Church in the Marketplace is a congregation who feels moved towards assisting the poor and oppressed. We believe strongly in showing love and compassion towards the community both around us and overseas.
We do this by being involved prayerfully, financially and physically in a number of mission organisations including Habitat for Humanity, The Good Neighbour International, TEAR, Opportunity International and Youth With A Mission.
Find out how we are supporting the above mission and aid organisations read below:
Miracle Offering
Recently some of the ladies from the Monday morning 'Coffee and Chat' saw that Home Yardage was to close down. They felt led to purchase a large number of girls brightly coloured outfits (skirts and tops) that Home Yardage had at a very cheap price. About two months later Carol Bussau asked Beth Wills if she knew someone who could use the children's outfits. Beth's immediate response was a resounding 'Yes'. Friends of Beth's who currently Pastor a church in California, among other mission outreaches, run an orphanage in Uganda.
Carol arrived with two, large bags full of the outfits which Beth packed into boxes with prayer and they were sent off to California. It was expensive to send the parcels and a comment was made, "you should just give them the money", but Beth believed that the Ugandan children should get the outfits. Mandy (Beth's California friend) was going to Uganda to visit the 'Welcome Homes' orphanage in April.
The following is Mandy's account of the children's answered prayers:
"I sent a third of the outfits to India as they were too large for my children in Uganda. These went to a girl's home that is for orphans of martyrs.
The other outfits were a complete answer to prayer. The kids who were due to sing at an Easter Sunday Service were expecting matching dresses to be arriving from the USA, however due to visa complications the dresses were delayed.
The children had been really disappointed so they told the Lord about it. Then came the gifts from Australia on Easter Saturday! These kids felt really special as God has sent them dresses all the way from Australia to America to Uganda on just the right day. The group leader, Deidrah cried as she felt so blessed to see her children's prayers answered.
WHAT A JOY TO SEE THE LORD'S PLAN UNFOLD AND MOVE AROUND THE WORLD; TO BE A PART OF GOD'S ANSWER TO PRAYER.. LET US ALWAYS BE READY TO SAY 'YES' TO THE PROMPTINGS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Habitat for Humanity Australia
Habitat for Humanity Australia is a non-profit Christian organisation, which builds simple, decent, affordable houses in partnership with families living in housing stress. Habitat has built over 200,000 houses in 100 countries around the world with aim to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.
CMP's most recent involvement has been to make themselves available to help with the building process. Small teams of people, young and older, men and women have taken part in the construction process in both Sydney's south west region and the remote regions of Sri Lanka.
All involved often have a life-transforming experience, both for the volunteers and for the families whose homes they help build.
For a list of volunteer opportunities in Asia Pacific and in Australia visit the website: www.habitat.org.au
Church in the Market Place goes to Sri Lanka
"We were breaking great lumps of rock to form gravel, the temperature was in the high 30's, humidity was 90%, there was little shade -and we were feeling great!" recalls Louise Mulroney, "Sure we were hot and sweaty, covered in insect repellent to keep away the mosquitos and trying not to get sun burnt. But none of it seemed all that important as we worked with families in Monaragala, Sri Lanka as they built themselves simple homes to live in."
A group of 21 Aussies (and one New Zealander) had come to this remote part of Sri Lanka to work with Habitat for Humanity, and so for six days they shared the rhythm of life in this community as they built. The Habitat group included five people from the Church in the Market Place.
To read the full story click here
The Good Neighbour International
The Good Neighbour International (TGNI) is a Fijian based organisation that runs a number of programs to improve the quality of life.
In September 2005, a group of sixteen people participated in a work party from CMP that travelled to Fiji to build a house. Few of the group had any previous building experience, but supervision and assistance from local builders and volunteers meant that the house was built in five days. It was a simple one room dwelling with external toilet and cooking area, but it will make a huge improvement to the living conditions of Vigiri Maria. Vigiri is a widow caring for two children and was previously living in a makeshift shelter.
