On 21st August, Wednesday, around 80 Members of the World Mission Society Church of God gathered to clean up Rochdale (Around South Street) with councillors.
Mayor of Rochdale, Peter Rush supported the event with Councillor Sultan Ali as the team collected over a hundred bags of disgarded litter and unwanted household items that had been flytipped.
Jason Festus was involved in the project and said, 'There was a lot of rubbish and litter and even some of the residents came out and joined us to pick up litter together.' He was very pleased with community spirit this envoked and went on to say,'Through this clean up campaign, we wish to inform people of the seriousness of environmental issues...'
Members of the Church have cleaned up through the whole of Greater Manchester such as Trafford, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Rochdale, Oldham, Tameside, Stockport, Wigan and Prestwich and they plan to go everywhere their hands are needed.
The campaign is to be carried out in around 2,200 places in 150 countries where the branches of the World Mission Society Church of God have been established; including the United Kingdom, United States, South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and Africa.
As they carry it out in cooperation with government offices located in each region such as city councils and public community centres, it is expected to greatly arouse people’s attention on the importance of giving blood in order to help save the lives of many people and to raise their attention on environmental pollution.
We say well done to Jason and the team who tackled this huge project, with great support of their church and the neighbouring community - watch this space for other projects coming up!
All hands were on deck in the New York Metropolitan Area as Super Bowl XLVIII brought in hundreds of thousands of visitors to the area the weekend of February 2, 2014.
Church of God members were surely part of New Jersey’s preparedness plan in case of any emergencies. As certified first responders, about 60 members from the World Mission Society Church of God volunteered to provide special back-up and support at the NJ211 Partnership Call Center in Whippany, NJ.
As NJ211 is a 24/7/365 information and referral service for NJ residents, it also serves a supportive role in providing preparedness information and an easy-to-remember portal for citizen information during emergencies. As more than 82,000 people enjoyed Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium, Church of God volunteers were on stand-by from early afternoon until midnight to help report missing persons should an accident or other types of emergencies occur.
Upon arrival, the members separated into two separate hour-long sessions to learn the Uniform Victim Identification System (UVIS), a software application that documents missing person reports. Adding another layer of first response preparedness, they were able to learn how to operate the system hands-on.
Known for wearing their yellow shirts during their on-the-ground volunteer activities and disaster relief work, this training allowed volunteers to learn other ways in which to help the community, even through the telephone. The training addressed the importance of remaining calm for the listener, asking and answering the right questions and showing compassion and consideration to their callers’ concerns.
Fortunately, the members did not take a single “real” call during those nine hours of waiting time. Nevertheless, the volunteers wasted no time and took this as an opportunity to build new relationships with the community, clean up the facility, eat together, study the Bible and even watch some special volunteer service videos with neighbors. Some members were even found singing together in the kitchen during down time, while others watched the Super Bowl and still others simply enjoyed each others’ company.
The energy and excitement in the facility was something unseen there before and Church of God members look forward to the next opportunity to bring this excitement back to NJ211.


















