Because it tends to keep a low profile with very little publicity, there are many who are unaware of what the ECC is and does. The ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE OF CHARITY was formed eleven years ago by a group of Christian clergy and lay members who wished to concentrate on charity work for the poor and needy in Bahrain. Although under the legal umbrella of St. Christopher’s, the founders, being members of various denominations were keen that the charity should be an ‘all-inclusive’ Christian organization, following our Lord’s command to ‘love each other and all men’. Hence the name ‘ECUMENICAL’. 

During the last eleven years there have been a number of changes in the perceived need for this help. New charities have been formed in Bahrain and they are doing excellent work. Whereas for a number of years we felt that we were only ‘scratching the surface’ of need, particularly amongst the migrant workers, we Praise the Lord that there are many others now tackling this problem. 

We distribute food and clothes to Bahrain villages and provide finance for education to migrant workers families in crisis situations. We have hospital and prison visitation ministries. It is found that many of the sick have no visitors and are often in dire need of financial help. Similarly with those in prison, where although there may be just cause for their being incarcerated they often still need assistance in simple everyday items; sometimes financial assistance is required to enable them to be released and repatriated to their home country. It should be mentioned that ECC members do NOT do any proselytizing during their visiting ministry. Our sole purpose is to carry out the Lord’s command to ‘Love our neighbour as ourselves’.  

In every case where there is a request for financial assistance we have an experienced ‘vetting team’ who investigate the request and the financial circumstances of the recipient. Sometimes requests have to be turned down as although there may initially appear to be a very good case, it is found that there are circumstances which have not been admitted to initially or that assistance is also being given from elsewhere. We get some heart-rending cases where through no fault of their own migrant workers through accident or illness are unable to cope any more. One often reads of suicide cases where the individual has not known where to turn for help.  

One other outreach of the ECC volunteers, and one that involves much work, is the running of the Cathedral Charity Centre formally known as the Thrift Shop. The income from the Centre is split 50/50 with the Cathedral. Although only open from 3.00pm to 5.00pm on a Friday afternoon and from 10.00am to midday on Saturday mornings, many hours are spent by volunteers in sorting and pricing donated items. All donated items are very gratefully received, and it should be noted that not only clothes are given, but children’s toys, books, TVs, even computers plus plus! The preparation for sale is a time consuming and very important part of this commitment. I take this opportunity to appeal for more volunteers to assist with this and/or other aspects of  our work to assist the poor and disadvantaged in Bahrain.

We are extremely grateful to the various churches and societies for their ongoing financial support of the ECC. Our fundraising in the past has included concerts, music festivals, dinner-dances, production and sale of greeting cards, the preparation and sale of a cook-book plus other enterprises.  

It should be noted that the ECC has a policy that when money is donated to the charity, every fil goes to those in need. All overhead expenses are covered by the volunteers themselves.

ECC Fundraising

 Finally I would like to promote our main fundraising event of the year, a Dinner-Dance to be held at The Dilmun Club on the evening of Friday 26th October. This is always an enjoyable evening and this year we have Crazy Kevin as our DJ and the Dilmun Dixielander Band, plus as always there will be an extensive raffle. We are extremely grateful to those who have sponsored this event  If you would like to book tickets or a table please contact either our President, Rehna Pinto on 39440319, or the Dinner-Dance coordinator Mariam Jacob on 39870815.

Rod Taylor