History of VBF Missions

In late 2010, VBF was asked to sponsor a pastoral training program in Addis Ababa and Awassa, Ethiopia. Pastor Ron led a team in early 2011 in cooperation with a leader named Geza, who organized the entire trip with an education program from International Christian Ministries. We did four separate trips and added a woman’s ministry program and expanded by doing outreaches into the rural areas with selected churches. We later changed our focus and started to build churches and children’s schools in mostly Muslim villages. Each school has a partner church on the same grounds. The schools were greatly appreciated by local peoples and we expanded the program and built 45 schools across over 700 miles from the border of Somaliland to South Sudan! We did a big expansion to the tribal areas of the Omo Valley and put in 13 schools in this region. There are many unreached people groups in this region and we have shown the Jesus film there with amazing results. 

We have taken 11 mission trips in the last decade to Ethiopia, visiting all the schools and doing ministry. We have adopted a school for the blind in Adama and have a seminary where over 200 pastors have graduated. We currently pay 75 teacher’s salaries across the nation.

In the last two years Ethiopia has suffered with civil war in the far north (affecting only one of our schools) and Covid closed many of our schools with children staying home. The teachers have still gone out to teach children in small groups during this period. The schools are now reopened with over 3,000 children attending. Additionally, there is a big drought and famine in the tribal areas and we have started a feeding program in 5 of our schools. Geza has organized all of this and has recently met with the government leaders in Omo to provide food and educational booklets at schools that have closed due to malnutrition. They already have buildings and teachers paid for. We hope to open feeding programs at ten more schools this year!

Expansion to Uganda

Three years ago, Geza went to Uganda and had the vision to work with Pastor Edward there who has been doing inner city ministry for 20 years with children and a large school. They were forced to move out despite many orphans and very poor children attending due to the Railroad company. His vision was to establish a big educational center one hour east in Buickwe. We sent funds to start the first classroom and farm and the project has grown rapidly. We were able to build two large dormitories to house 140 orphans and vulnerable children with no funds to attend the school. The classrooms expanded. We built a large multipurpose room and recently a large kindergarten. We brought in electricity and water wells and began an animal husbandry program and fish ponds. Now that Covid is mostly controlled, the school has opened with 400 children attending. We plan to build a big trade school there and have already purchased the land for this upcoming project that is greatly needed in the area. We do need sponsorships for all the orphans and very poor children to live there and attend school.