A PUBLICATION OF RCCGNA, COMMUNITY RELATIONS INITIATIVE CANADA

First RCCGNA, Canada Convention Edition

Impacting Communities

Supporting our seniors – the river of life

Recognizing the value of health promotion

Harnessing the power of the Youth – the backbone of our future

Daddy GO Setting the pace tapping into community needs

CRIC in Action at the Western Canada Zonal Conference

Food Banks Soup Kitchens/ Never go Hungry Community Kitchens/Gardens

Health Promotion Food Safety/Skills Food Social Enterprise

Community Relations Initiative Canada (CRIC): Feed The Need, A commitment to nourishing

Honouring our Public SafetyBuilding lives and Eroding Homelessness

Plant A Church And Feed The Need

Our church’s mandate to make Heaven and take as many souls to heaven as possible plays out with its church planting goals. The process of starting new parishes is very much dependent on the

community at hand. Each parish has a unique set of demographics, climate, constituents and environment. In order to settle down into and positively impact our chosen community, it is important to know the key needs in the community and be able to feed these needs. Food needs assessments are often the easiest way to breakthrough in a new community and at all levels of need. Statistics have shown that 54% of Canadians experience some sort of hunger or food insecurity at particular points in their lives. As we have all witnessed, worldwide revolts with food at the core are on the rise as the upward spiral in world energy and food prices hit each person’s bottom line. The revolts mean that the warnings of a new food crisis are being taken more seriously. Food security is back on the agenda and at very local levels.

Working out how to feed a community spiritually and physically requires careful mapping of a myriad of complex problems that exist, and might seemingly have nothing to do with hunger / food insecurity; they could manifest as homelessness, drug addiction, theft, debt and ill health, to name a few.

The threat posed by the power politics of the globalized food industry, threatens food security and free markets, hence making them uneasy bedfel-lows in the absence of social safety nets provided by strong institutions such as RCCGNA and the CRIC initiative and its network of churches that work down to the communal and individual levels.

So from the basis of food programming, a host of social services can morph to serve the unique needs of each community, making the church relevant, a force to be reckoned with and a critical mass for change in global food politics.

Funke IlumokaCRIC Admin

RCCGNA, Community Relations Initiative Canada (CRIC) – From the Chairman’s Desk

CRI Canada (CRIC) – The Director’s Plan

RCCG– Global Community Impacts

The Mission Administrator on CRIC

CRIC in Action at the Western Canada Zonal Conference

Covenant Chapel at Covenant House and the Community in Greater Toronto

Focus on Community

The Journey thus Far Grace Chapel, BC

Bevan Seniors Abbotsford Gateway Chapel at work

Fort Saskatchewan Prison Outreach

Ottawa Supporting the Cure

Information In Practice

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EDITORIAL

Community Relations Initiative Canada (CRIC) 2

As you converge, the RCCGNA Canada Zones and Parishes to create an awareness of community relations necessities, initia-tives and impact, I bring you greetings on behalf of the entire leadership and membership of The Redeemed Christian Church of God North America.

On a typical day, the Lord Jesus sat with His followers as He usually did and began to tell them stories. He ended with an insightful mention of the eternal significance of some of our actions in this world. He spoke as follows in Mat chpt 25; “34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hun-gred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

By this time, the followers listening to Je-sus must have been somewhat perplexed, wondering whether He was going to become destitute or get into trouble with the govern-ment or what? Jesus goes further to ad-dress this concern saying, 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

You mean there is a divine vicarious dimension to the assisting of those who are disadvantaged? How interesting? This group was unaware of this principle but unknown to them, in their kindness of heart they had unwittingly stumbled on an aspect of service that was so dear to the Lord’s heart.

