Open Doors USA to provide persecuted Christians with much-needed Bibles—along with the training to read Scripture, preach from it and tell others about Jesus!
There is an extraordinary need to reach persecuted Christians with Bibles and discipleship resources. We must equip our hurting brothers and sisters with God’s Word to give them courage and strength when they need them the most.
God bless you for your work with this ministry. I have many Muslim children in my school. I try to tell them the good news about Jesus. The kids always ask for your videos and Bible studies, they love you very much. Thank you for providing Bibles to share with our students. We are very blessed for all you do to help us grow spiritually!
Asifiwe Lema
School Teacher in Tanzania, Africa
Bibles for Liberia
In November 2019, we partnered with Bridges of Hope’s South Dakota-based education team to provide eighteen study Bibles for the teaching staff at Hope International Christian Academy in Bensonville, Liberia, West Africa.
The Bibles are going to be key to transforming the lives of the teachers spiritually, intellectually, and educationally. They will help the teachers to further their own understanding of Scripture and be used to teach the students during the school day.
“I am so grateful for the precious gift which is the Holy Bible that you sent to us at HOPE. This is a gift that surpasses all gifts that anyone could give. I appreciate this valuable gift and pray that the Holy Spirit be with us as we go through His words. May God Almighty richly bless you in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
-Wesley, a teacher at HOPE
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