The International Central Gospel Church Christ Temple has rolled out an integrated charity programme dubbed ‘Hope Project’ focused on impacting lives of various categories of people across the country.
The charity project, which involved a series on interventions throughout the month of December, focused on three main beneficiaries: the Korle Bu Children’s Cancer Unit, the Senior Correctional Centre and the Teshie Community, where the church’s new campus is cited.
Raising funds for the Korle-Bu Children’s Cancer Unit
The church, as part of its support to the unit, organized its annual music and arts charity event dubbed ‘Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh’ on Christmas Eve.
ICGC Christ Temple, which has been supporting the Cancer Unit since 2011, has seen its efforts benefit over 1,500 children with cancer in the form of payment of the cost of their treatment and the procurement of life-saving medicines.
Speaking at the event, the General Overseer of ICGC, Pastor Mensa Otabil, traced the evolution of the church’s social interventions, including Central Aid, which began with the provision of financial support to a handful of secondary school students but ultimately grew to become the nation’s largest non-governmental scholarship scheme for secondary students. He recounted how the introduction of the free SHS programme compelled Central Aid to shift the focus of its scholarship scheme to catering for tertiary students.
Pastor Otabil added that supporting the Children’s Cancer Unit was an easy decision for the church because any time a delegation from the church visited the Cancer Unit, they saw at first-hand the impact of the donations on the children. He thanked the management and medical personnel of the Cancer Unit for their sacrifices over the years.
A team from the church also visited the cancer unit to pray with the children and share gifts with them.
Visit to Borstal Insitute for Juveniles
Members of the church also visited the Senior Correctional Centre on Christmas day to commemorate the day with them.
The team held a church service for the juvenile inmates, prayed with them and shared a Christmas meal with them.
Community Outreach and Get Together for Teshie Residents
The final leg of this year’s Hope Project was a Community Outreach and Christmas Get Together for organised by the church for residents of the Teshie Community.
The event, which took place at the precincts of the church on Boxing Day, saw over a thousand teenagers in attendance.
The participants, drawn from various schools and families in the community, enjoyed a time of worship, prayer and fellowship. They were challenged to pursue excellence, set Godly examples and live lives worthy of emulation.
The event was also characterized by merrymaking with music, food and drinks. The high point of the day was the donation of a gift item to each child comprising of clothing, shoes, toys or other gifts.
The donations were made possible by the D.O.R.C.A.S. Storehouse, a charity initiative of ICGC Christ Temple which affords church members the opportunity to share the love of Christ with the needy through the donation of clothes and household appliances.