Happy Fathers Day @ #Grenfell
What a week…
I don’t know about you, but I have Grenfell on my mind.
It just won’t go away.
I want it to, and I don’t want it to at the same time…
Our current series HEROES has been amazing. Week 1 we spoke about Hulk, the anger and how to channel it. Do not let it be out of control and destroy everything around you. But at the same time do not let it be a tweet and your done, an Instagram post then your gone. You have to let the rage be channelled into change.
My feed was full of people crying out in anger about Grenfell, but that anger has to be channelled. It was amazing to see so many take much needed resources to the scene. I knew that would not be me. I knew that would not be CityHill. I prayed and waited on the Lord. I knew we had a part to play, but, we just had to find out, what that was going to be.
I have sat for days processing the anger, the hurt, the sadness and it just cannot be processed, it is simply over whelming. I have tried to avoid the news, but I can’t, I am compelled to watch. You may be able to identify with what I am saying, as there is a chance you too feel the same.
I have always felt a strong call to Father the Fatherless. This is who God is. I believe God calls us to be like Him. It is Fathers day on Sunday and we have a wonderful service planned to celebrate men.
But there are children now who have no Father, no Mother, all because of the tragedy of Grenfell. As a church we support two girls in Kagera, Tanzania through African Child Trust. We are already Father to the Fatherless.
But I hear a NEW cry, and WE’RE going to answer it. On Sunday I will be explaining how we are going to GIVE above and beyond our normal giving to CityHill as worship to God. I am going to explain how we are going to give to become the Fathers to the Fatherless of Grenfell.
You see time will pass and the anger + pain will fade for many of us who are distant from Grenfell. The urgency that people will feel to give will dissipate and turn to another cause. I want to try our best to do some thing if we can for the long term. We may only be able to do it for one, may be two, who knows what will come of this.
An Uncle or Aunt, Brother or Sister, Grandad or Grandma may now have a child to look after completely unexpectedly. In a time when they are grief stricken, and traumatised the last thing you want is to have to be fearful for the future.
‘How will we provide?’
This a worry we can help rescind. I do not have all the answers as to how we will do this, I just know we have to. We may only be able to give a little. But what we have we will give.
Here is the idea, it is to raise money and give it to those who end up being the legal guardians of children who have lost their father/parents in this tragedy. How much money we raise will determine how this is done. If we raise a little we will just give the total outright. If we raise a significant sum it could be given monthly, bi monthly, quarterly or yearly. I appreciate there are a lot of variables. I just want to try and create support that is thinking longer term. Fathers are there for their child for the long term. Providing each and every month, year after year and I want to see what we can do in this vain.
This will be apart of our NEW initiative called Father The Fatherless. We currently support two fatherless girls in Kagera, Tanzania. We are also starting a community project this month to turn those who are teenage drug dealers/runners or those feeling pressured to do it, into entrepreneurs. The third part of the Father the Fatherless fund will now be to support those made fatherless at Grenfell.
HOW TO GIVE
To give just click on the give button below, fill out the form and where it says ‘give to: general’ click on general and on the drop down menu select Father The Fatherless this will let us know what your giving is intended for. You can give via debit or credit card. There is an option to set up your gift as automated giving, this means you could choose to give £5 a week, twice a month or monthly. You can also make it a one off gift.