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World Help
Founded1991
FounderVernon Brewer
TypeFaith-based 501(3)(c) organization
FocusMeeting physical and spiritual needs in impoverished communities
Location
Area served
71 countries
MethodAid and relief
Community development
Sustainability and education
Bible distribution
Church planting
Spiritual programs
RevenueUS$31,419,645 (2016)[1]
Websitewww.worldhelp.net

World Help is a Christian humanitarian aid organization that provides physical and spiritual help to people in impoverished communities around the world. The organization was founded in 1991 by Vernon Brewer and began by distributing Bibles in Russia [2]. Today, World Help “continues its efforts to build churches, distribute Bibles and provide humanitarian aid to people in 70 countries” [3]. World Help’s headquarters is located in Forest, Virginia.

History

In 1991, two Lynchburg, Virginia businessmen, Jimmy Thomas and Dan Reber, approached Vernon Brewer about founding a non-profit organization to help them deliver Bibles into Russia following the fall of communism. That was the beginning of World Help. The organization obtained the publishing rights to a Russia/English parallel New Testament in 1992, and the non-profit received permission to distribute 500,000 copies to military bases and schools [4].

Brewer traveled to Russia many times to personally distribute the Bibles. During one of his trips, he visited a hospital for cancer patients and discovered their need for medical supplies. Several months later, World Help’s first shipping container of humanitarian aid was delivered to this hospital [5].

The organization began to branch out into other countries through Bible distribution and child sponsorship and in 2000 began the Children of the World International Children’s Choir composed of boys and girls from the child sponsorship program. The choir members come from children’s homes in countries such as Nepal, Uganda, Honduras, and the Philippines. Over the years, the children “have performed in such venues as the Brooklyn Tabernacle and Disney World, and have also recorded with Michael Tate and Steven Curtis Chapman” [6]. The choir’s purpose is to raise awareness about children living in poverty.

Mission and Statement of Faith

World Help’s mission statement says that the charity’s goal is “to serve the physical and spiritual needs of people in impoverished communities around the world” [7].

The organization is not affiliated with any particular Christian denomination. However, their statement of faith says they believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, there is only one God, and salvation comes through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ [8].

Organizational Structure

Nearly all of World Help’s staff are based in the United States. Instead of setting up international offices, World Help partners with men and women who already have ministries in their home countries. According to Ministry Watch, “World Help recognizes that nations know their own culture better than they ever could. Nationals know the needs of their people intimately. So World Help joins with their partners to bring communities, families, and especially children the help they need” [9].

Ongoing Projects

World Help has many different types of programs located around the world including aid and relief, Bible distribution, child development, church planting, community development, and sustainability programs [10].

Bible distribution

Bible distribution is one of World Help’s main ministries. They distribute Bibles in countries such as China, Nigeria, Cuba, Iraq, and Uganda. The Bibles have been distributed in a number of languages and formats, including physical versions and digital or audio copies [11].

Since 2017, World Help has attracted some attention from news and Christian media outlets for their Bible distribution efforts focused on North Korea. Brewer has spoken extensively about his travels to North Korea in 2007 [12] and his 2017 visit to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) [13]. A recurring theme in his writings and interviews is the persecution that North Korean Christians face. According to CBN News, “Brewer believes of the some 300,000 Christians there, about 70,000 wither away in brutal prison camps because they were caught practicing their faith” [14].

Freedom programs

World Help works in communities in Thailand and India to help women forced into the sex industry by poverty or cultural tradition.

World Help’s home in Pattaya, Thailand offers “a safe place to live, meals, education, vocational training, trauma counseling, and medical care” for girls who want to escape life as a sex worker [15]. The organization also funds “Nights of Freedom” in both Pattaya and Bangkok. In 2017, World Help paid the bar fines of 244 girls so they could skip a night of work to attend these parties where they were “offered an opportunity to leave the industry and live in a local safe house” [16].