Team members from CMP enjoyed working alongside the Fijians and participating in their culture, and were very impressed with the joy and community spirit, despite the obvious hardships that were everyday experiences for them.
On their return to Sydney, the CMP team set out to raise funds for TGNI to purchase a bus. $18,000 was raised and has been forwarded to Fiji. One of the team members, Emma Robens, has since returned to Fiji to assist in the making of a video to assist the work of TGNI.
Click here to see photos from the trip.
During August and September 2006, CMP will be holding a second-hand book stall in an effort to raise funds to provide fishermen in Fiji with freezer boxes.
The book stall will run three consecutive Sundays providing opportunity for congregation members to equip themselves with resources at cheap prices while also supporting a great cause.
TEAR Australia is a movement of Christians responding to the needs of poor communities around the world.
Inspired by Jesus’ example, they care for those whom society often neglects or ignores. TEAR helps to meet needs by providing clean water, health education, small business loans, school supplies, tree seedlings and so forth.
Throughout the first six months of 2005 we focused our mission offerings towards the Tsunami fund, particularly the floods in Bangladesh. Money was used by TEAR in emergency relief and longer-term reconstruction activities.
In December, CMP for the sixth year in a row set up the Useful Gift (UG) shop. This shop ran for three consecutive Sundays leading up to Christmas. $925 was raised, which is a fantastic effort.
Some of the items available for purchase were goats, school supplies, safe drinking water, literacy courses and toilets, with all items purchased going to poor community development programs.
In January we financially supported the emergency appeal for the Kashmir Earthquake, raising $211.35. This money will go towards providing winterised tents with quilts, mattresses, plastic sheets and stoves to protect the community against the harsh winter climate.
Opportunity International is a global leader and pioneer with 35 years experience in providing microfinance and Micro Enterprise Development (MED) services to the working poor in developing countries. Microfinance includes the provision of collateral-free loans, savings, insurance and remittances. MED incorporates a variety of training and support services for establishing and growing small businesses. Their desire is to see clients, their families and their communities transformed with dignity, empowerment and hope.
In 1976, Church in the Market Place member, David Bussau took his family to Bali, Indonesia to help rebuild rural areas devastated by an earthquake. He found that traditional development solutions still left poor families trapped in poverty. His solution was to offer business loans – a hand up rather than a hand out. David established Maranatha Trust to build his dream to help the poor help themselves.
From those early and separate foundations David Bussau and Al Whittaker
joined forces in 1979 to form the organisation that is now Opportunity
International. Today Opportunity has grown into a global network providing a
sustainable solution to poverty through microfinance and Micro Enterprise
Development.
In May several Church in the Market Place members, including David and Pastor Peter Watson travelled to Thailand to take part in the annual Opportunity Conference.
Visit Opportunity International's website
Christianity Works
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christianityworks.com is the Australia Pacific arm of the respected
global media ministry, Back to the Bible.
Our passion is to help people make an instant connection with Jesus Christ - to discover their God and to develop an intimate relationship with Him through His Holy Spirit and a knowledge of His word - the Bible. Back to the Bible was founded in 1936 by Theodore Epp. Epp was a real pioneer of using radio for proclaiming the message of Christianity. The ministry grew rapidly throughout the USA and in the 1950's the international ministry was begun. By the 1970's Back to the Bible could be heard on more than 700 stations worldwide. The Australian office is located in Seven Hills a suburb of Sydney and has been broadcasting Christian radio programs for over 40 years. Over the past decade we have noticed a real change in the way people listen to radio, time is of the essence and people are no longer able to give large time slots to sit and listen whilst on the move or working. To enable people to listen to teaching at a time convenient to them we have developed christianityworks.com. We pray that you will be encouraged by
your visit to this site and that it will become a regular stop for
you. |
Located from the Church in the Market Place building. For more information http://www.christianityworks.com/