Bishop Ward shares about the impact of giving through Special Sundays like One Great Hour of Sharing. Watch the video or read the transcript.
Today, United Methodist mission gifts are providing food for hungry children in Liberia. Today, United Methodist mission gifts are being used in the recovery from Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast. Today, United Methodist gifts are being used in a school in Vietnam.
In these, and hundreds of other ways, your gifts are being well used in mission with people in need around the world. On Sunday, March the 10th – the fourth Sunday in Lent, we will receive in every United Methodist Church across the North Carolina Conference the One Great Hour of Sharing offering.
This offering has been in place for many years and guarantees that the channel of giving called The Advance will remain in place for us. The Advance, supported through the One Great Hour of Sharing, is a channel through which your generosity flows 100% to the mission that is designated. This is unique among all mission agencies of which we are aware.
Give thanks today that as you give your gift to the One Great Hour of Sharing you are keeping this channel open so that generosity may flow throughout the year. We feel the generosity of the connection here in eastern North Carolina as we continue to recover from the Hurricanes of a year and a half ago. Homes are being restored and new homes are being built through gifts offered through The Advance. Volunteers flow to put those gifts to good use.
We give thanks in eastern North Carolina, as well, that the Robeson County Church and Community Center continues as an example of the ways that mission gifts impact lives.
May this fourth Sunday in Lent be a great day of sharing across the North Carolina Annual Conference, so that we can continue to open wide this channel of generosity. Thank you for your gifts.