Would you jump rope for a goat? How about airlift a donation in a goat’s honor? If you answered “yes,” you’re not alone. Recently, Project MOST, an initiative of WMU’s International Initiatives ministry, struck a chord with WMU children’s missions organizations, making it one of the best-received WMU ministries in history.
Through Project MOST, people can make donations to provide goats, sheep, pigs, or cows to struggling families in war-torn Croatia. The family in need can then receive immediate benefits of the animal (milk or meat from the offspring) while learning to farm and raise livestock.
The initial goal was $5,000, and donations were steadily coming in. But it was after Project MOST was featured in the February 2007 materials for WMU’s Girls in Action and Children in Action organizations that things dramatically took off. Through these materials, girls and boys learned not only about missionary Robert Jordan* and his ministry, but also how they could make a difference through Project MOST.
The response was extraordinary – individual children, as well as those involved in these GA, CiA, and Sunday school groups, raised more than $250,000 in just five months (February-June 2007).
South Carolina topped the list of support, with 45 churches contributing $35,649.37. (See list of South Carolina contributors.) North Carolina was second, giving $35,634.80.
However, Project MOST is about more than raising money: The children learned about another culture, as well as ways to share the gospel. On several occasions, the children themselves accepted Christ as a result of the ministry experience. They did more than learn about the ministry – they became a part of it. They mobilized to faithfully answer the need they saw in Croatia, believing the ministry could make a lasting difference in Croatians’ lives.
“Missions education really does propel children to make a difference in the world, and Project MOST exemplifies this,” said Jean Cullen, ministry consultant for national WMU who oversees International Initiatives.
Girls and boys of all ages responded in creative ways to raise money for Project MOST. One child decided to raise funds through a jump-a-thon. He and his Children in Action group called the project “Jumping Rope for a Goat” and asked for pledges from members of their church and community to buy a goat for $139. Another child in a GA group made a scrapbook with a picture of a goat in it and divided the goat into 139 parts. She took the scrapbook with her everywhere and colored in a different part of the goat every time someone gave her $1. She raised enough for the entire goat. Other children made banks, sold baked goods, did chores, cleaned Sunday school rooms, and went class-to-class in the church, involving the entire congregation. Some even showed their support by tasting goat milk.
WMU Foundation president David George said, “I learned a lot from these kids. They worked hard, involved everyone in their church, and they believed God is who he says he is.”
Creating a bridge to hope
Project MOST is living up to its name. Croatians know “most” as the word for “bridge.” Bridges are lasting structures that move people from one location or situation to another. Today, Project MOST serves as a bridge to move Croatians from poverty to self-sufficiency and economic stability, from bitterness to hope, and from cultural dogma to a thriving relationship with Jesus Christ.
Project MOST began in 2004 as a response to poverty in the tiny and little-known region of Dalmatia, Croatia. Civil war during the 1990s ravaged Croatia’s already tenuous economy, rendering many of its citizens jobless, homeless and hopeless. The aftermath continues today, and Croatia’s history is marked by events “before the war” and “after the war.” Croatia remained off the radar for most people in the United States. WMU’s International Initiatives ministry, however, saw the need.
International Initiatives partnered with Robert Jordan, a missionary in Croatia, to assess the needs of the people. Jean Cullen made a simple proposal: for WMU to establish a partnership with Jordan that would channel monetary support through a fund held by the WMU Foundation.
Jordan explained, “My original thoughts about how Project MOST would turn out were a lot more humble than the way it is going right now. I expected we would have a few families that we’d work with – primarily people that we could not include in our larger development projects. We met a lot of people, so many people that we could just not help them out. This was a way, we thought originally, to reach some of those people, but it has grown to include more people than I ever imagined.”
Cullen said the strength of Project MOST – as with all WMU International Initiatives partnerships – is that it builds the capacity of individuals. “It is so much more than providing an animal,” she said. “With the animal comes training and education in animal husbandry, a community of colleagues, business agreements and co-ops, and regular discipleship. We are tangibly communicating that God cares about a person’s heart, mind, and body. Just as evil can destroy the body and the community, God can restore it.”
Jordan believes that spiritual change will happen for people in Croatia, though it will take time to see the results. “I believe the real results of Project MOST will come in the next three to four years. Things move slowly here, and there’s a lot of baggage to get rid of before they can understand the beautiful simplicity of grace. But God is at work, and I am convinced that he is working in Croatia, and that Project MOST has been part of his plan.”
While this transition may take time – even beyond the lifetimes of those who established the partnership or contributed to it – all involved believe the effects of the ministry will endure. For Jordan, Project MOST will always be about the people.
“Project MOST means to me personally, Ivo and Vesna in Drnis. Mira in Kistanje. Nine in Donji Srb. Names, faces, and locations – people I consider my friends because of the work we’ve done together. It also means cards and pictures from the States. People who will never come here, who maybe a year ago didn’t know that there was a country called Croatia, but who made a donation, based on faith, that the money would be used in a way to help people better their physical condition and at the same time have a chance to better their spiritual condition. That the kingdom would benefit from their $20 and their prayers at the time of offering.”
To learn more about other International Initiatives partnership projects, contact Jean Cullen at jcullen@wmu.org.
*Name changed for security reasons.