[EL TELEGRAPH Arabic Newspaper] The Church of God hosted the "Worldwide Environmental Cleanup Campaign for the Passover"

Source: WATV.ORG

March 20, 2011, EL TELEGRAPH Arabic Newspaper

The Church of God hosted the “Worldwide Environmental Cleanup Campaign for the Passover”

On March 20, 2011, the World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCOG) held the Worldwide Environmental Cleanup Campaign for the Passover, which falls on April 17, 2011 (the 14th day of the 1st month in the sacred calendar.)

The purpose of the campaign is to promote awareness about serious environmental problems and to reduce numerous disasters derived from the environmental pollution around the world.

The Worldwide Environmental Cleanup Campaign was also held in Pascoe Vale, Melboume, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, March 20, 2011. Moreland city allowed the church members and many other volunteers who concerned about the environmental pollution to carry out cleanup activities in the areas of Austin Crescent Reserve, Park Gain, and KW Joye Reserve. After two-hour cleanup activity, they collected lots of garbage to fill up as many as 45 trash bags as well as bulky wastes such as bicycles and tires. Pino, the environmental cleanup manger of Moreland city, supported the campaign by providing them with trash bags and gloves.

Mayor Cr Oscar Yildiz Jp also joined this event, encouraged the church members and the volunteers and praised their effort. Also he was surprised at the piles of garbage they collected.

Mayor Oscar said, “It has not been easy for Moreland city employees to carry out large scale environmental cleanup campaigns like this due to labor and financial shortage. It’s really wonderful and commendable that the Church of God organized and promoted such a great campaign.”

The Passover is the commandment of God that God commanded us to keep. In the New Testament, Jesus directed the twelve to celebrate the Passover and He Himself kept it as an example. So the Passover was also kept by Apostle Paul, a representative figure in the New Testament. The most important ceremony of the Passover is to eat and drink the bread and wine which stands for Jesus’ flesh and His blood respectively. Through the Passover, we can inherit the flesh and blood of God and are entitled to be children of God who are allowed to call God “Father” and “Mother.” The Passover contains the promise of eternal life and becomes the sign of salvation or the seal of salvation through which we can be protected from all kinds of disasters. The Passover means that the disaster would “pass over.”

The Church of God has been organizing the environmental cleanup campaign regularly before this special feast of God every year. At first, the campaign started within South Korea where the gospel of New Covenant was spread. The cleanup generally takes place in the places requested by cities including riversides, streets and parks.

The main reason to focus on the community service by this church is due to the teachings of God. They are told that the people who believe in God should be salt and light to the world. Since Jesus gave us the teaching: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”, it’s the whole duty of Christians to help poor neighbors. Various volunteer works of the Church of God are underlain by such teachings of the Bible.

The underlying love of “Mother” is the foundation of the community service by the church. In general, mother represents ‘love and sacrifice.’ Receiving the teachings of “to give love” and “the mind to serve others”, the saints of this church take lead in giving love to and having mercy on others. They say that children of the church respect elders and behave well, which results in the praise from the people around them. Volunteer works show the most the love of Mother.

Amir Dossal, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Partnerships, said that the UN believed that the Church of God would be able to change the world, and wished that the UN and the Church of God would cooperate with each other.

This led to the United Nations’ proposal to build the partnership with the Church of God for charity and community service, and this offer is currently under discussion. The Church of God obtained an important opportunity to show the “love of God the Mother” to the world.