Toni invites churches to spell out programmes

Lae News, Normal
Source:

The National, Monday 20th August, 2012

LAE parliamentarian and Minister for Religion, Youth and Community Development Loujaya Toni is calling on churches in the 16 wards in the capital of Morobe to work with her.
Toni appealed to all mainline churches, ministries and ministers fraternal in Lae, saying she wanted to know their programme.
“We are strategic in that we have the headquarters of every denomination that you can think of in the country, for some reason the headquarters are here in Lae district,” she said.
Toni said she had to develop a good relationship and network with the churches in the city.
“And for that reason I’ll be talking to you, attending your church after hours, during hours I will come and let’s make it happen in the churches and you got to have partnership, church partnership inside the community for we have prayed for so long and we want to see the fruit of churches in the community.”
She said the churches could partner the Lae Chamber of Commerce to keep beggars off the streets by setting up mission kitchens in strategic locations run by different church groups.
She said that would enable people with disabilities and the disadvantaged to receive food, the Word of God and counselling.
Toni said every business houses operating in Lae must have the heart to put food with mission kitchens so that people could use tokens instead of cash.
“The tokens can be collected by those running the mission kitchens and returned to the government for refunds to continue providing and this is just the start,” she said.