The story however, does not end on a happy note because it appears that another group was not quite as fortunate as the previous group. Jesus now addresses that second group say-ing, 41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

Just like the first group, this second group was unaware of the divine vicarious dimension to the assisting of the disadvan-taged. In their own case though, they did not extend mercy and

kindness to the d isadvantaged . Jesus said to them, 44 Then shall they also answer him, say-ing, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45 Then shall he answer them, say-

ing, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

In their failure to assist the disadvantaged, this second group offended the Lord and would suffer far-reaching consequences of their actions. The consequences were irreversible unto utter damnation. On the other hand, the first group would abide with the Lord Jesus for eternity.46 And these shall go away into everlasting punish-ment: but the righteous into life eternal.

The parables and narratives of the Lord Jesus as contained in the four Gospels are not stories or histori-cal accounts. No, not at all. They are deliberate warn-

ings and admonitions about God’s righteous expectations of us. How does God expect us to regard those who are disadvan-taged and / or less privileged? Does it matter to God how we treat those who are helpless and destitute? Does He in any way hold us accountable for the upliftment of others? Beloved, the answers are in the above narrative.

Child of God, consider the above narrative and place yourself within the story? Where would you like to end up? ”everlasting punishment” or “life eternal”. At the end of the day, the decision and / or direction is yours.

We thank God for COMMUNITY RELATIONS INITIATIVE CANADA, a new move and the dawn of a new era. Hearty congratulations to you as you embark on the journey of being the care-givers of your communities. We are proud of you for the awesome and divine sense of responsibility you have assumed on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is an inspiration to the RCCGNA fam-ily in the others parts of this region.

Well done!!! By His grace you will not lose your rewards. Be blessed in Jesus name.

From the Chairman’s Desk, RCCGNA Board of Coordinators - Pastor James Fadele

COMMUNITY RELATIONS INITIATIVE CANADA

The Dawn of A New Era

Community Relations Initiative Canada (CRIC) 3

When I was asked by the chairman of RCCGNA, Pastor James Fadele, to take on the task of directing, under the Holy Spirit, the Community Relations portfolio for Canada, it was an opportunity to grow, share, broaden and deepen the vision that was already on ground in our zone and several other zones across Canada who already have outreaches to the needy in their communities in form of community kitchens, breakfast/lunch outreaches, food bank supports, etc. Through the CRIC, emphasis will be on employing spiritual and physical nourishment to reach our communities for the Lord and in His name. Following some research into the food related issues across the country by a team of faithful stewards in our zone, the big buzz phrase

was “Food Security” This refers to the availability of food without fear of hunger or starvation, it also means having access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life. Commonly, the concept includes both physical and economic access to food that meets people’s dietary needs as well as their food preferences.

The mission and vision of the Community Relation Initiative are: to feed the need, promote food security, facilitate access to nutritious food, encourage healthy lifestyles, supplement food budgets, provide adult/youth food and health learning, revitalize communities and neighbourhoods and develop social support networks. Based on the above definition, the CRIC programme aims to encourage community engagement through food initiatives at the community level through 6 different launch pads: Food Banks, soup kitchens – never go hungry, community kitchen/ gardens, health promotion, food safety/skills and food social enterprise. It is noteworthy to point out that these 6 basic launch pads allow each parish to get their programs going in some way, shape or form, and over time adapt to the unique needs of their community, as they become apparent. These six focal areas also give us a galvanizing point as we meet at the local, zonal and nationwide levels.

In order to put forward a united and instantly recognizable front, CRIC has developed a brand and a toolkit to assist all parish get started step by step. Each parish is encouraged and strongly advised to get their working set. The CRIC secretariat will provide the branding guidelines, such as logos and other graphic parameters so it can be customized for each parish. CRIC publishes this newsletter The CRICket bi-annually and organizes the annual CANstruction Challenge, where cans are used to build structures, the hope is that this event will occur on the same day across the country, the proceeds of which are to go to the local food bank. The day will also feature an evangelistic, go-a-fishing cook-out and other fun activities that will attract members of the community to the goodness of Christ.

As partnerships play a key role in making progress in our community initiatives, it is imperative to get to know the players in our communities, form alliances and encourage joint projects. Each parish should also get to know their local food resources, distributors, producers, processers, farmers, manufacturers. Introducing the church and her community services to the city mayors and other city officials, outlining to them the community relations initiative and finding out where and how best to be of service to the community will be a sure way to get involved in order to impact them for Christ. Schools, hospitals, prisons and seniors’ programs and others are examples of places where we could be involved.

