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Home covid Church outside the walls: Psalm 46 Relief Fund to address immediate needs...

Church outside the walls: Psalm 46 Relief Fund to address immediate needs for those in need

By
Robert Chappell
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0
Pastors Marcio Sierra and Marcus Allen announce the Psalm 46 Fund. Video screen capture.

Lighthouse Church Pastor Marcio Sierra and Mt. Zion Baptist Church Pastor Marcus Allen on Sunday announced the Psalm 46 Relief Fund to gather resources and provide assistance with food, rent, health care and other needs for those in hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In the announcement , Sierra and Allen both said their churches had heard from people in dire need as job losses and school closures put financial pressure on families.

“We’re just trying to help in whatever way that we can to ensure that people will not be in total distress during this pandemic,” Allen said in the video announcement.

Both Lighthouse Church and the African American Council of Churches, of which Allen is president, received $10,000 grants from the Dane County COVID19 Emergency Fund, administered by the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County to address immediate needs for families, and decided to pool those funds.

In the announcement, Sierra credited Selfless Ambition CEO Henry Sanders with helping to bring in another $18,000 from other local churches.

Both Allen and Sierra acknowledged that communities of color are especially vulnerable right now.

“The (African American) and Latino communities are mostly renters, many of them live below the poverty line, and the majority work in the service industry, like restaurants, hotels, etc,” Sierra said in a statement Monday. “It is this segment of the population that will experience the most financial hardships due to COVID-19.  As the church, we want to work together to help as many people as we can in order to give hope to people who are fearful and without hope. While talking to Pastor Marcus, we realized that we are serving in similar ways, we both are providing food to children, helping to pay rent and other bills, delivering food to families that don’t have access to it, etc.  So why not work together as churches to address a bigger group of people in a faster and more efficient way.  Together we can do a lot more and help a lot faster.  Through the Psalm 46 relief fund, about 16 different churches in Dane County will be able to help the community.  Psalm 46 tells us that God is our refuge and strength.  As the church, we want to be a place of refuge where people can be encouraged and strengthened by the help that we provide to them.”
“This is a difficult time for everyone but this fund will help families persevere through this pandemic,” Allen said in a statement Monday. “Black people are being affected by this disease in Milwaukee more than any other race. This fund will help keep people in the house and not attempt to go out and attempt to do something to get money to pay rent, put food on their table or keep the lights and gas on. We are asking the community to help the church help the community. Please support this effort.”

“What I admire about Both of these pastors is that they put their faith into action,” Sanders said Monday. “Often there is division in the world and in the church. These two leaders are showing unity at a time when many are feeling vulnerable. I want to thank City Church, Asbury Church, High Point Church and Metro City Believers for being selfless and helping to raise $18,000 as a catalyst for the Psalm 46 fund. These churches stepped up when they were going through their own uncertainty, proving that the church is beyond their own walls.”

Anyone can support the Psalm 46 Fund at the Lighthouse Church website.

 

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