At Nunawading Church, we made an intentional decision to keep connected to our Church Family through Zoom Sabbath School and Zoom Worship, recording and uploading the prayer and sermon to YouTube to reach a wider audience. To reach a wider audience we have also recorded our Prayer and Sermon and uploaded them to YouTube. Currently we are working toward live-streaming the prayer and sermon segments of our program weekly onto YouTube.
We determined early on the importance of maintaining a mission focus. We started off by opening the Church one hour a week, so that church and community members could provide food for the vulnerable. After the Stage 4 lockdowns we decided to contactlessly collect food from people’s homes. Currently we have five appointed drivers who collect the food and deliver it to ten families within the community, helping 27 people.
The number of families requiring food is increasing. One gentleman shared the following message: “I can’t thank you enough for your generosity! God bless your service. Whatever you sent me today will be a great help for my family and myself. Thank you once again.” Another young man who received his first delivery last Tuesday said, please may I receive some more food next week. People are reaching out in desperation.
Of the families that we are currently supporting , three are international residents who receive no government funding.
Another God moment was when my daughter went to fill up with fuel and a gentleman in the line asked her what she did for work. She mentioned that she was assisting people in the community by providing them with food. One of the gentlemen in the queue over heard, he was in urgent need of support. A terrible car accident has left him with chronic pain and cognitive difficulties. Life seems to have been so hard for different people and two bags of food can make such a difference.
However, it is so much more than just providing food, it is about saying someone cares about you, you are valued. In life today, it is so important for us to reach people where they are at and to give them a glimpse of hope, true hope that is only found in Jesus Christ.
Tanya Garner