Resources are available to help congregations recognize LCMS World Relief and Human Care (WR-HC) Sunday on Nov. 20.
Available for free downloading from WR-HC’s website — at www.lcms.org/worldrelief — are black-and-white and color versions of a bulletin insert, a four-part Bible study titled “Feed My Lambs” and videos highlighting the work of WR-HC.
Earliest records show that the Missouri Synod established a General Relief Board in 1905 that primarily assisted LCMS employees and provided help for disaster survivors and destitute people worldwide. Under different names, the board played major roles in relief and recovery efforts following both world wars. After 1953, as the Board for World Relief, the agency focused its efforts on disaster response and self-help programs.
Today, LCMS World Relief and Human Care shares Christ’s mercy with people in need worldwide through its national and international partners.
In the past year, the agency has awarded grants to districts and congregations to help with flood recovery efforts in Minot, N.D.; in Texas, after homes were destroyed by wildfires; along the Eastern Seaboard in the wake of Hurricane Irene; and in Missouri and Alabama, where residents experienced deadly tornadoes.
Grants also have been given internationally for ongoing relief efforts in Haiti, Japan, Myanmar and Turkey — following natural disasters in those countries — and for famine relief in East Africa.
To support the work of LCMS World Relief and Human Care:
- mail checks (noting “Where Needed Most” in the memo line) to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, P.O. Box 66861, St. Louis, MO 63166-6861.
- call toll-free 888-930-4438.
- click here for the “Give Now” online option.
Posted Nov. 3, 2011