Now that to the glory of God we have our very own Canadian Convention (praise God!), the plan is for all CRIC teams from all zones to meet annually at the convention for a CANstruction event, of which the proceeds will go to the local food bank. This event encourages team building, planning and creativity.

Finally, it is important to incorporate the Community Initiative into all our parish projects as we plan for the future. If for example you are believing God for your building project, as it comes to realization remember to plan it as a centre that is open to community, design into it your food pantry, commercial kitchen, banquet style dining facility, your cold weather shelter, the operation open door area, a cultivation area, warehousing facilities and social enterprise space.

We should remember that the church is not about empire building nor is it about making a name for self, it’s all about Jesus, who as a Man of the community ‘went about doing good’ (Acts 10:38). Our Master, the Lord Jesus has given us the same mandate. We are not only to make disciples of nations, we have been called to lighten up our world as the light and bring sweetness, taste and preservation to our communities, as the salt of our earth, doing good to our Community, feeding the need will make us follow in the footsteps of the One who has called us to virtue. I welcome you on board of CRIC, as we impact the Canadian community together.

Community Relations Initiative Canada (CRIC)

THE PLANPastor Bayo Adediran

BECOME A VISIBLE FORMIDABLE FOOD FORCE IN YOUR COMMUNITY, AS YOU FEED THE NEED

Community Relations Initiative Canada (CRIC) 4

One thing that is central to Christian-ity is love. God Himself bears the name of love and has love reflect-

ed in all His dealings with mankind. After Jesus completed His task here on earth and as he was about returning to heaven, He gave a commission to all who believe in Him to go out and preach the message of God’s love to all mankind. The mes-sage, He instructed, must reach everyone, everywhere even unto the uttermost part of the earth. The assignment and purpose of the RCCG came from this commis-sion. With a vision focused on mak-ing heaven and taking as many people as possible along, the RCCG wants to have at least a member from every family in all nations. Towards realizing this objective, the church adopted an unusual church planting culture which has made it one of the most aggres-sive church planting organizations in the world today. Presently located in cities, towns and villages in about 130 countries across all the continents, the RCCG’s commitment to soul winning and church planting is legendary. To date, the church has close to 10,000 Par-ishes all over the world. In the drive to reach all, the church created a number of agencies through which it ministers to the specific needs of certain groups. The goal was not just to preach the love of God but to show and practicalize the love of God to those who appear lost to worldly vices and upon whom it appears that the society had given up. The thrust of the mission’s efforts was not just about church but about help-

ing the lost rediscover their life purpose and live meaningfully both for themselves and for God.One of the agencies by which the RCCG is helping lives is the Christ Against Drug Abuse Ministry, (CADAM) which caters for the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts, as well as public education.

The RCCG believes and appreciates that health is a gift of God which must be protected and treasured. The church also

believes that sickness is not of God and considers all ill-health as undesirable. The Church realizes her responsibility as the body of Christ, to provide care for the sick and ensure that her members and persons within host communities live a healthy life. In order to meet the health and social needs of her members, and ensure that each mem-ber lives a fulfilled life on earth and make heaven when they pass on. To this end, the church donated an ambulance to the MDA

in Israel, during the ceremonies, The mes-sage of unity and companionship was the common thread in all the speeches at the ceremony. Rev. E.A. Adeboye, General Overseer of RCCG, delivered the blessing, “May the Almighty Lord restore full peace in Israel.” The MDA representative Tali Paz Zinman told the Post, “This contribution is heart-warming. It shows the strong bond between our religions.” After the speeches, the brand new ambulance was unveiled by Pastor Adeboye along with his wife.

Continuing on with health and nour-ishment the church provides support for those living with HIV. This led to the establishment of The Redeemed AIDS Program Action Committee (RAPAC) to coordinate the Church’s response to the pandemic.

