N O R TH N S W CO N FE R E N CE N E WS
OCT
2014
Lifeboat reaches the community For the past two months, the Newcastle Multicultural Church has been assisting more than 30 families each Thursday with food parcels as part of the Lifeboat Community Service charity. Pastor Esava Koro, who ministers to the Multicultural Church, says, “Each week, we have new people turning up. The purpose of the food parcel program is to build community, and for our church members to have interactions with people who come to get their food packages.” The church members provide some light refreshments — drinks and snacks, and sometimes soup and buns — in the church hall every Thursday morning when the food parcels are handed out. People who come consistently are invited to be part of the volunteer team, and are encouraged to come early the following Thursday to help set up tables and assemble packages. There are more than 10 people from the church who volunteer consistently for the Lifeboat program every week, but community members are also joining in. Pastor Koro notes that six people recently helped with assembling the packages. “Some have even said they want to come on Saturday to worship with us,” he says. The church itself is not promoted through the Lifeboat charity, but that doesn’t stop people from asking questions about what they do and what the church is about. People are also surprised that food is being given away for free. “We are getting a good response from the community,” says Pastor Koro. “Most people who would never set foot in a church are coming to us. And the good thing is that we’re not going to them — they’re coming to us. For them to have the confidence to come to our church hall is very encouraging, and we want to build a sense of community with them.” In their first weeks of operation, the Lifeboat volunteer team from the Newcastle Multicultural Church worked on promoting the food parcels in their community around the church. They would take food parcels to people’s homes and tell them where to come to receive a food parcel the following week. “Some people are coming all the way from Toronto,” says Pastor Koro. “Most of them are from the local area though, such as Edgeworth, Jesmond, Hamilton, Mayfield and Maryland.” Word-of-mouth has been vital in promoting the food parcel program, which has become a ministry that the members of the Multicultural Church are excited about. “It builds community and people are asking important questions,” says Pastor Koro. “With one of the families I used to visit to deliver DVDs to, we would hardly talk. But when I bring them a food parcel, we stop and talk, and have fruitful conversations.” Lifeboat Community Service has been around in the area for around a decade. Sau Finau, a fourth-year Theology and Ministry student at Avondale College is the Lifeboat food program director who also runs the food program from the Bonnells Bay (Continued on page 5)
In this issue:
Page 2: From the President: Building bridges, not barriers Page 2: Youth Ministries leaders attend Oshkosh Camporee Page 6: Hymns and Songs at Homecoming 2014 O RT H P O I N T // 1 Page 10: Road to Bethlehem provides evangelistic opportunities atNCCAS
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