PARTNER WITH A PASTOR

The Philippines is an archipelagic country located in Southeast Asia. The Philippine archipelago comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, sharing maritime borders with Indonesia, Malaysia, Palau, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Vietnam. The Philippines is the world’s 12th most populous country with a population approaching 90 million people. Its national economy is the 37th largest in the world with a 2006 gross domestic product (GDP) of over US$117.562 billion. There are more than 11 million overseas Filipinos worldwide, the largest diaspora network in the world, about 11% of the total population of the Philippines. Ecologically, Philippines is considered to be among 17 of the most megadiverse countries in the world.

About half the population of the Philippines is rural, and agriculture is the primary and often only source of income for rural poor people. Poverty is most severe and most widespread in rural areas, where almost 80 per cent of the country’s poor people live. Most of them depend for a livelihood on subsistence farming and fishing. In general, illiteracy, unemployment and the incidence of poverty are higher among indigenous peoples and people in the upland areas of the Philippines. Overall, more than one in three people live in poverty.

The poverty gap between urban and rural areas is widening. There are 31 million rural poor, most of whom are trying to survive on less than $1 a day. It is in these rural areas where the love of Jesus is touching lives through the selfless work of our partner rural pastors, ministering to those in need and extending the Kingdom of God.