We have to own up to being a bit biased. It’s Christian Aid Week and we’re going to shout about it. But it’s not just because we have a special connection with Christian Aid. It’s because we love this week in May. When else do hundreds of thousands of Christians, from all denominations and networks of the church in just about every village, town and city in Britain and Ireland, come together in practical action for the poor?
Whether your church has been delivering and collecting those little red envelopes for years, or you’ve not really ever heard much about the week before, we’d love to invite you to celebrate it, and the incredible witness it is to our communities, by joining us in prayer.
Often the church can seem divided – but this week there’s a public statement of unity being expressed that goes deeper than words. Thousands of churches from every background in the spectrum have a joint focus, are taking part in ecumenical services, and owning this shared mission together.
Often the church can be insular – but this week there’s a visible presence in high streets, at train stations, in schools and on the outside of church buildings which goes deeper than red buckets, tins, envelopes and banners. It’s a more than fifty-year-old commitment to join together and engage with the community for the sake of poor communities around the world.
Often Christians can forget that loving God and loving our neighbours, at every level of society, are inextricably linked (1 John 4) – but this week, millions of prayers, gifts, hours of volunteering and thousands of signed campaign cards come together to say to poor communities around the world – ‘the church believes you matter’.
This isn’t a week of people pragmatically and practically responding to statistics – this is a week of pure heart that never fails to inspire us about what the church is capable of when it remembers that every individual behind every number is a unique and precious carrier of God’s image.
In a way this isn’t even Christian Aid’s week. It’s a week that belongs to the whole church – a week to remind us of what we are cable of being and doing at our very best – uniting; loving; transforming as the Holy Spirit helps us reach out.
If only this kind of a week could be more like the reality of the church every week of the year – not because we need more, or longer flag weeks for charity – but because in this week, wherever you go in the country, you see a glimpse of Christians uniting and giving their all to love others in the name of Christ.
So whether reading this is keeping you from collecting, or from looking at Christian Aid’s website for the very first time, can we invite you to celebrate this week of vision by praying with us? We are focusing on:
– blessing unity in the church
– praying for poor communities around the world
– interceding for change in the systems which perpetuate injustice, and particularly those which trap people in poverty
– blessing the activities of all who are taking part in Christian Aid Week.
To do so is to stand in solidarity with thousands of churches in Britain and Ireland this week, and to join them in owning this simple prophetic statement – ‘no one is just a statistic to us because every person in this world is individually, and uniquely, loved by God.’