In India, World Help’s Freedom programs are focused on the Banchara community. An article co-written by Joseph D’souza and World Help Vice President Noel Yeatts explains that “for more than 500 years, pre-teen girls have served as the main currency for this low-caste group. According to the Banchara’s Nari Mata tradition, girls at the age of 12 must enter a life of prostitution to provide for their families and, more often than not, to pay for their brothers’ dowries” [17]. World Help’s Freedom Center in the Banchara community allows young girls a safe place to live and get an education that will allow them “to find meaningful employment outside the sex industry” [18].

In 2017, the non-profit initiated an event called “Freedom Friday” to encourage donors to take a stand and help support women around the world [19].

Refugee relief

Since the beginning of the refugee crisis in the Middle East, one of World Help’s major projects has been refugee relief. Brewer is especially concerned about refugees who have experienced persecution from ISIS because of their Christian faith [20]. World Help also ships humanitarian aid to refugees in South Sudan, Uganda, Nigeria, and other countries facing their own refugee crisis [21].

Financials

As of 2016, World Help commits 82 percent of revenue to international projects, 12 percent to administration, and 6 percent to fundraising [22]. They have been accredited by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accoutability since 1993 [23] and have been awarded the gold-level Seal of Transparency by GuideStar [24].


References

  1. ^ Charity Navigator Rating Profile — World Help. Charity Navigator. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  2. ^ Ministry Watch Summary — World Help. Ministry Watch. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  3. ^ Grizzard, Kim (July 30, 2017), "Ripple effect: Area companies help impoverished countries through the gift of clean water", The Daily Reflector, retrieved February 16, 2018
  4. ^ Brewer, Vernon (2006). Why? Answers to Weather the Storms of Life, p. 136-37. World Help, Forest. ISBN 9780978804114.
  5. ^ Brewer, Vernon (2008). Defining Moments, p. 50-54. World Help, Forest. ISBN 9780978804169.
  6. ^ “Children’s choir to perform at Putnam church”. The Herald-Dispatch. August 31, 2017. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  7. ^ GuideStar Summary — World Help. GuideStar. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  8. ^ “What is World Help’s statement of faith?”. World Help. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  9. ^ Ministry Watch Summary — World Help. Ministry Watch. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  10. ^ ECFA Member Profile — World Help. ECFA. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  11. ^ Bible Distribution. World Help. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  12. ^ “North Korea’s Christians are suffering. We cannot forget them.”. FOX News. May 12, 2017. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  13. ^ “My Prayer After Hearing From Koreans”. The Christian Post. November 11, 2017. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  14. ^ Rosales, Erik (November 20, 2017), "This Man Smuggles God's Word into a Place Where Getting Caught with a Bible Is a Death Sentence", CBN News, retrieved February 16, 2018
  15. ^ Doss, Catherine (January 31, 2017), "Local nonprofit dedicates home to rehabilitate human trafficking victims in Thailand", WSET, retrieved February 16, 2018
  16. ^ Malado, Jardine (December 21, 2017), "Christian organization hosts 'Night of Freedom' in Thailand to offer sex workers chance to escape 'cultural slavery'", The Christian Times, retrieved February 16, 2018
  17. ^ Joseph D’Souza; Noel Yeatts (September 20, 2017), "The unseen culprits behind human trafficking", Christian Today, retrieved February 16, 2018
  18. ^ “A group of women in India has been saying ‘Me, too’ for 500 years”. The Miami Herald. February 14, 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  19. ^ Zaimov, Stoyan (May 12, 2017), "Christians Urged to Take 'One Night Stand for Freedom,' Help Girls Deprived of Humanity in Sex Slavery", The Christian Post, retrieved February 16, 2018
  20. ^ “The growing persecution of Christians”. The Washington Times. April 10, 2017. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  21. ^ Refugee Crisis. World Help. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  22. ^ Comparative Financial Data — World Help. ECFA. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  23. ^ ECFA Member Profile — World Help. ECFA. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  24. ^ GuideStar Summary — World Help. GuideStar. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
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