Mission Program Presentation

Dan Turk, a Mission Co-worker assigned to Madagascar, presents “Holistic Ministry in Madagascar: Evangelism, Food Security, Creation Care and Health” at a luncheon in Pope Hall. This event is co-sponsored by EarthKeepers 360.

Dan Turk has spent nearly 30 years working in Madagascar—an island nation that has some of the greatest biodiversity in the world but also one of the highest levels of poverty. For the past 26 years as a Mission Co-worker of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Dan has served in partnership with the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FKJM), working with their Fruits, Vegetables, and Environmental Education Program (FVEE). The FVEE provides internships for university students and training for seminary students, church pastors and members, and farmers who learn to grow and graft fruit trees to improve their food security and income. He and his Malagasy colleagues in the FVEE also propagate native trees of exceptional educational value both for sale to expand their programs and for planting at schools, churches, and other public places to increase appreciation of Madagascar’s rich biodiversity. An avid botanist, he founded the Ranomafana Arboretum in 2007 and has named three new species of trees.

His wife Elizabeth’s main focus with the FJKM is in the area of community health and HIV/AIDS, especially in training, program design and implementation. The FJKM’s health professionals at rural dispensaries work to prevent and treat the major illnesses that threaten health: malaria, measles, diarrhea, and pneumonia. Dan and Elizabeth are members of Decatur Presbyterian Church in Georgia. They have a son, Robert, and a daughter, Frances.

This event is co-sponsored by EarthKeepers 360.