ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Since 2020, Send Relief has encouraged Christians to support those around the world who experience both desperate material and spiritual need through an annual gift catalog.
“The challenges in our world can be so overwhelming that we can easily hesitate if we feel like we don’t have much to offer,” said Send Relief president, Bryant Wright. “But Send Relief’s gift catalog shows us that what might seem like a meagre offering can meet a specific need in a moment of crisis.”
Send Relief, the compassion ministry arm of Southern Baptists, has five primary focus areas for compassion ministry: strengthen communities, care for refugees, protect children and families, fight human trafficking and respond to crisis. The catalog lists specific gift ideas for each of those areas.
“The catalog provides tangible examples of how our Send Relief ministries meet the needs of people around the world,” said Jason Cox, Send Relief’s vice president of international ministry. “But even then, it’s not just about supporting people’s physical or even emotional well-being. Send Relief and our ministry partners focus on showing the love of Christ to open doors for sharing the gospel of Christ.”
Send Relief, a partnership between the International Mission Board (IMB) and the North American mission Board, reported serving 2.56 million people through various compassion ministry projects and reported nearly 90,000 decisions for Christ in 2022. That support included responding to the crisis in Eastern Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Then, when major earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria in early 2023, then Morocco in September of 2023, Send Relief was able to respond quickly through ministry partners on the ground in those nations.
In Send Relief Ministry Centers throughout North America, missionaries are able to minister to hurting, vulnerable people around the clock, providing resources that are made possible, in part, through gifts given through Send Relief’s catalog.
“Gifts given through the catalog help to undergird the work of Send Relief Ministry Centers across the United States and in Canada,” said Josh Benton, vice president of Send Relief’s North American ministry. “There are thousands of people who experience the tangible expression of Christ’s love on a daily basis because people give and then go to support Send Relief’s compassion ministry efforts here in North America.”
Send Relief gears its Gift Catalog toward helping Southern Baptist churches and congregants fundraise for a wide array of compassion ministry items that will serve people year-round.
“We hope and pray that this Gift Catalog serves as a year-round resource that helps Southern Baptist Christians create opportunities within their churches, small groups, Vacation Bible School or church camps as we seek to show and share the good news of Christ around the world,” Wright said.
Gifts given through Send Relief’s Gift Catalog go directly to support compassion ministry efforts in the field. To learn more about the various opportunities, visit catalog.sendrelief.org. To learn more about Send Relief, visit SendRelief.org.
Published October 2, 2023