The Right Rev. David Giuliano

May 14, 2007

Greetings,

“It’s good to see your face again,” we exclaim as we hug visiting family members. “It’s great to meet you face to face,” we say to a long-distance acquaintance. Faces are important. You get to know people by their faces. You imprint a face in your mind to help you remember a person.

Come “see” some of the many faces of the Mission and Service (M&S) Fund. The faces of the M&S Fund are everywhere. They are in your local congregation and in your community; they are across Canada and in many countries around the globe. Don’t be surprised to find your face among them. Your generous donations and your commitment to the work of the United Church make you a member of the M&S Fund family.

M&S faces belong to people like you who support the work of the church through the Mission and Service Fund. They are those who volunteer and work at all levels of the church to promote the fund and the missions it supports. They are the faces of overseas personnel who teach and nurture leaders in local churches and communities. M&S faces include those who help farmers improve their crops, who walk in danger with others, and who march shoulder to shoulder with neighbours near and far to demand action. They are the people who carry out the many programs that are so vital to the ministry of our church.

The faces of the Mission and Service Fund are also the people whose lives are made brighter, more secure, and more just because of your donations.

I am writing to you upon returning from a face-to-face visit with partners working for human rights, justice, and peace in Israel and Palestine. We met with church leaders, teachers in refugee camps, young people who rebuild demolished homes, Ecumenical Accompaniers who walk Palestinian children to school in dangerous areas, and many others. Over and over, our delegation heard how important our visit was to those who work for a new day in Israel and Palestine. They told us, “The solidarity of The United Church of Canada helps us to know that we are not alone.” Through the Mission and Service Fund we express our solidarity in meaningful ways.

Meet some more members of the M&S Fund family:

• Veronica Nkenseen from Ghana, who, by starting her own small bakery business, has been able to pull herself out of poverty and support her family. She did this with a micro-loan from the Ecumenical Church Loan Fund, which is supported by the M&S Fund.
• Men and women sitting around the large kitchen table at Emmanuel House in St. John’s, Newfoundland—people who find refuge there from physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, or who struggle with alcohol or drug problems.
• People waiting for the doors to open at First United Church in Vancouver—people in crisis and often with complex problems, who come for much-needed aid.
• The smiling face of Juliana in Guatemala, who was abandoned as a child, violently abused by her husband as an adult, and yet who was able, through hard work, to start her life anew, becoming a church and community leader. She hopes that her story will give other abused women hope and courage.
• Boys doing chores at the Los Quinchos School in Nicaragua, which was established for child street vendors.

These are only a few of the faces that have received hope and a new life from your Mission and Service Fund dollars. Rejoice with these faces and hold them in your heart. With your M&S Fund donations you are helping to meet their actual needs, providing moral support, advocating for justice and peace on their behalf, and standing in solidarity with them.

On Sunday, June 10th, we will celebrate the 82nd anniversary of our United Church of Canada. On that day, we celebrate the beginning of our church and 82 years of mission. Our ministry as United Church people is far from finished. Oppression, injustice, and economic inequality still abound. People still suffer abuse and poverty.

Please join me in making a special anniversary donation. Your continued support of the Mission and Service Fund is vital as we move, with hope, into the future. Thank you for being an important face of the Mission and Service Fund. Thank you from the faces of the thousands of children, women, and men who receive love and hope through our work.

With God’s Blessings,

David Giuliano (The Right Rev.)
Moderator