Blessed Are the Merciful
“The Lord Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.’ There never was a time when there was greater need for the exercise of mercy than today.” – Ellen G. White, Welfare Ministry, 15.1.
Encourage Love and Mercy
“In the providence of God events have been so ordered … that there may be a constant exercise in the human heart of the attributes of mercy and love. [People are] to cultivate the tenderness and compassion of Christ.” – Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, June 13, 1892.
“We recognize the severe economic impact that COVID-19 has had on our church members’ lives,” said Northern California Conference President Marc Woodson. “Members have been unable to work for several months and struggle to pay for housing, food, bills, gas, and other expenses.”
In response to the high number of church members in financial difficulty, the NCC administrative team recently established the Membership Assistance Fund . “We want to help our brothers and sisters in Christ as much as we can,” said Woodson. “We can’t remove their burden, but we can come alongside them and help carry it by offering some financial support.”
The Membership Assistance Fund will be completely supported by donations.* The initial goal is to assist 200 NCC family households with up to $100 each – to be used for their greatest need.
“We recognize the need is great, and the funds we can provide are limited,” said Woodson. “However, once this goal has been reached, the plan is to continue raising support and distributing it to the local churches for as long as funds are available and the need still exists.”
Local church pastors/leaders will be requesting the funds from the conference for members of their congregations. (NCC administration is encouraging them to utilize a committee to approve the identified families.) The pastor/leader will submit a request form with the following information:
- Total number of family households (as defined by the local pastor/leader)
- Total number of people in each family household
- Total amount of assistance requested for each family household
In order to protect the identity of the families, the pastors/leaders have been asked not to provide any identifying information to the NCC. Consequently, the pastor/leader will be responsible for distributing the assistance directly to the families in his/her congregation.
“We ask our church members to pray about making a gift to help struggling family households in the Northern California Conference,” said Woodson. “A donor may choose to support one family with a gift of $100, five families with $500, or 10 families with $1,000.”
Feel called to help? Give now to the Northern California Conference Membership Assistance Fund.
“And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, ‘I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.’ … And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.” – Matthew 15:33-36
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*All donations will remain anonymous, and the relationship will be maintained by the NCC Communication and Development Department in a secure relationship management system. Donations will be acknowledged within 48 hours. As appropriate, a donor report will be sent that shows the total amount raised and total family households served within the given time.