Our work in Vanuatu’s islands began in 1987, when Pastor Steve Blake was first invited to preach in the southern island of Tanna. From then, Steve & his wife Helen and their family and friends have ministered in churches, established centres for self-sustaining development in poor communities, and held major Christian outreach events in the islands Tanna and Efate. Today, the work is based at the LifeChanger Christian College property in Port Vila and is primarily focused on preparing young people for life, and ministering in churches.
LifeChanger Christian College
LifeChanger Christian College is located on the main island of Efate, at the edge of Port Vila in the Prima area. It meets a deep local need: affordable, accessible primary and secondary Christian education in the Prima region. It’s no mistake that the local name for our Christian ministry and community assistance projects is LifeChanger!
The school is a wonderful mission to the surrounding communities, staffed by 30 local Christian men and women who work together as one team and family providing formal education, nutritious meals and health care, activities and skills for life and Christian discipleship to the 300 Preschool-to-Year-10 students. Volunteers from the wider community and other resident Christian mission groups in Port Vila regularly enhance the life of the school.
The school meets a deep local need, but the wider need for schooling across the islands of Vanuatu is immense. Only about 10% of the Ni-Vanuatu population complete high school, due mostly to its prohibitive costs. Through the school, we are providing great opportunity for the community, demonstrating the good news of Christ’s love both in “word and deed”! (Col 3:17)
Liberty People funds the school’s staff, equipment and supplies, property developments and many ongoing costs, while the families and regular local fundraisers contribute towards its running costs.
Short Term Teams
Teams from Australia and other countries love to visit, to assist in the school’s daily activities, or with the property’s maintenance needs. Some also help in the villages nearby, or with Christian outreach events. They come to serve, and leave deeply blessed themselves!
Ministry in Churches
Steve is a much-loved preacher and church planter in many nations, and the churches of Vanuatu have been greatly impacted by his ministry over the past forty years. He continues to minister in churches across denominations, working together with local pastors and inspiring believers in their walk with Jesus.
Disaster Relief and Community Assistance
Our first emergency and ongoing aid and rebuilding response work after a tropical cyclone began in the early 1990s. Since then, we have provided help for families and communities after major cyclones with immediate shelter, food packages and other basic supplies and permanent housing to many thousands of people.
On December 17th 2024, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck the main island, causing massive devastation to Port Vila’s buildings and infrastructure.
Our immediate response and ongoing help included providing water and food to families, replacing thousands of broken household items and essential equipment, restoring damaged water sources, and providing finances and advice to poor families with severely damaged or completely destroyed houses.
GIVE to these Community Assistance projects
Christian Events and Evangelism
Our evangelistic and worship events in Port Vila (also under the name LifeChanger), have seen incredible success. In 2015, our largest event spanned five nights and saw an attendance of 26,000 people, making it the largest Christian event in the history of Vanuatu. Almost fourteen thousand people publicly responded to the gospel!
These large meetings, along with smaller events, give us a stunning ongoing opportunity to share the gospel boldly. They also allow the people of Vanuatu to experience the power of the Holy Spirit together, in a combined-Churches context (a very rare experience in Vanuatu).
Since 2016, our Christmas Carols By Candlelight events have been incredible occasions, with around 18,000 people attending on one night. Vanuatu has never before experienced crowds like these, gathered to worship and celebrate the coming of Jesus the Creator into their world and human experience!
Our legacy of thirty years serving and loving the people of Vanuatu have given us local trust to freely run these Christian events with not only the permission of local authorities, but their strong support!
Naturally, these events require tremendous resources and manpower to coordinate and facilitate. Will you join with us? Your prayers are vital and pave the way for these powerful events — or, if you’d like to contribute financially, please donate below!
