ATLANTA (ABP) – With the dollar bills and coins they collected taped to yardsticks and rulers, children at Riverchase Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., paraded down the sanctuary aisles Jan. 30 to contribute money for tsunami relief efforts in South Asia.
“They wanted to make sure people saw that they were contributing. It wasn't just mom or dad giving them pocket change,” said Ron Grizzle, the church's pastor.
By making and selling pipe-cleaner bracelets and necklaces to church members, the Wednesday night missions classes raised money for the relief efforts of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. But the children didn't stop there. “Some of our children went up and down their streets in the Riverchase community and asked neighbors to contribute,” Grizzle said.
The offering was part of the church's tsunami remembrance and prayer service, a unified effort promoted by CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal.
After reading about a $50,000 donation from First Baptist Church of Rome, Ga., First Baptist Church of Wilmington, N.C., felt the need to respond similarly, according to Mike Queen, the church's pastor. “Inspired by their selfless act of sharing, our church began to contemplate what we might do in that same vein,” Queen said in a letter to Vestal.
The church donated $50,000 from reserves accumulated over the past 10 years.
Many CBF partner churches are continuing to provide financial support to the Fellowship's relief efforts in South Asia. Contributions to CBF's Asian Response fund have reached nearly $219,867 as of Jan. 18. More than $169,000 has been distributed as of Feb. 1.
But while tsunami relief has received much media attention, there are many other global needs being addressed by CBF Global Missions field personnel daily. Because of financial support from CBF's Offering for Global Missions, there already were field personnel in the areas where the tsunami hit, thus enabling quick relief response.
“We were in Asia and other places of suffering before this very public and tragic crisis,” said Vestal. “We will continue to be there in the years to come after other organizations have gone and the publicity has faded.”
As of Dec. 31, churches and individuals had given just more than $1.5 million of the $6.1 million Global Missions Offering goal.