GRACE, JUSTICE AND MERCY
June 22 Sunday 2008

The words, 'Grace, Justice and Mercy' have been a central theme for many of the things we've been involved with this past year; things like the From Ashes To Beauty album that was done in partnership with Care For Children, and a teaching series about 'The Poor' given by Jackie Pullinger.

A couple of weeks ago, The Vine Band led worship at the Love Your Neighbour celebration. Over 10,000 people were bused in from the poorest districts in Hong Kong to listen to worldwide evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. There were also 3,000 mainland pastors in attendance; an unprecedented number that were being trained and equipped to return back to China.

I had the privilege of serving side-stage, and despite the worst rains in over 100 years and major flooding, the fire of God came down and I witnessed people giving their lives to Jesus and getting miraculously healed of their ailments. It was incredible.

The Vine Band will also be leading worship at the upcoming Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 9th Annual Human Rights Conference. Their mission is to:

"Work for the religious liberty of the persecuted and oppressed. Oftentimes, when a person is persecuted because of religious beliefs, he or she suffers from other forms of human rights violations. In working for religious liberty, we also work for freedom of the whole person, so that full respect for his or her human dignity is restored."

This is really is at the heart of what we're doing as a church, and on Sunday June 29th we'll be meeting at the Island Shangri-la Hotel for, "Make A Difference Sunday". All the proceeds will be going to Care For Children and those affected by the recent earthquakes in China. It starts at 10:00am - click here for more details.