Dear All,
 
I disagree with the statement of Sharjah Church Member, because I got authentic information that there was no compulsion by the Bishops to donate. There was in fact a spirit of cooperation!
 
Times are hard. Money is tight. Yet the Bible teaches us that the Lord of loaves and fishes transforms scarcity to abundance. Your gift to our Bishop’s Appeal will allow us to bring Good News to an anxious community that has never needed to hear it more. Gospel needs to continue to the generations to come. Give to your church first, and from there, as God blesses, expand and diversify your giving towards other areas of passion.
 
It is good that one is clear about the role of funds. But then a community requires its people a place to meet a place for its Bishops to live, some assets etc. All these are required to be paid for. So, voluntary collections of funds help support our community to function more effectively. 
 
I know that economy is not the greatest right now, and that there are hundreds of thousands of people struggling to make ends meet on a daily basis, much less figure out how to make Christmas as magical as it should be. It is the generous donations that you can do to help that magic along.
 
A generous person has a definite place in Heaven.  In our community we believe that a good life is not built on what you have, it is built on what you do for others. SO donate not on compulsion but on spirit of cooperation.

Thanks & Regards,
Vinod Kuriakose