RCCG Faith Chapel, Orleans continues to make Maximum Community Impact

Church is all about bringing transformation to the people and particularly within the community in which she finds herself. Our Lord Jesus Christ did this in various ways during His ministry here on earth. Apart from teaching love as a central theme of the Christian faith, He showed it for instance by always having compassion on the multitude, physically feeding them after sessions of deep and impactful teachings. Also in Matt 25:35-40, He made it clear that there will be great reward for believers who meet the needs of strangers by providing shelter for the homeless, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick and visiting the incarcerated, etc. He encouraged Believers to live a life of service and sacrifice, Matt 20:20-28, Luke 12:33, Acts 2:44-45, Acts 4:32-37.

Consequently, the RCCG in Orleans has since her inception actively pursued the implementation of various community initiatives which has attracted the recognition of various levels of governments in Ontario, the latest being the Mayor of Ottawa during the last celebration of the tenth anniversary of the church.

Some of the community initiatives of RCCG Faith Chapel Orleans are:

Annual Orleans for Christ Crusade/Musical (OVERFLOW) concert.
The Life Empowerment Seminar
The Big Give Ottawa
Annual Scholarship award to the best graduating student in Mathematics in Sir Wilfred Laurier Secondary School
Annual Garage Sale/Barbeque
Annual Children Summer Camp
Annual Community Volunteer Income Tax Preparation (CVITP)
Food Distribution Initiatives

Year 2020 has been very challenging in the implementation of these community outreaches. Of course, the onslaught of the pandemic in the year 2020 has impacted our delivery of these initiatives. We have had to explore new ways of implementation in order to comply with Ottawa public health restrictions to limit the spread of Covid-19. For instance, the FREE community volunteer income tax preparation programme (CVITP) was executed virtually between February and April. A total of forty-four families were helped during the pandemic alone. This effort got the commendation of the Canada Revenue Agency but most importantly we are excited for souls that were impacted through the program.

In the area of food distribution, we have embarked on two approaches due to the constraints of Covid-19 in 2020. First is through our Virtual Life Cell Groups (VLCGs). These cell groups are centers of AGAPE love according to John 15:12 and operate like the popular RCCG house fellowships, meeting weekly through different social media channels online. Various food items including bags of rice, turkey, cans of oil, etc are transported to the home of cell group members to be shared. The second approach is allowing people including the community members to drive through the parking area in the church worship facility at 2181 St Joseph Boulevard and collect various food items. This was the innovation used to replace the annual love feast that usually crowned the anniversary celebration of the church.

Consequently, for the grand finale of our 10^th anniversary celebration which was celebrated with a virtual Global Prayer Conference 2020 in July, the Lord gave the Pastorate the inspiration of having a drive through food distribution as a way to bless families and also connect with one another, see each other as they drive by and release the blessings of the Lord on them. It was great joy to see families especially since we haven’t seen in a long time physically due to the shut down.

We have successfully carried out two drive through food distribution operations during this pandemic and we thank God for the testimonies. We were able to bless over 60 families on each of the operations. We give God all the glory. Please take this link to watch a short video clip on our July food distribution effort https://rccgfcorleans.org/2020/08/25/love-in-action-drive-through-food-distribution-community-outreach/.

On August 15^th, 2020, we had a furniture4Fund community outreach at 4125 Navan road, ON K4B 1H9. Where various office furniture that were donated to the church had been stored were displayed for community members to buy for a token amount. The sale list was also advertised on various social media and the program is currently on-going. Interested people can visit https://rccgfcorleans.org/furniture-sale/ or call 1-514-825-1180 to get more details.

Pioneer Attendees of the first quarterly Life Empowerment Seminar

Pastor (Dr) Michael Oladejo, Brother Samuel Anokye attended the commencement ceremony of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School, Orleans on Friday the 30th of June 2017. A scholarship award was made to the best graduating student in Mathematics named Sarah Humphries.