The Christmas Bowl

We launched our Christmas Bowl Campaign for 2015 on Sunday 29^th November. Sister Elizabeth Delaney, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in Australia, writes:

I'm writing to invite you to join in the Christmas Bowl appeal again this year. The Christmas Bowl is our way of forging a loving connection between our Christian communities here in Australia and people around the world who are experiencing extreme hardship and suffering.

 I know that Scots Uniting Church is such a strong supporter of the Christmas Bowl appeal.

 Thanks to the wonderful generosity of supporters like those at Scots Uniting Church, last year we raised $2.4 million to help those suffering poverty and displacement around the world. This year we'd like to raise even more - with your help, we can make the Christmas Bowl the best ever!

 The Christmas Bowl has been an ecumenical tradition since 1949, when Rev Frank Byatt in Victoria simply placed an empty bowl on the table and humbly asked his friends and family to contribute to help people who had fled the horrors of World War II.

 Now, the Christmas Bowl is Australia's longest-running and best-loved ecumenical appeal. Over 2000 churches and 100,000 compassionate Australian Christians take part each year.

 This invitation to Australian Christians to stand by men, women and children living through conflict and displacement is, sadly, more important than ever. War, violence and persecution have now left one in every 122 humans on our planet without a home. That adds up to more than sixty million refugees and internally displaced people around the world.

 Your gifts will be helping provide safety, justice and dignity for others suffering around the world as a result of conflict and disaster, including refugees in the Middle East.

 Thank you for taking part in the Christmas Bowl appeal 2016 and sharing your gifts so generously at a time when we celebrate God's greatest gift to the world.