The Africa Mission in Canada (AMC) supports the Living Water Proj-ect constructing bore holes in parts of East Africa where water is very scarce. In 2009, AMC completed the construction of a bore hole in Turkana,

Kenya, due to the harsh weather this beautiful region is turning into a nightmare..In Canada the Church’s goes further to focus on Food Security, as what is deemed an affluent society with an abundance of food, has 54% of its population hungry and unable to afford the food it wants to eat. A handful of food monopolies control food content, production and distribution.

RCCG – Global Community ImpactsRCCG Worldwide-Winning Souls, Helping Lives, Feeding the Need Olaitan Olubiyi, Editor Redemption Light

Community Relations Initiative Canada (CRIC) 5

Making Community Connections in Canada From the Desk of Pastor Femi Olawale Mission Coordinator.

The Redeemed Christian Church of God in Canada has come a long way in preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Over the past 16years, the Church has expanded, spreading across the provinces of Canada and we are committed to the spread of this gospel of peace.

Alongside of our Church planting program is the community relation activities. Every Pastor in charge of the branches or local Church are encouraged to focus on community relations as their immediate number two assignment. Some of our activities across the nation include; Run for Life, Visit to prison inmates, Food supply to Shepherd of good hope, Christmas gifts to prison inmates, Donations to teen challenge, Hospital visitation and the list continues. We commit money and time to realize the commu-

nity relations goals and we maintain a budget for this project. The intention is to intensify our present activities and expand the horizon to cover new grounds by providing relief to the less privileged and those in need in all our communities across Canada.

We will continue to clothe the naked, visit the sick, take in the strangers and visit the prisoners until Christ returns. Jesus has given this mandate in a succinct statement of Mt.25:34-40 and the fact that our final eternal destination depends on it further confirms that this mission will not back off from this vision anytime in the future. The RCCG will always support government efforts in alleviating the challenges facing different communities within the Country and that is our commitment.

During the Western Canada Zonal Conference which took place May 20 – 22 in Vancouver, BC, the CRIC team was in action. Led by the chairman, RCCGNA Board of Coordinators, Pastor James Fadele and the Cana-

da Mission Administrator, Pastor Femi Olawale, supported by coordinators and pastors from the three zones in Western Canada, were on ground to support the homeless and transient in the community, by providing over 100 care packages that contained basic toiletries and non perishable foods for clients of the “Look-out Emergency Aid Society”. The society is situated exactly 3 minutes walk from Grace Chapel the Secretariat of CRIC. The CRIC Coordinator, Pastor Bayo Adediran said the location is of particular impor-tance, because when the church moved into its current location, the building that house the Lookout Emergency Aid Society was originally a red light bar and hotel, attracting crime, violence and prostitution. On vigil nights the true nature of the neighbourhood came to light. A group of people in the church actively took on the burden to pray for a change in the nature of the neighbourhood, particularly the focal point of the hotel and bar. Eighteen months later, the hotel closed down and renovations started. The church watched eagerly as the changes occurred, and were excited to see that the Lookout Society had developed the property into a shelter and single room occupancy facility, that provided services to those in need of temporary shelter in the immediate community.

CRIC in Action Western Canada Zonal Conference

Community Relations Initiative Canada (CRIC) 6

CRIC’s focus on food serves as a launch pad into the community. Based on the nature of each community this focus can evolve to encompass the needs of the parish and the community. This plays out at Grace Chapel in Zone BC 1, where there is a large concentration of tertiary education institutions with international students. Outreach to the students has staved off homesickness, peer pressures, and has resulted in a competitive soccer team, an inspiring youth choir and an excellent quarterly publication called “Generation 360”. The youth have great fun and are fast becoming the pulse of the parish; take a look:

The vision of Covenant Chapel is to re-deem destinies and restore dominion; changing and affecting lives within

our community, to fulfill their God-ordained purpose. We do this through our Community Outreach Ministry, through various efforts that involve support, assistance, training, and evangelism. The church has a prayer based hotline that caters to the community’s welfare to promote communication, encour-agement and assistance to needy individu-als, church members and the community at large.

