On Thanksgiving weekend each year we look forward to celebrating God’s goodness to us here in Canada by observing a special Harvest event. We express our gratitude to the Lord for blessing us with abundant resources! At the same time, we recognize that this is not the situation for everyone in the world. So we’re motivated to be generous and give in response to the needs of others. God has a heart for the hungry, the spiritually hungry and the physically hungry. Jesus taught and fed the five thousand! This year, we continue with the Free Methodist Church in Canada’s partner, World Relief Canada, in their Harvesting Hope campaign for drought ravaged east Africa. You can learn more at worldrelief.ca
Through its global network of Christian partners, World Relief Canada helps us respond to the relief and development needs of the world’s poor in the name of Jesus Christ. The ministry happens through The Canadian Foodgrains Bank, a partnership of 15 denominations and church agencies, that work together to end global hunger in the following ways:
• Provide food assistance to ensure that people affected by crises or seasonal hunger have enough food to survive.
• Offer agriculture and livelihoods programs that help farmers improve their yields and become more resilient in the face of disasters.
• Provide nutrition programs ensuring that people don’t just get more food, but also have enough of high-quality and nutritious food.
• Through advocacy we seek to influence good national and international policies that contribute to ending global hunger.
Together through this wider church family partnership we can make a huge difference! On Saturday, Oct. 8 or Sunday, Oct. 9 bring items picked fresh from your garden or baked in your kitchen; alternatively you may want to donate local produce and/or baked goods. (Contact Yvonne Weir if you need more information about the set up.) Following the worship service on Thanksgiving Sunday, Oct. 9, all of the produce and baked goods will be available in lieu of donations to World Relief Canada. You may want to give an additional monetary gift to the Harvesting Hope effort, and that’s welcome, too; simply put cash or cheque into a Kingsview offering envelope and mark it World Relief. We will send the cumulative donation directly to World Relief.
Let’s give joyfully and generously!