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UPCOMING EVENTS
BY AUG. 13, 2010
A profound way our BCNE churches can have an international impact for Christ is through participating in this year's BGR's (Baptist Global Response) In-Home AIDS Care Kits. By putting together at least one kit, a church, no matter their size, can help provide a physical and spiritual touch to a family member in sub-Saharan Africa who is dying from AIDS or other illnesses. SBC local partners in Africa will distribute the buckets in a way that gives dignity and hope to each family receiving a kit.
The
BGR In-Home Care Kit is a compilation of medical and hygiene supplies.
Items in this kit will make the caregivers’ tasks much easier, but more
importantly, will ease the suffering of the ones affected by the
illness while bringing glory to Christ.
CHURCHES CAN...
do this as a VBS or missions project or just get together as a small group or Sunday School class to complete one or several.
WEBSITE WITH DETAILS
NEW ENGLAND GOAL, COLLECTION & DEADLINES
Beulah Baptist Church of Massachusetts Baptist Association has agreed to become the Collection Point for the In-Home Bucket donations from BCNE churches. We're praying we will receive and ship from New England no less than 100 buckets! With the partnership of BGR to help with shipping, we need to collect all the buckets by Aug 13, 2010. Participating churches need to get their buckets between Aug 9 to 13 to:
755 Prospect St Chicopee, MA 01020-3004
or Contact Pastor John Brownlee at jbrownlee@charter.net or at 413-533-8299
FROM THE MISSION FIELD
Mark Hatfield, the BGR area director for Sub-Saharan Africa, recounts that, "we have used the kits from the last two years projects. Each kit is a blessing. I was in a home on Friday where there was a man 51 years old who had a 12 year old daughter carrying for him. His wife, brothers and sisters have all died from AIDS. His CD4 Count (blood test to see the level of AIDS) was very low. I don’t think he will live much longer. Maybe another week or two. BGR not only provided a care kit but food for he and the young girl who has the burdens of the household on her shoulders. In the front yard were the graves of the rest of the family.
HIV is a pandemic in Africa and we are blessed by the generosity of Southern Baptists by being able to provide these care kits . I am inadequate to express the encouragement they give an AIDS sufferer. Being able to be clean, dry and have some relief from the pain and to know that the world has not forgotten you gives some dignity to the one dying."FROM BCNE CHURCH
Pastor John Brownlee of Beulah Baptist Church of Chicopee, MA (a modest sized New England church) recounted the following...
"My wife, Barb, our missions coordinator went to Walmart and purchased the contents of one In-Home Care Kit for AIDS sufferers in Africa. We put the items on a table on our worship platform one Sunday. I was pleasantly surprised at the enthusiasm of the church. People wanted to do buckets as a family. People were willing to shop for others. People were willing to assume responsibility for buying specific items. Barb feels that we could do 10 buckets as a church and our deacons felt that we could easily do that much. When I explained that there was a storage problem, deacons said to me,"We could store them right here on the worship platform or along the sanctuary walls. What could be a better testimony?"