City Baptist Church’s Homeless Drop in Centre staff and guests are working together to host a shared meal on Saturday 12th November to express their concern for the world’s poor and to raise this awareness to both Politicians and the broader community.

The Drop in Centre are inviting all community members, Church leaders, Politicians and the media to ‘Share the Table’ which is a Micah Challenge event that brings people together for a meal as a simple but powerful way of reminding ourselves, our communities and our leaders about our responsibility to share the earth and its resources in a way that reflects and promotes justice.

Micah Challenge, a global movement of Christian agencies, churches, groups and individuals which aim to deepen people’s engagement with the poor and to help reduce poverty, believes that every person should be able to have access to safe health and sanitation, education, food, and equality, however in many parts of our world creation groans under the pressure of human exploitation and misuse. Food resources are being depleted, forests are diminishing, climates and changing and sea levels are rising. The choices that we make about the food we eat, the clothes we buy and the amount of energy we use all contribute to these environmental pressures. In many cases, the result is that the poorest people of our world, who rely heavily on their local environment and ecosystems, are suffering.

In Australia we take for granted that we have food on our tables, clean drinking water and toilets that work. Many in our world do not have that luxury. Approximately 2.6 billion people worldwide lack access to safe sanitation and as a result many die from preventable diseases such as diarrhoea. The projected effects of climate change on people in the Asia Pacific region are alarming with an estimated 75 million people expected to be displaced by 2050.

This is why the ‘Share the table’ event is so important. It aims to encourage us all to step up and look after our global neighbours and make sure our Government, as well as each of us as individuals continue to strive towards eradicating global poverty.

For more information please contact Pastor Jeff McKinnon at City Baptist Church on 6331 4900 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or go to http://www.micahchallenge.org.au