In the past several years, Covenant Chapel has organized and supported a number of food and homelessness drives and programs in the community. These include food drives anchored by North York Harvest, 640 Law-rence Avenue W, Toronto. We shall continue to embrace this exercise on an on-goin basis. Similarly, in December 2010 we donated some items (Electric Kettles, Rice cookers and Bread toasters) to Covenant House, 20 Gerrard Street East, Toronto – a shelter for homeless youth. This was to support their ef-forts in rehabilitating homeless youth in the community.

A free-for-all annual picnic is organized dur-ing the summer months, Also, in each of the summer months of May – August, 2010 we organized a special outdoor event/barbecue tagged ‘Summer Sunday Fest’. The occa-sions included drama skits, ministration, games, raffle draws, and much more. In the winter months, we prepare hot meals for the

homeless and all those who need food. This program is tagged “Out of the cold”

The Covenant chapel choir is essential to the growth and outreach of the church, as music is a form of evangelism; the choir is multicultural and open to all, it particularly reaches out to youth in the community to en-gage the understanding and playing musical instruments. Songs are rendered by the choir typically, in languages that appeal not only to the church members but to the community at large. In addition, we organize music and vocal training classes for the youth, in order to further sharpen their skills, and to encour-age more youth to develop interest in music. These classes are conducted by our team of highly skilled instrumentalist. To further encourage kids and youth in their educa-tion, fully qualified teachers are paid by the church to assist students after school hours, with subjects they find challenging. Our Sunday school sessions make sure that the children are instilled with Christian values. Our Career initiatives make efforts to transform lives positively by encourag-ing to people excel in their chosen careers or businesses. To this end, we have set up the Career Enhancement Centre (C.E.C) to provide professional guidance events, or-ganize career talks, source and disseminate government resources, link members with community to enhance job search skills, and maintain a current and functional job board, where diverse job postings will be displayed. In addition to the Career Enhancement Cen-

tre, we also have the Immigrant Settlement and Integration unit, as part of our effort to eliminate the challenges faced by new im-migrants. The other programs that we are involved in are: the Rose Ministry. This unit brings wholesome and refreshing Christian fra-grance into the lives of prison in-mates, we participate in the Angel Tree program, where we provide Christmas gifts to their children. Through Halfway House, we minister to men and women re-entering society, for them to receive the intensive love and support they need to make a fresh go in life. We teach challenged youth how to overcome youth-ful barriers and succeed in life, by having faith in God, and His word. Camp Jumoke is particularly dear to us, we provide funds to assist at this camp organized for children with sickle cell disease. We also provide as-sistance for research purpose into the cure for sickle cell disease..

COVENANT CHAPEL AT COVENANT HOUSE AND THE COMMUNITY IN GREATER TORONTO

continued on page 8

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The Redeemed Christian Church of God - Grace Chapel was estab-lished 7 years ago; in 2004 and since then, the church has been making inroads into its community physically, spiritually and

materially. At present, our services include English as a Second Language (ESL), feeding the homeless with nutritious food once every month in the church’s premises, Community Kitchen – where women from different cultural background come together once a month to learn how to prepare nutritious foods for their families, Soccer club to reach out to the youths in the community, Reaching out to struggling families in the Community, Free counselling support and integration services.

Immigrants who come to Canada are from non-English speaking coun-tries where English is not spoken at all or is learned just as a subject in the school with little or no mastery. On arrival in Canada, the greatest chal-lenge is the inability to comprehend or communicate in English. Presently, there are thousands of such people in need of a place to learn settlement English to be able to integrate successfully into the Canadian system, culture and workforce. To solve this problem, Grace Chapel started the ESL program to assist members of our immediate community to acquire the needed language skills and to date, we have 33 students from 10 nations of the world, (Japan, Pakistan, China, Latina, Chile, Iran, Mexico, Congo, South Korea, Taiwan) registered since inception of the course. The church also has in place a “gather and give” group to gather needed items from different locations and give them to the less privileged in the community. This culminated into a mentorship program whereby strug-gling families in the community were paired with trained church members to assist and mentor them.

