Serving those in need
The Church has been sent into the world to serve those in need: the poor, the hungry, the sick, the prisoners, the outcasts of society. One way to serve is to be involved in humanitarian assistance and development aid.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church is involved in development aid in two ways:
1) Local parish churches can and often do choose to support a development project or a nongovernmental organisation working in the Third World, assisting marginalised and neglected people groups. Some of the organisations work holistically – caring about both the physical and the spiritual wellbeing of the people they serve – and are involved in development work as well as supporting churches abroad. You can find a list of organisations on the page Mission.
2) It is the parish churches that organise the annual door-to-door DanChurchAid collection on a local level. DanChurchAid (Folkekirkens Nødhjælp) is a Christian organisation, and a member of the international ACT alliance of churches working together in humanitarian assistance and development. The organisation works among the poorest of the poor in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Central America, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. The door-to-door event is called The Parish Collection (Sogneindsamling).
