Our Guiding Principles
| 1. To give the members of the Christadelphian community an opportunity to contribute, and participate in a humanitarian aid organisation which matches their values and ideals |
Bethézer projects attempt to provide members of the Christadelphian community, not just the option of contributing financially to a humanitarian alternative to popular aid funds, but also provide an opportunity to be involved in the actual project’s themselves. For example, the ‘Tanna School Project’ in Vanuatu has been funded, designed and will be built and manned by Christadelphians. The building process is scheduled to take a month during which time Christadelphian tradespeople will be involved in the construction. Other projects in Cambodia allow for Brothers and Sisters to be involved in pastoral care and support work.
| 2. To complement the activities of the Australasian Christadelphian Bible Mission |
Bethézer projects are designed to facilitate preaching opportunities and it is our desire to support the work undertaken by mission organisations such as the ACBM (Australasian Christadelphian Bible Mission) and CBM (Christadelphian Bible Mission). The ‘Phnom Penh Dormitory projects’ operating in Phnom Penh, Cambodia are linked closely with the ACBM manned ‘Bible Education Centre’ (BEC). ACBM missionaries attend the dormitories daily for teaching support. Students from the dormitories also study at the BEC regularly and have significant contact with BEC teaching. To date, six of the dormitory students have been baptised. Dormers in the girl’s dormitory bring regular attendances to Saturday night seminars to nearly forty.
| 3. To provide welfare, relief and developmental assistance to the poor and needy of Southeast Asia and Oceania |
Bethézer shows the love of the Christadelphian community by providing a means by which needy people meet basic needs such as food, shelter, and medical aid. Bethézer has particularly focussed on educational projects, working on the principle that education leads to better opportunities and improved quality of life, both for individuals and their communities. Those who have learned to read can discover God, themselves, through the Bible. The ‘English for East Timor Project’ (EFET) will provide an opportunity for East Timorese students to study English with the right tools and support. With skills in English, they have many more options to find employment and support their families.
The Bethezer Fund Inc. has just begun developing its capacity to assist people in need and to provide opportunities within our own community to become more involved with needs outside our own immediate locality. In the short time we have been operating, we have established the organisational structure to support such a venture and laid the first stones in a path that connects Christadelphians everywhere to the day to day struggles faced by people in distant communities.