Alabama Baptists challenged to send love gifts to Iraqis

Alabama Baptists challenged to send love gifts to Iraqis

 

Southern Baptist relief workers expect hunger to be one of the major needs they find in Iraq when humanitarian aid finally is able to cross the border, and churches across the United States are being challenged to help minister to that need.

Iraq’s people have suffered under the regime of Saddam Hussein, and 12 years of United Nations sanctions have made their lives even more difficult, says Jim Brown, director of world hunger and relief ministries for the International Mission Board (IMB).

For less than $60, congregations can assemble a box of dry food that will feed a family of five for about a month. Brown is challenging all 42,000 Southern Baptist congregations to mobilize food relief for hungry Iraqis.

“This is a great way for Southern Baptists… to minister in a personal way to Iraqi people,” Brown said. “It will be specifically delivered to hungry families in the towns and villages of Iraq once peace has been restored to the country.” The aid will be delivered without regard to ethnic or religious identity, he added.

The boxes will contain almost 70 pounds of staple food items such as beans, lentils, rice, flour, salt, sugar, loose tea and powdered milk. Packing instructions and list of portion sizes can be found at www.thealabamabaptist.org.

The boxes must not contain other items or literature of any sort, Brown said. Inclusion of evangelistic tracts could cause the aid shipment to be rejected by authorities.

 A label on the outside of each box will quote John 1:17 in Arabic. It also will identify it as “A gift with love from the Southern Baptist churches in America.”

Disaster relief offices of the Baptist state convention will receive boxes and, in partnership with the IMB, will coordinate delivery to the shipping point, Brown said.

Tommy Puckett, director of men’s ministries for Alabama Baptists, said collection containers would be placed at sites in Montgomery and Mobile and possibly Huntsville and Birmingham.

Associations will collect boxes from churches and deliver them on May 16 or 17. For specific times and locations, call Puckett or Reggie Quimby at 1-800-264-1225.

(BP)