Once every month, the benevolence team feed the homeless free of charge with nutritious meals in the church’s premises. They come in

to eat and drink and some of them usually stay to attend the Sunday worship. Through that, some of them have given their lives to Christ. During the Easter period, a barbecue outreach was held at a popular park in New Westminster (Moody Park), where more than 300 members of the community interacted with the church membership, eating drinking, playing games and ministering. The community kitchen furthers the fo-cus on food and nourishment by gathering women from different cultural backgrounds once a month to learn how to prepare nutritious foods for their families.

This has given women the opportunity to learn how to prepare meals from other countries, to socialize and to acquire the needed skills to survive on a low income. Going hand in hand with food is physical activity. God has used the Redeemer’s Eagles soccer club of the church to reach out to the youths in the community. Last year, they played in the league and they will also play in the league this year. The soccer team represented the whole of Canada at the convention in Dallas last convention and came 2nd place. They will be representing Canada again this year, including other athletes who will be competing in other sports, we are encouraging sport and physical activity as a key component not only to a healthy lifestyle but also to attract the unsaved to hear the gospel.

Other programs such as the Alpha course has become a great tool to connect with the community; the church youth who are in colleges and universities have been organizing free tutorial classes in the community to assist students in their studies, and the annual free tax filing service has just concluded for 2010 filing season. Through these different depart-ments and avenues, the church has been making the most difference in New Westminster community and BC1 in general, to the glory of God. All the programs are run by volunteers.

The Journey Thus Far Grace Chapel, BCMaking the Most Difference in Zone BC1

Community Relations Initiative Canada (CRIC) 8

We started the monthly and sometimes bi-monthly visitation to the Bevan Lodge Nursing Home in November 2009 as part of our community initiatives/outreach programs.

Bevan Lodge is a private licensed care home providing all levels of care from nearly independent to complex residen-tial care for frail elderly and disabled residents. Bevan Lodge is located in the city of Abbotsford, in the beautiful Fraser Valley, 35 kilometres east of Vancouver, British Columbia.

We are privileged to minister to an average of about 25-40 seniors at a time. We sing hymns with them (usually from their hymn books), share the word of God with them and also pray for their needs as best as we can.

Brother Wes and Sister Sharon Hagglov with the rest of their teams have consis-tently loved these seniors with the genu-ine love of Christ. It’s not surprising to hear that they look forward to having us around them every month.

Some of the seniors have enjoyed our ministry that they are interested in attending our Church services. An 80 years old resident even offered to play the keyboard while we sing the hymns during our visits, and has been doing so for almost one year. This fellowship has afforded some residents the opportunity to rededicate their lives to God and for

others; it was a door to a genuine rela-tionship with Jesus Christ for the very first time, to the glory of God.

Most recently, we had the mother’s day celebration with the residents of Bevan lodge and each female resident was presented with a stem of rose flower, which meant so much to them from the expression on their happy faces. God is using this outreach to do amazing things and He is opening new doors for more outreach ministries.

In conclusion, we have two other initia-tives in the offing, the Prison Mentoring Programs which one of our sister (Sister Jaci Redlin) is already involved in (teach-ing life skills) and also the Children After School Club which is due to start in September 2011. We are committing more people into the prison mentor-ing program, and they are undergoing security clearance at the time of writing this report.

The prison outreach began in 2008 as part of Church commitment to affect our commu-nity through the preaching of Gospel of Jesus Christ. It takes place on every fourth Thursday of every month, between 6:30pm and 8:30pm in Fort Saskatchewan (about 40minutes drive from Edmonton). A minimum of three brethren make this trip every month. The correctional centre has a chapel that has a capacity of about 50, and by the grace of God, all men or women inmates are always in attendance every month. Most of the time, different sets of people are being ministered to, because many of them are there for a short time.

