A Pandemic Compassion Fund established by the International Executive Team (IET) in the spring has so far provided emergency financial assistance to 410 families in our Navigator ministries in 23 countries, including in Eurasia, Asia-Pacific, and Africa among other regions. The compassion fund has also supported 14 small businesses and helped to launch 12 new missional enterprises.

The IET set up the fund in response to severe economic hardship resulting from Covid-19 lockdowns. Some examples from Africa are listed below.

An African man discipled by Navigators, who had been paralyzed during a violent religious conflict, had been reading the Scriptures with friends at his small store. As Covid-19 spread, he lost income and had to close, which inhibited his ability to provide income for himself and his extended family. The pandemic compassion fund has enabled him to revive his store, provide for his family, and continue the studies.
A young African schoolteacher, who teaches from his small home, used money from the pandemic fund to maintain his classes, and even to support the families of his students who had lost income.
Due to the pandemic, a Kenyan family was evicted from their home and went without food for a period of time. A daughter in the family had been discipled by Navigators during her first year in college. The compassion fund provided them with the resources needed to rent a new house, buy food, and pay medical expenses.
The compassion fund significantly assisted Navigator missionaries in a French-speaking African nation, enabling them to provide food, tuition, basic goods, and medical supplies. The resources helped university students, the rural poor, some partnering pastors and teachers.
The compassion fund helped a Navigator ministry in Africa that supports widows whose husbands have died in religious conflicts or due to poor health. The ministry used the funds to distribute food and seeds to more than 240 women. In addition to support from the IET’s pandemic compassion fund, many regional leadership teams in our Worldwide Partnership have been providing financial assistance to people in their ministries.