Message from Mark Ellis: This is a brutally long status but please please read it, it would mean a lot! So over the next couple of weeks, I am attempting two considerable challenges for charity. The first is the Open Doors Blackout. All across the world, particularly in North Korea, Syria and North Africa, there are Christians meeting in secret because if they are found practising a Christian faith they will be beaten, abused and even seriously tortured by their respective authorities. In over 60 countries, 100 million Christians live in places where they can’t openly practise their faith. We are lucky enough to live in an accepting society where we are free to believe and practise as we choose without fear of persecution, but in many places this simply isn’t so. And whether you’re a Christian or not, I expect you’ll agree that we should all have the right to freedom of religion. For this reason, the charity Open Doors is taking a stand and running a ‘Blackout’ project, whereby groups and individuals all over the country take some form of ‘silence’ or fast between 28th and 30th March. I myself will be entirely abandoning technology for these three days. Assuming you know me relatively well, you will know that I will find it difficult to go for three days without my phone or computer, but this weekend will be exceptionally valuable in freeing up time for prayer for these persecuted Christians, raising awareness of their predicaments and on top of all that, raising money. The money raised for Open Doors will be used to distribute Bibles and Church leadership training where there is little, as well as raising awareness and running development centred programmes focussing on livelihood support. There is a second part to this task, which you can help with even if you feel you don’t have the money to spare at this time! Millions of children across the world have no access to something as simple and essential as clean water, and the charity UNICEF runs something called the ‘Tap Project’ whereby they fund the supply of clean water to these places for every minute one of us goes without using our phones! If you have a smartphone, you can sign up at tap.unicefusa.org/ and for every ten minutes you avoid using your phone, a whole day’s supply of clean water will be granted by the charity to a child in need. Naturally as I am going without my phone for three days, this will vastly help this cause too and I welcome anyone that wishes to join me in the challenge! Finally, I am part of a group of fifteen lovely ‘youth’ who are taking part in a 12-hour tennis match on 14th April, to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust. A close friend of mine was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia last year, and was treated in a ward funded by this charity. They do incredible work with teenagers suffering from cancer- He is now much better and he, along with us as his friends and so many others, owes so much to them! Nobody deserves to suffer the “living hell” that is cancer, but this charity really do wonders to make it as endurable as possible for people having to face it at such a horrifically young age! Again, if you know me well, you’ll know that sport is something that I tend to detest, and I am particularly appalling when it comes to tennis, so twelve hours of the sport is really quite a daunting prospect! However it’s one that I intend to fully embrace for the sake of this amazing charity! Well if you’ve made it through this status, thank you so so much! And it really would mean a huge amount to me if you could sponsor me. My plan is to collect sponsorship for both of these events together and split the money I earn evenly between Open Doors and Teenage Cancer Trust, but if there is one particular charity you wish to support of the two then let me know and I’ll set your money aside for that charity. If you would like to sponsor me then please don’t hesitate to contact me (obviously before 28th March!) on Facebook or otherwise. (You don’t have to produce the money immediately of course, just let me know how much you wish to donate!) Any amount would be amazing, even as little as 20p would mean so much! And if not, then please spread the word about these great organisations and go and sign up to the UNICEF tap project so that you can also provide clean water to those that have none! Thank you x Open Doors UK & Ireland Blackout: opendoorsyouth.org/what-you-can-do/freedom/blackout/ UNICEF Tap Project: tap.unicefusa.org/ Teenage Cancer Trust: teenagecancertrust.org/ UNICEF Tap Project uniceftapproject.org How long can you go without touching your phone? Giorgio Armani Fragrances will donate one day of clean water to a child in need for every 10 minutes you go without your phone. Take the challenge!
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 10:09:36 +0000
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