January 19, is designated Project Agape Sunday, but may be held on any day. This is a chance for NC United Methodists to support the joint mission work in Artsakh (also called Nagorno-Karabakh) which is a mountainous region that is between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Project Agape involves more than Christmas boxes! Financial contributions are crucial for the work to continue.
Over the course of 25 years, Project Agape has helped the Armenian Orthodox Church meet the basic needs of refugees of war, families who are impoverished, and children who are sick. In one region alone there is a hospital, an orphanage, and the Christian Education Center, where students receive after-school tutoring in basic language, art and technical skills which supplements their education in an area where there is high unemployment and little in the ways of job prospects.
Project Agape has helped families receive cows, chickens, gardening tools and seeds in an effort to help families become self-sufficient. Project Agape encourages and supports entrepreneurship. And, once a year, North Carolinians send nearly 8,000 Christmas boxers to children in the area to remind them and their families that there are persons who care for them as individuals. Just as Jesus has blessed us with Agape, United Methodists in North Carolina in turn share Agape love in tangible ways with people who are living on the margins.
Please lift up the ministry of Project Agape in Artsakh, and particularly the ministry of Nara Melkonyan, program director, with your prayers AND your financial gifts!
100% of contributions that are given to the Conference Advance #S-00004 help to support this work. Our Conference goal is to send about $50,000 to Project Agape. Checks can be made out to your local church with the Advance number in the memo line. You may also send checks directly to the NCCUMC office: 700 Waterfield Ridge PL, Garner, NC 27529
For more information contact Rev. Jaye White. Phone: 919-779-6115, ext. 249 Email: jayewhite@nccumc.org or Rev. Bill Haddock at 910-262-3831 Email: revbillh@nccumc.org.