Chrissy Perillo has set up a free school for vulnerable Filipino children.,,,
When Chrissy Perillo felt God calling her to work in the Philippines, she faced two big problems: she didn’t want to go and she was in the grip of anorexia.
But, 39 years on, she tells how God freed her from her eating disorder and gave her the passion to help children and families living in poverty and prison.
Chrissy first felt God’s nudge into mission as a teenager.
“I was at a convention and one of the speakers was from America,” she explains in a video story with LifeStories Worldwide.
“His ministry was on death row and as he was sharing his story I heard God say, ‘That’s what you’ll do.’”
Enjoying a comfortable life as a civil engineering technician in Manchester, she hoped this meant prisons in the UK. But after a few months trying to ignore the sense that God was asking her to be a missionary abroad, she reluctantly agreed.
Chrissy’s anorexia was a huge obstacle, however. After 10 years, it was so severe her body was rejecting food.
“My colleague said, ‘You can’t eat in this country. You’ll go to the Philippines and come back in a box.’”
Soon after, though, she was amazed to be totally healed.
Chrissy moved to the Philippines in 1983 but had no idea what to do there.
“I said to God, ‘I’m not a teacher, a doctor or a nurse – what can I do?’
“He replied, ‘Can you love the people?’”
Within weeks, she started the ministry she and her family have devoted their lives to – Philippine Outreach Centre Ministries. She began singing and preaching on death row, ministering weekly in four local jails.
There, she was horrified to see inmates’ children in prison and suffering abuse.
“God gave me a vision to start a Philippine outreach centre with children’s homes to get them out and to start a church where ex-prisoners could feel welcome.
“I wanted to offer kids a home where they could be loved, cared for and have a good future.”
Chrissy rented a former nursing school and opened two children’s homes housing 50 boys and girls, mostly children of prisoners.
Two halfway homes followed to help them adjust to independent living once they reach 18.
She also started a school after seeing the plight of a 10-year-old boy in jail.
“He was there for wandering the streets. He wasn’t an orphan but had a mother working in the bars. He wasn’t going to school and they were trapped in generations of poverty.
“God impressed on me to start a free school and we now have around 200 students.”
Today, Chrissy and her family are pursuing another vision – to buy a derelict hospital next to the nursing school.
“We need more than £100,000 but God will supply our needs.”
Thinking about the past four decades, Chrissy admits her work hasn’t been easy, but says God has never failed her.
“I look back and think what would have happened if I hadn’t obeyed God and gone to the Philippines. I would probably be dead, but God gave me a good future instead.”
Find out more about Chrissy’s ministry at pocmin.com
