On the opening night of Annual Conference 1999, Louisiana United Methodists are committed to receive a Miracle Night Offering of $200,000 or more!

The Bishops Appeal: Hope for the Children and Youth of Africa has a goal of $12 million dollars. It is well within the reach of Louisiana United Methodists to exceed our conference goal.

^{Bishop Dan E. Solomon}
These second-mile special gifts from United Methodists around the world will go to rebuild lives and United Methodist institutions that have been decimated by war, violence, anarchy and genocide.

Our United Methodist sisters and brothers in Africa have been victimized by “unnatural disasters” in ways that rival earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. United Methodist hospitals and institutions that minister to children have been looted, burned, and even confiscated to serve for periods of time as “war facilities.”

Millions of children have been left homeless and orphaned, had their bodies cruelly maimed by land mines, gun violence and rape, and have suffered beyond description the devastating effects of hunger and malnutrition.

Many United Methodist churches and ministry settings have been damaged, with some being totally destroyed.

We must join together in generous fashion to help rebuild our churches, hospitals, construct new centers to care for untold numbers of suffering children, and undergird our churches’ witness in Africa with substantive help, both prayerfully and financially.

The funds from the Bishops Appeal will be administered by the Africa Annual Conferences’ bishops and leaders with the assistance of the General Board of Global Ministries.

^{In a photograph taken last summer in Luanda, Angola, by the Louisiana Conference Tennis Shoe Delivery Team, children roam the street trying to survive in a city ravaged by poverty. Photo by Rev. James Haynes.}

NOW IS THE TIME FOR EVERY CONGREGATION TO BEGIN OR ACCELERATE ITS INITIATIVE FOR THE MIRACLE NIGHT OFFERING!

Five dollars for each average worship attendance is the amount that will be needed for us to reach the $200,000 goal. For instance, if a congregation is reporting an average worship attendance of 100 persons, its goal would be $500 for the Miracle Night Offering.

Children, youth and adults are all being asked to do their part. Some children and youth have decided to contribute the cost of one soft drink ($.50) for ten (10) weeks. Others are setting aside $.25 for 20 weeks.

Some persons are using the six (6) weeks of Lent--$1 per week--to over-subscribe their goal. Some youth groups are having “video-less and pizza-less” parties with each person paying $5 and using the party to share fellowship, discuss the critical needs of suffering children and youth and even going without food as a way to understand better that many youth go constantly without food.

I am convinced that $5 per person is not only easily within our ability, it is almost embarrassingly modest. Most of our folk will far exceed this amount. It may well be that our Miracle Night Offering will surpass $300,000.

Of course, the real miracle will not be the amount of the offering, but the help that it provides for hungry, suffering children and youth and the hope that it makes visible for the ministry of our United Methodists in Africa.

Let every congregation be urgent and intentional in gathering funds. Let us all have in the forefront of our thinking, not how we are going to meet this amount, but how far we are going to exceed the goal. When miracles are undertaken, miracles happen! ! !

Used by permission of The United Methodist Review, Louisiana Conference Edition

See also: Fundraising Gears up for "Miracle Night Offering" and
Miracle Night Offering Exceeds Goal, Brings Joyous Opening Night Ceremony