Christian Aid Week is an annual event, and this year runs from Sunday 12th to Saturday 18th May.
During Christian Aid week, collection buckets will be placed in the West End and envelopes will be located in the pews for those who wish to make a donation. A coffee morning with drinks and bacon barms will take place in the West End of St John’s Church on Saturday 18th May between 9.30am and 11am. Everyone is welcome. Buckets for donations and money raised from the sale of the drinks/barms will go to Christian Aid.
Below is a short video which explains a little bit about the impact of Christian Aid Week. Poverty pushed Aline to the brink of survival. She was abused, homeless and hungry. But Aline pushed back harder. With Christian Aid funded small business training, she achieved what had seemed impossible, a vital income for her and her children.
Seven days, so many ways to fund lasting change. This Christian Aid Week, what will you do?
Find out more at https://caweek.org.uk
In addition to supporting Christian Aid Week we are also collecting for the Christian Aid Middle East Crisis Appeal. Collection buckets are in the West End for the Christian Aid Middle East Crisis Appeal. In light of the ongoing humanitarian situation in Gaza and the Middle East, this will allow an easy way for people to make a donation towards relief work. Christian Aid works with a number of partners in the region. More information can be found by speaking to Susan Murphy or looking on the Christian Aid website
St John the Baptists’ support of ‘Christian Aid’
History of Christian Aid
Christian Aid was founded by British and Irish churches in 1945 to help refugees following the Second World War. For more than 75 years, Christian Aid has provided humanitarian relief and long-term development support for poor communities worldwide, while highlighting suffering, tackling injustice and championing people’s rights.
In the 1940’s, CA raised more than £80,000 (about £3 million pounds in today’s money) for emergency supplies in mainland Europe. Partner churches were supported, equipped and enabled to meet the needs of their people.
In the 1950’s CA Week was launched to raise extra funds. It continued to help refugees in mainland Europe as well as those from Palestine, Korea and China. It also supported the establishment of the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) to enable young people to make a difference and offered help to churches in countries moving from colonisation to independence, to meet the needs of the poor in the countries.
In the 1960’s, CA made a difference in crises affecting Nigeria/Biafra, Kenya and India. It created the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) so that development agencies were seen to be working together in times of humanitarian crisis. It helped to set up the World Development Movement to encourage political campaigning. It addressed racism and poverty in the USDA as well as advising Martin Luther King while he was in the UK.
In the 1970’s, CA drew a link between educating supporters at home about the root causes of poverty and work with partners overseas to eradicate it. It popularised world development issues by providing seed money to establish the New Internationalist magazine. It explained the connection between our consumer culture at home and the global food crisis by launching a campaign ‘to live simply’.
In the 1980’s, CA fed hungry people during the Ethiopian famine and those experiencing drought in Mozambique. It led a mass lobby of parliament to call for more official development aid. It created the Southern African Coalition to demand an end to apartheid.
In the 1990’s CA linked work in 50 poor countries to campaigns on developing world debt, fair trade and the policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. CA challenged the stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV in Sub-Sharan Africa. It provided food for refugees in Kosovo.
In the 2000’s, CA campaigned to make poverty history during a war against terror. CA reached more than 5000,000 people with food, shelter and healthcare after the Asian Tsunami. It publicised the fact that developing countries lose more money through the tax evasion practices of large corporations than they receive through official aid.
From 2010 onwards CA continues to inform about and campaigns against Climate Change and champions tax justice. It continues to work with local partners on the ground to make a practical difference in the lives of new waves of refugees locally while campaigning and advocating for change globally.
One refugee’s experience: Theodor Davidovic, refugee and long-time supporter of Christian Aid
‘In the camps, it was Christian Aid that sent the parcels… feeding us for two and a half years and I never forgot it. Christian Aid helped me to survive and I feel I owe my life to Christian Aid. I vowed there and then to do my best as long as I live and I’m still doing it.’
Christian Aid and St John the Baptist Church
Christian Aid has been supported by St John the Baptist Church, Burscough, ‘since Adam was a lad’ which is another way of saying that the association between the two has been so long that no one can remember exactly when it began.
For many years, Peter Jackson and Brian and Hannah Disley led the collecting of money via house-to-house collections. Diane Edwards began as a ‘collector’ and then took over this role and liaises with Burscough Methodist Church each year, particularly Jill Dolling who continues to order envelopes etc.
As the number of collectors at St John’s dwindled, a decision was made to show the Christian Aid film before each service, collect donations via buckets placed at the back of St John’s and Crabtree churches and hold a Coffee Morning during Christian Aid Week. In recent years, St Mark’s church at Scarisbrick has also collected donations which have been forwarded to the ‘count’ held at Burscough Methodist Church. This has meant that Christian Aid continues to receive a significant donation each year.
It is hoped that despite the many different causes that St John’s has and continues to support, it will continue to donate to ‘Christian Aid’ and continue to build on the good work of its early supporters.
More information about the work of Christian Aid can be found on their website – www.christianaid.org.uk.