a Special Offering 2024 Mission Moment photo: Judi Frost/Week of Compassion When gale-force winds rushed along the mountains of Maui, they brought down power lines, ignited grasslands, and contributed to what has become “America’s deadliest wildfire in more than a century.” An extremely dry summer, strain on the island’s water resources, and winds as a result of the simultaneous Hurricane Dora, exacerbated the flames, and the toll on land and people continued to mount.
a Special Offering 2024 Mission Moment South Sudan is a new country and there have been major conflicts since it became its own nation in 2011. One of the side effects of the ongoing conflict is the impact on the health systems, particularly on women and girls, who are especially vulnerable given the limited health care in the country. There is little infrastructure to support women and their health, leaving NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to deliver 80% of services like prenatal and postnatal care, along with family planning counseling and HIV screening and treatment.
Providing such care is hard, and many women have to walk for miles to the health clinics. Truly amazing are the nurses and doctors and the care they provide – as important is the community space they create for women to support one another and empower one another to move forward. The impact is incredible. a Special Offering 2024 Mission Moment For the past couple of years, when you would drive into Mayfield, KY from Paducah, KY and crest the hill to the north of town, the sight would take your breath away – a town flattened. Businesses, churches, homes, all destroyed when, on December 10, 2021, a mile-wide EF4 long-track tornado hit multiple counties in western Kentucky, leaving a massive path of destruction and thousands of Kentuckians homeless. Disciples swiftly responded through Week of Compassion and Kentucky West Area congregations, and the generosity of Disciples lives on as homes are rebuilt and communities are restored.
In the two years since that event, Week of Compassion has partnered with Long-Term Recovery Groups to stabilize communities and support them through their recovery. Volunteer referrals and grant funding are helping move rebuilding forward in multiple counties - all with unique approaches to meeting the needs in their own neighborhoods. a Special Offering 2024 mission moment In Afghanistan, young women are now barred from education past the sixth grade. In a region historically familiar with the struggle for equity and liberation following decades of violence, generation after generation of Shia Muslims have been targeted, their basic human rights drastically restricted.
Some schools that still meet (remnants of education for young women in Afghanistan) are established and maintained by partners of Week of Compassion. Much like at schools anywhere, stepping into a classroom of kindergarteners is an energetic scene: students enthusiastically answering their teachers, embracing the opportunity of education, dreaming about their futures, young and optimistic. GIFTS TO LIVE ON11/16/2023 the Week of Compassion 2024 Special Offering
In the story of the generous widow (Luke 21:1-4), Jesus sees the widow and her gift, and rejoices in her generosity. Others were giving from what they could spare - but this woman, Jesus said, was giving everything she had to live on. Such generosity upends expectation. She brings two small coins, the merest contribution, but she is the giver Jesus praises most highly. It is not only the coins themselves that matter. It is the way she gives - it is the story of her generosity that outlasts her. That’s what Week of Compassion does - what Disciples do. We bring what we have to live on, which becomes a resource for others to live on - and that mutual giving is how our story lives on too. Over the past 80 years through Week of Compassion, Disciples have responded to needs around the world, constantly evolving to meet new challenges. As Rev. Dr. Dawn Darwin Weaks, who wrote this year’s sermon starter and scripture commentary, has said, “We honor the courage of those who came before by being courageous now!” Today we launch the theme and resources for our 2024 Special Offering: GIFTS TO LIVE ON The Week of Compassion Special Offering is suggested for February 18 - 25, 2024. Standing Orders of print materials for the Week of Compassion 2024 Special Offering begin shipping in early December. To review your congregation's Standing Order, make changes, or create a new order, use the order page. Deadline for changes is December 4. This year we saved the step of Sample Packets. Standing Orders include everything you need to create a meaningful Week of Compassion offering with your congregation. With our Planning and Resource Guide, PLUS all the print materials of your Standing Order, AND the plethora of video, print, worship, and study resources on the 2024 Special Offering page ... less paper, less shipping, less time, and less waste means MORE resources go right to work caring for vulnerable communities around the world. THANK YOU for all the ways you are Week of Compassion in communities near and far, and for all the creative and generous ways you share GIFTS TO LIVE ON. a short film for the 2024 Special Offering
available on the Special Offering page in English, English with captions, and in Spanish Special Offering 20233/1/2023  As Disciples, we gather weekly at the table, to remember Christ’s own life poured out lavishly, for everyone, without exception.
Abundance and blessing is not only what we receive - it is who we are and who God calls us to be. Week of Compassion is where Disciples respond to the challenges and the blessings they see in the world. Week of Compassion is a response from the whole body of Christ. Thank you, Disciples, for sharing in the ministry of Week of Compassion. Special Offering 2023: Mission Moment2/21/2023 Ukraine “I was living a normal life,” eighteen-year-old Dmitry recalled. “I was studying logistics and marketing and playing football. I wanted to be a professional footballer, and had a contract with the Mariupol junior football team.”
Anna, also 18, is from Donetsk, and had already moved because of the earlier war (2014, when Russia annexed Crimea). Now in Mariupol with Dmitry, “I was studying law, wanting to become a lawyer.” The young couple’s dreams of football and law were interrupted when they woke to a call from Dmitry’s parents telling them that the war had started. |
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