Dear Friends
Credit crunch, downturn, crisis, recession - all words that seem to dominate the headlines at the moment. As you travel across Europe, the words change but the meaning remains the same - the economies of Europe are in the grip of economic recession. In the fledgling capitalist economies of Eastern Europe things are even worse than in the UK. The economic growth many have enjoyed since leaving communism behind has now stalled and their economies are sliding backward.
As unemployment rises and government revenues fall, it is those at risk on the margins of society who are first to feel the effects of less help and support. This is because at the time when they need the most help, the organisations they count on have less help to give.

Christian organisations across Europe are making cutbacks, reducing staff hours or even making staff redundant. Whether supported from within their own country, from the US or Europe, or from here in the UK, giving has fallen dramatically and as a result funding is drying up.

Here at Eurovangelism we are not immune to these effects. As I write this, nearly all the staff at Eurovangelism have reduced their hours and we have made other cutbacks. We are doing all we can to ensure that our partners are as protected as possible from the effects of the lack of funding. But we cannot protect them all and we cannot protect them completely.

A Sister of Mercy from the Compassion Ministry, Moscow caring for the elderly.

David Roderick with Dusan Berediin Novi Sad.

I have been in contact with many of our partners to warn them that the next year is going to be very difficult, and some of them such as The Compassion Ministry in Moscow and various Alpha Course partners across Europe have already had their funding reduced. I was recently part of a panel at my church answering questions about the impact of the credit crunch, and whilst listening to the discussions God reminded me of the story of Joseph. God gave Pharoah a dream that only Joseph was able to interpret, about the coming hard times and the need to set aside supplies in the good years. Then when the hard times came, Joseph opened the storehouses and was able to feed not only the nation of Egypt but also people from the surrounding nations. God reminded me that there are Josephs in the church today who have set aside in the good years ready for the hard times. At Eurovangelism we have already received some help from some wonderful Josephs, but the reality is our partners will need the help of many more.
At Eurovangelism we try to keep our 'Where Most Needed' Fund at a level where we can respond to emergencies, or to requests for funding for projects where we have no specific designated funding. Over the past year we have had to use the fund repeatedly to help partners struggling to cope with a fall in funding from their other partners. The result of this is the fund has fallen to its lowest level in the 10 years I have been at Eurovangelism.

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