Give to the Christmas Bowl

What is the Christmas Bowl?

Rev Frank Byatt of Melbourne began the Christmas Bowl when he placed a bowl on the dinner table on Christmas Day in 1948. The bowl was an invitation for people to give the cost of their meal to people who were hungry or thirsty, refugees, and the poor the sick.

How are gifts to Christmas Bowl used?

Christmas Bowl gifts support partners in long-term community development projects in the areas of AID:

‘A’ stands for ‘Assistance in emergencies’. This involves:  

Preparing for and responding to natural disasters and armed conflict.

‘I’ stands for ‘Injustice response’. This involves:

Peace building, human security and refugee programs.

‘D’ stands for ‘Development and Poverty reduction’. This involves:

Education, health, water and food security.

This AID is delivered via CWS, the organisation out of which Christmas Bowl runs.

To find out more about CWS, please click the text above.

Where does this work occur?

The Christmas Bowl helps bring hope through 44 programs to people in 22 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific. The Christmas Bowl also works in Australia with refugees and displaced people, and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

How is Assistance delivered?

Assistance is delivered through partnership programs in each of the various locations. ‘Partnership’s’ are relationships with existing Church councils who implement programs on the ground. CWS is in constant consultation with these partners, communicating and deliberating together to ensure the best AID is delivered. Partnership is a long-term relationship that goes beyond the provision of funds for programs and projects, and includes standing by our partners in times of crisis. It implies mutual learning opportunities between CWS and our partners, accompaniment and empowerment at different stages of development work, building awareness and capacity, providing basic services, and responding during emergencies.

CWS has  long-term relationships with  partners. Many of these are based on church to church relationships, where Australian churches and CWS have had decades of involvement. Some partnerships are with existing civil society organisations. CWS does not establish branch or field offices in other countries.

These partnerships bring local knowledge, experience and essential communication skills. These expertise enable transformation to begin within the community, rather than being impinged upon  from outside. Sudan, The West Bank, and Zimbabwe are just three of the local communities that have experienced this ‘inside-out’ transformation, beginning to access resources previously only dreamt of. The maintenance of these CWS partnerships is vital so community transformation can continue throughout the world.

Why is the work of Christmas Bowl important?

Responding to the teachings of Jesus Christ, we come together to break down the structures of poverty, oppression, injustice, and division. Recognising its accountability to God and to the human family, Christmas Bowl will create and fully utilize opportunities for the Christian Churches to work together. Working through the Christmas Bowl we stand with those experiencing oppression and injustice.

To support our work, please click this button 

You can receive your Christmas Bowl

resources two ways in 2007:

Download resources via the web:              

Download Stories and Activities (PDF) 

Download Clip Art (PDF)

Download Worship Resources (PDF)

Download Worship Resources (Microsoft Word)

Click here for instructions on how to transfer text from PDF into Microsoft Word

or  

Receive resources via post:

Order a post pack here

Click Here to Download Christmas Bowl Powerpoint

for use at your church or school in 2007.

(This file is 907 KB.)