As usual, Yarra Valley church members have been very busy.
In April, members hosted Dealing with Family Conflict. Several people came along to hear a panel of people who have experience dealing with family conflict in course of their work and included police, legal and chaplaincy representation. Church members provided food and child-minding services and the program was well received – many people asked when we were holding more programs as they were keen to attend.
For the second Christmas in a row, we gave back to our community with a special day of food, child-minding, haircuts, massages, pedicures and hydrotherapy, and each person went home with a gift bag. A large crowd took advantage of this special day as many of our community are in difficult circumstances and this gave them a chance to enjoy something that they could not otherwise have afforded right on Christmas. We had assistance from community members who donated their time to help provide these services. There was a wonderful attitude of thankfulness from everyone and we acknowledged God as the giver of all wonderful things.
Happy Hearts continues to run every Tuesday morning during school term, where community children enjoy making crafts, hearing Bible stories, singing and playing. Lasting connections are being made with the families, allowing further opportunity for sharing God’s love.
In June we commenced our regular Health series. The first meeting discussed high blood pressure and heart disease. The topics covered included the many reasons why people suffer from these conditions. After each presentation, we share food related to that session’s topic and a cooking demonstration. This series runs for many weeks and covers a wide range of health topics.
YVC is also involved in a monthly soup kitchen, where needy people from the local area enjoy food and a special time with our members, who come along to talk with them and open the Bible to them. Many volunteers make this outreach possible and we feel it is a God-given opportunity to open a door to many lonely and disadvantaged people.
God is working in our church, providing many services through dedicated Church folk volunteering and working together, empowering these programs to be well received by those who attend. He richly blesses our efforts and we can only pray for God to reach every heart in surrender to Him.
Nola Robins
