One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) is one of the 5 for 5 missions of the UCC that St. Mark recognizes every year. This mission supports international programs of health, education and agricultural development relief, and refugee assistance. We will be discussing this mission during the service throughout the month of February and into March. Wider Church Ministries, Global Sharing of Resources administers the OGHS fund for the United Church of Christ. The offering will be received on March 14, 2010 during Lent.
Aerial Fumigations in Columbia
aimed to get rid of illegal crops can also destroy produce and contaminate the soil. Poor rural families in eleven afro-Colombian communities are learning about growing their food in greenhouses and raising their chickens in nurseries to protect them from the deadly chemicals. Now the families have safe food and protein for the dinner table. Working with people as they improve their lives-that is what your support for One Great Hour of Sharing makes possible! Photo: Samuel Lobato/CWS.
Aaron Msutu
is chairman of a local famers organization in Zimbabwe, working on the front lines to fight a food emergency brought on by a complex humanitarian crises. One Great Hour of Sharing is assisting in building up food security there by providing emergency food aid the the tools to better grow food in the future. By learning conservation techniques and how best to adapt to climate change, farmers like Msutu are taking the future of their country back into their own hands. Photo: Eva Berglund-CoS-ACT.
"We're now living safely" says R. Ramanujam
leader of Velu Nagar village in India, speaking of his families new home. With support from One Great Hour of Sharing, Church World Service, and a local partner, communities hard hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami have rebuilt some 4000 permanent homes as well as disaster shelters which double as community meeting centers. In southern India, partnership is building community-and hope. Photo: Chris Herlinger-CWS
The OGHS offering is most often received the third Sunday of Lent, but may be taken at different times. It is the relief, refugee and development fund of the United Church of Christ. It is one of the Special Mission Offerings received by the United Church of Christ and is a part of Our Churches Wider Mission (OCWM).
We receive the One Great Hour of Sharing offering that provided emergency relief to victims of natural disasters, health care for villages with no access to medical facilities, and development aid to empower the poorest of the poor to build better lives for themselves and their children. (99% of your offering goes to direct aid!). We hope you’ll give generously.
One Great Hour of Sharing
