Building a vibrant virtual Christian Aid Week
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As Christian Aid Week approaches (10-16 May) Helen Parker-Jervis, Christian Aid’s Church Engagement & Fundraising Officer for Merseyside & Greater Manchester, explains how we can support the annual campaign online during lockdown.
In the space of just a few months, the coronavirus pandemic has caused a seismic shift in society. The outbreak has affected all spheres of life. It has brought suffering and uncertainty for so many, both here and overseas, taking centre stage in thoughts, conversations and prayers. As individuals, families, communities and organisations, the crisis continues to have a significant impact on how we go about our daily business. We have all had to adapt to new ways of living.
In these challenging times, many churches have already made bold steps, streaming services online and harnessing technology and social media to reach out to communities. In the same way, Christian Aid has also been thinking creatively how best to ensure it can continue standing together with the most vulnerable and marginalised people during this time of global crisis. This is particularly important as Christian Aid Week 2020 approaches.
Each year, Christian Aid Week brings together tens of thousands of committed volunteers across Britain and Ireland to raise millions in support of people living in poverty, injustice and inequality across the world.
Now, more so than ever, Christian Aid Week provides an important opportunity to celebrate and share the life-saving work that brings hope to people the world over. In 2019 Christian Aid Week raised over £7.5m through a combination of church collections, house-to-house and events such as Big Brekkies.
This year, many Christian Aid supporters will have already dedicated a significant amount of their time and energy planning these initiatives. Not surprisingly, the Covid-19 situation has meant that much of this usual fundraising cannot go ahead for Christian Aid Week 2020. Christian Aid values its volunteers enormously and wants to ensure people’s safety when fundraising. With this in mind, the charity is building a vibrant, virtual Christian Aid Week to help people in Britain and Ireland show love for neighbours near and far, as a global family, in these challenging times.
Christian Aid has developed a suite of creative new ideas, guides and resources to inspire people to fundraise and connect with their community, creatively and virtually, while respecting social distancing measures. The resources include guides to help people run their own virtual event or fundraiser, organise a virtual quiz evening, and even hold a virtual church service using a range of specially prepared worship resources. Individuals will be able to sign up for unique events during Christian Aid Week, such as a daily quiz and live stream worship events. Christian Aid will also be offering an ‘e-envelope’, offering a digital way for people to share the Christian Aid Week story with family and friends, and ask for a donation.
In this way Christian Aid hopes that its dedicated supporters will be able to continue their support, prayer, engagement and fundraising. Christian Aid Week programme manager Sophie Brightwell said:
“In recent weeks, we have been overwhelmed by the messages of solidarity we’ve received for our sisters and brothers overseas, and also by messages of support from our fundraising community, looking for guidance on how they can support us this Christian Aid Week.
I very much hope that you feel empowered and supported to join us in celebration of Christian Aid Week this year, and that some of the virtual ideas on offer can strengthen individuals and communities as we pray for all those affected by this new virus.
Love never fails. Coronavirus impacts all of us. But love unites us all. It’s during crises like Covid-19 that the vulnerabilities of those living in extreme poverty are even more evident. This Christian Aid Week we can fight against Coronavirus alongside our sisters and brothers living in poverty.”
Christian Aid is inviting people to unite in prayer at this time: a collection of prayers for the current coronavirus situation are available online. These include: prayers of thanksgiving and intercession; a prayer for times of isolation; a prayer for medical workers everywhere; a prayer for the global pandemic; a prayer for the church.