VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 2/25/13)—Ed Noyes, American Baptist International Ministries (IM) missionary, is expanding his agricultural development work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by partnering with a global faith-based health organization, IMA World Health.
Noyes will remain an IM missionary while contributing 60% of his time to IMA World Health/Eglise du Christ au Congo (ECC) as Senior Agricultural Extension Specialist for the Congo. The remaining 40% of his time will continue his work with IM’s church partner, the Baptist Convention of Congo (CBCO) in Lusekele.
With IMA World Health, Noyes will be the principal agricultural extension advisor for a project that is rehabilitating primary health care systems. He will be working with rural health centers and hospitals to use agriculture as a way to improve the overall health of the communities they serve.
“Over the next five years, I will be leading a program that trains village extension workers, distributes high quality seed and seed cuttings over wide swathes of Congolese territory, and helps village groups turn agricultural produce into cash contributions to their local health care system,” explains Noyes in a recent journal. The project hopes to impact more than 4.9 million people during its lifetime.
Noyes has spent the last 25 years of his missionary service working with CBCO to eliminate hunger in the central Bandundu Province. He worked alongside Congolese Christians to increase crop production, grow more nutritious food, and put an end to hunger in the region.
Noyes reflects on his work and how it helps build God’s kingdom: “A world without hunger and a world where farm families live productive lives while building the capacity of the land to produce sustainable yields—for me that is part of the rich harvest, a sign that God is finally being honored and obeyed.”
IM is a member organization of IMA World Health and a partner not only in Democratic Republic of the Congo, but also in Sudan and Haiti.
IMA World Heath advances health and healing to vulnerable and marginalized people the world over. IMA World Health is a specialist in providing essential health care services and medical supplies around the world. It is a nonprofit, faith-based organization working to restore health, hope and dignity to those most in need. It works primarily in the developing world, where an estimated 30 to 70 percent of health care is provided by faith-based organizations.
If you’d like to learn more about Ed Noyes or support his work, visit his profile on the IM website for more information.
For more information, contact Catherine Nold: catherine.nold@abc-usa.org.
American Baptist International Ministries was organized in 1814 as the first Baptist international mission agency in America. It began its pioneer mission work in Burma and today works in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas serving more than 1,800 long-term and short-term missionaries. Its central mission is to help people come to faith in Jesus, grow in their relationship with God, and change their worlds through the power of the Spirit. It works with respected partners in over 70 countries in ministries that meet human need.
American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with over 5,200 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.