Charles and Melissa Johnson have been invited to help the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian’s Zambia Synod expand its holistic ministry of community development, food security and improved health. Charles serves as a Development Specialist, and Melissa serves as a Health Education Program Facilitator. Charles and Melissa’s call to service has been shaped by the struggles and joys life has presented them. “A series of events and experiences have led us to a point in our lives where we felt we had to respond to God’s call to serve,” Charles says. “Perhaps the most significant of these was the life and death of our severely disabled son, Holden. Throughout his life, even at the most difficult times, we saw God’s hand at work through Holden and others who came into our lives.” Click here for more info.

Jeni serves on the leadership team at the New Life Center Foundation (NLCF) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Established in 1987, the New Life Center serves young ethnic minority (tribal) women who are at risk for, or survivors of, human trafficking, forced labor and sexual abuse. NLCF residents are provided with shelter, education, vocational and life skills training and legal assistance. Special therapeutic activities for survivors include comprehensive art, dance and music therapy and individual counseling. With degrees in development and Christian theology, Jeni provides administrative support, Christian discipleship and financial literacy training to NLCF staff and program beneficiaries. In collaboration with the NLCF’s senior staff, she writes grants, oversees the monitoring and evaluation of program outcomes and assists with public relations.

John, a member of WPC since 1959, served as a Peace Corps teacher in Eritrea in East Africa. He is co-founder of The America Team for Displaced Eritreans, a nonprofit organization that assists refugees and those seeking asylum from Eritrea, including those still in refugee camps or in flight. Since 2009, WPC has sponsored two Eritrean refugee families now living in Upper Darby and provides funds for the organization. John led a panel of experts in a discussion of Eritrean refugees at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ annual consultation for non-governmental organizations in Geneva, Switzerland on July 2, 2015. Several days later, he testified about Eritrea before the United States House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations in Washington, DC. Since his retirement from Rohm and Haas in 2006, John has worked full time for Eritrean refugee needs.