The aim of the program is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, to counsel and pray with those who are depressed and discouraged and to interact with the inmates and create awareness of RCCG ministry. Since inception, about seventy five percent of the inmates give their lives in every outreach altar call; Lives are being transformed through the ministra-tion and prayer; more people are becoming familiar with the name, Redeemed Christian Church of God in Fort Saskatchewan and Edmonton area, and this is a useful instrument in Church planting

Bevan Lodge Nursing Home MinistryRCCG, GATEWAY CHURCH COMMUNITY INITIATIVES

REACHING OUT TO INMATES AT FORT SASKATCHEWAN CORRECTIONAL

CENTRE

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COMMUNITY ACTION AT ROYAL HOUSE, ST. CATHERINES ONTARIORoyal House has been involved with charitable and community activities since the inception of the church on June 1st 2003. Some of our activities include Out of the Cold, Celebrate Recovery, Easter Parade, Service of Honor for the Community Police & Fire Department and Royal Soccer Team. Royal house chooses 2 non for profit organizations and donates mon-ey once a year during the church anniversary.

The Out of the cold program feeds the home-less, from Nov 1st to March 31st during the winter months where homeless people can get a hot meal and a sleepover twice a week. No drugs or alcohol is allowed, volunteers from different churches including royal house take part in supervising and making sure the homeless adhere strictly to the rules. The Celebrate Recovery program assists people with addictions, by taking people from where they are with all kinds of addictions including drugs, sex, alcohol, gambling etc to be saved. The program helps them to deal with their de-nials as they are working through their issues, the program gives them an opportunity to give

their lives to Christ, it then helps them to live the life of Christ.

Royal house recognizes the police and fire department for their efforts in protecting and providing a safe community to the residents of the city of St Catharines hence the Service of Honor for the Community Police & Fire Dept program. Royal Soccer Team: Royal house organizes friendly soccer matches with other churches to provide entertainment to less privileged people in the community, who can’t afford to pay to watch games and to encour-age healthy lifestyles.

The Carleton University (C.U) Relay for Life is an annual program organized to raise funds and awareness about cancer. The main role of the participants is to raise funds and then walk around the field house in Carleton University all night (at least one member of each team should be walking at all times), the idea was that participants walk all night because cancer never sleeps. In order to keep people awake, various programs were taking place including dancing classes, musical performances, and massage tables.

However, at Overcomers Chapel, the vision is Spiritual integrity and Community service. So we felt it was a timely and great opportunity for the church to make her presence felt in the community, most especially during the C.U’s Relay for Life.

The members of R.C.C.G Overcomers Chapel team that participated in the community service at Carleton University are Itunu Enikanolaiye, Tomi-wa Odetoyinbo, Ernest Egbule, John Iyaniwura, Dolapo Disu, Damilola Disu and Tope Adetayo who is the leader of the team. As part of the Relay for Life activities, each participant is to raise at least

$100 and in order to achieve this goal; Overcomers Chapel supported her team with some funding while the team raised the rest of the amount involved. The team ended up raising $587, which was handed over to the organizers of the program as donations from the RCCG, Overcomers chapel team

On the night of the event, Overcomers’ team wore “T” Shirts with inscrip-tions like “Jesus loves you, Christ is color blind, Jesus cures cancer, God cares for you, the battle is the Lord’s and God is love” on the backside

and then proceeded to walk around the field house. Overcomers’ team had a few people from a Christian club comment about how they really respected and appreciated the team’s form of evangelism. The team also seized the opportunity to hand out tracts at the end of the program.

One remarkable impression was that the members of the team that partici-pated felt a sense of fulfillment, taking a stand for God and coming out to showcase their beliefs, while sending out the message that Christians can take Christianity out of the four walls of the church and that we care about what is going on in our community and the world at large.

