Operation Christmas Child

[Spinney]

Anyone with (particularly) primary age kids who have been asked to take part in Operation Christmas Child may find this interesting.

[url]http://www.secularism.org.uk/blog/2012/10/enticing-children-to-evangelism-with-toys--samaritans-purse-shoebox-scheme[/URL]

 

[Sara_H]

My son has just brought the leaflet home from school. I've had my doubts about this in the past. I think I'll suggest to my son some of the alternatives listed in that article.

 

[Puddles]

Anyone with (particularly) primary age kids who have been asked to take part in Operation Christmas Child may find this interesting.

http://www.secularism.org.uk/blog/2...sm-with-toys--samaritans-purse-shoebox-scheme

Nope we do this one and have done for quite a few years http://www.rotaryshoebox.org/

 

[DiddlyDodds]

They are a Christian church , not the Moonies.
I am not in the bit religious but the wife is, so I spent a Cpl of years attending an Evangelical Church, , it was just a Christian church spreading the word of God.

If I was a kid getting nothing all year, and a parcel was given to me that also contained a religious leaflet I would be overjoyed at receiving gifts, at least they are getting a gift and the leaflet can be tossed away, just like the leaflets we get almost every week for another pizza / kebab shop.

Every promotion that goes on in modern life always has a hidden aggender, nothing comes free no catches.

 

[Fnaar]

When my kids were in primary, a concerned parent also circulated stuff about OCC, and the school dropped its participation. Rightly, IMHO, even if I go to "hell"

 

[Spinney]

They are a Christian church , not the Moonies.
I am not in the bit religious but the wife is, so I spent a Cpl of years attending an Evangelical Church, , it was just a Christian church spreading the word of God.

If I was a kid getting nothing all year, and a parcel was given to me that also contained a religious leaflet I would be overjoyed at receiving gifts, at least they are getting a gift and the leaflet can be tossed away, just like the leaflets we get almost every week for another pizza / kebab shop.

Every promotion that goes on in modern life always has a hidden aggender, nothing comes free no catches.

It can be, but according to the article the programme recruits a lot of folks 'for Jesus'.

What 'hidden agendas' do you think the Oxfam or Save the Children present boxes carry?

 

[martint235]

Every year my parents used to take me to the big Xmas tree in Nelson town centre. There I'd be expected to leave any toys I no longer had a use for and these would then be re-distributed among poorer kids in the town by a local charity. Whatever happened to that kind of idea? Or do we not have poor kids in the UK anymore?

 

[DCLane]

We've done these for a number of years.

As a churchgoer I can understand objections. However, at the end of the day children are receiving presents who wouldn't otherwise get any.

 

[Spinney]

I think many of the objections are that the organisation is not up-front about the evangelising aspect of it. You are fine with it, and I can understand that, but I would be most put out to find that such gifts had been used for evangelising if I didn't know this was going to happen. It's not as if there aren't plenty of other organisations who do similar things without pushing the god stuff.

 

[Markymark]

However, at the end of the day children are receiving presents who wouldn't otherwise get any.

The are also getting a gift from a church in typically not-Christian countries telling then indirectly that your life may be rubbish and that's beacuse you don't believe in our God- join us and see how much better it would be.....who wouldn't otherwise get any.

The problem here is that many uk groups (be it shcools or parents) are not told any of this and many would rather their gifts be given through an organisation without an agenda. If this were confined to Churches, then I think most people wouldn't object, but it isn't.

 

[Fnaar]

If I was a kid getting nothing all year, and a parcel was given to me that also contained a religious leaflet I would be overjoyed at receiving gifts, at least they are getting a gift and the leaflet can be tossed away, just like the leaflets we get almost every week for another pizza / kebab shop.

It's not quite the same as free leaflets, though. They're trying more than that to get potentially vulnerable youngsters to munch on Jesus's kebab*, and attend things that are persuasive, and with an agenda

*or saveloy

 

[DCLane]

The are also getting a gift from a church in typically not-Christian countries telling then indirectly that your life may be rubbish and that's beacuse you don't believe in our God- join us and see how much better it would be.....who wouldn't otherwise get any.

The problem here is that many uk groups (be it shcools or parents) are not told any of this and many would rather their gifts be given through an organisation without an agenda. If this were confined to Churches, then I think most people wouldn't object, but it isn't.

It is organised via a local church; the church may work with local schools/groups but it's the church who administers the boxes. So surely it is involving a local church?

I do accept your point about the 'join us' request and, like others, would prefer they are more open about how it'll be used. Despite that, we'll probably get involved with Samaritan's Purse this year again.

 

[Markymark]

It's great that you do, and I appreciate the church organises it, but they go into schools of children who then ask their parents whom may not know it originated from the church and think its a purely generous motive without any agenda.

 

[fossyant]

Our kids do it through school. My mother in law, despite being disabled following a stroke down one side, has knitted over 1000 hats for these children. The lady that collects them keeps a record of how many. Leaflets can be chucked.