“It was one of those moments that made us feel that much more representative of Jesus.”

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

This year’s Big Give saw tremendous growth, increasing from 66 churches, in 2016, to 92 this year. With the growth has come amazing stories of lives touched by a united Church demonstrating Christ’s love.

“As churches started hearing about the Big Give, they started calling us. That’s how it spread,” says Kathy Blakely, the Big Give’s founder. “The number of churches that registered really surprised me. All the stories are so encouraging to me.”

In Cobden, and several other communities, churches from different denominations came together to host a unified Big Give event. One guest at the Cobden event was a homeless man named Tony, who was camping in the area.

“He got a few items; one was a sleeping bag,” says Laurie Briscoe, who was Cobden Pentecostal Church’s point person in the collaborative event. “He came to our church the following day.”

She was in tears when she realized it fit her perfectly.

As well as the pastoral advice he was seeking, the church gave him food from their food cupboard and Briscoe says some members helped him financially.

“He came a few more weeks, consecutively, after that and I know one individual from our congregation was trying to help him find a job.”

Briscoe says she hasn’t seen him in the past few weeks and thinks he left the area, but she is encouraged by how God worked and was pleased to see the collaboration among the churches.

Pickering Pentecostal Church also saw an exciting example of God’s providence. One of their guests found the only wedding dress they had (complete with a veil). She was in tears when she realized it fit her perfectly. She told volunteers she was getting married soon, but didn’t have the $3,000 a dress would cost her.

Another couple had only been in Canada for one week. They were excited to find winter coats and a number of other necessities for life in Canada.

Blakely says they saw the biggest growth around Toronto. Some of the 15 new churches joining from Toronto were even visited for a CTV feature covering the events.

“One of our church members brought a neighbour who was a Hindu gal.”

Toronto New Covenant Cathedral prepared care packages for young women living as prostitutes and sent 40 volunteers and two boxes of supplies to St Margaret’s Drop-in Centre, a homeless shelter in downtown Toronto.

They also had a free garage sale, with a barbecue, games for children, and bags of free groceries.

“We had folks who had just moved into the community and were surprised that a church would do this,” says Robert Lindo, the church’s Big Give coordinator. “People appreciated the groceries, especially. There were some folks who tried to force us to take a donation. We told them, ‘No, this is not about a donation. It’s all about giving to the needs of the community. Take whatever you need and God bless you.’”

Lindo says they had lots of opportunities to explain that they were doing this because of the love of Jesus.

“It was one of those moments that made us feel that much more representative of Jesus,” he explains.

When they got there, they realized the kids had been sleeping on the floor because they had no furniture.

Ben Kennedy of Catch The Fire Toronto says their event included a “spiritual cafe”, where guests could receive a prophetic word.

“One of our church members brought a neighbour who was a Hindu gal. She was really blessed and touched from the prophetic word she received,” Kennedy states. “She was in tears and said it was life-giving.”

Kennedy says she told them she wanted to come to their services with her 13-year-old son.

Another lady was surprised everything was free and told Kennedy, “It was such an incredible thing to be able to come and pick out some clothes that I could never afford.”

Volunteers delivered a number of furniture items to another guest’s house. When they got there, they realized the kids had been sleeping on the floor because they had no furniture.

The Big Give was even recognized in the House of Commons, where Nepean MP Chandra Arya thanked local churches for their generosity. Yet, more than the publicity, Blakely says she is excited by the stories of how God worked and the unity churches displayed.

“The original dream was that the Big Give would happen in Ottawa; churches of all denominations would all do something together on the same day. To see all the denominations and communities jumping on board and wanting to be part of this is very encouraging. It’s great.”