R.C.C.G OVERCOMERS CHAPEL COMMUNITY OUTREACH’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE CARLETON UNIVERSITY “RELAY FOR LIFE”

Community Relations Initiative Canada (CRIC) 11

CRIC in Line with CRAIt is imperative to be in line with the Canada Revenue Agency at all times, hence as we fundraise for our activities, please be in constant touch with CRA. Above are some useful excerpts and links:What is fundraising?As a general rule, fundraising is any activity that:

includes a solicitation of support for cash or in-kind donations. • Solicitations of support include sales of goods or services to raise funds;is part of the research and planning for future solicitations of support; or• is related to a solicitation of support (for example, efforts to raise profile• of charity, donor stewardship, or donor recognition).

Fundraising does not include requests for funding from government or from other registered charities, or the operation of a related business as defined in the Income Tax Act.Recruitment of volunteers is not considered a solicitation of support.Fundraising includes activities carried out by the registered charity, or someone acting on its behalf.In circumstances where a receipt is issued for any part of a transaction, the activity is deemed to be a solicitation of support and therefore the costs associated with the entire activity must automatically be allocated to fundraising expenditures.

When should costs associated with donor recognition be reported as fundraising?Donor recognition is the acknowledgement or thanking of a person who has made a gift. The costs of gifts or other forms of acknowledgement to thank donors must be reported as fundraising expenses unless they are of nominal value. The CRA considers recognition with a per-donor cost of $75 or 10% of the donation (whichever is less) as nominal. When donor recognition expenses are nominal and are not reported as fundraising expenses, they must nevertheless

Food Banks British Columbia 313-720 6th StreetNew Westminster, BC V3L 3C5Phone: 604-830-3989 Fax: 604-544-4007 www.foodbanksbritishcolumbia.ca foodbanksbc@gmail.com

Banques alimentaires Québec3005, boul. Matte, bureau 100Brossard, QC J4Y 2P4Phone: 450-444-4040 Fax: 450-444-4757 www.banquesalimentaires.orginfo@BanquesAlimentaires.org

New Brunswick Association of Food Banks c/o Grand Falls Regional Food Bank 363 Portage RoadGrand Falls, NB E3Z 1M2Phone: 506-473-2001 Fax: 506-473-6883www.foodbanksnb.com

Community Food Sharing Association of Newfoundland & Labrador P.O. Box 6291 St. John’s NL A1C 6J9 Phone: 709-722-0130 Fax: 709-722-1611 www.cfsa.nf.net/

Alberta Food Banks 30-50 Bellrose DriveSt. Albert, AB T8N 3L5E Phone: 780-488-9719Toll free: 866-251-2326 Fax: 780-488-9716www.afbna.ca/

P.E.I. Association of Food Banks 33 Belmont StPO Box 1177Charlottetown PEI C1A 7M8 Phone: 902-892-7092 Fax: 902-628-2054 www.feedpei.org

FEED NOVA SCOTIA 213 Bedford Highway Halifax NS B3M 2J9 Phone: 902-457-1900 Fax: 902-457-4500 www.feednovascotia.ca/

Food Banks of Saskatchewan Corporation c/o Battleford District Food & Resource CentreP.O. Box 657North Battleford SKS6V OZ9Phone: 306-937-5505 Fax: 306-937-7063

Manitoba Association of Food Banks c/o Winnipeg Harvest 1085 Winnipeg Ave Winnipeg MB R3E 0S2 Phone: 204-982-3663 Fax: 204-775-4180

Ontario Association of Food Banks 555 Bloor Street West, 2nd FloorToronto ON M5S 1Y6Phone: 416-656-4100 Fax: 416-656-4104 www.oafb.ca/

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/chrts/plcy/cps/cps-028-eng.htmlhttp://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/chrts/plcy/cps/cps-024-eng.htmlhttp://www.centreforsocialenterprise.com/f/Legislative_Innovations_and_Social_Enterprise_Structural_Lessons_for_Canada_Feb_2009.pdf

CRIC SECRETARIAT CONTACT, UNIT 100- 60 8TH STREET, NEW WESTMINISTER, BC V3M 3P1TEL: (604) 526-7732 cricrccg@gmail.com Follow us on Facebook

LINKS IN ALL 7 ZONES TO FOODBANKS

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