With the rising costs of everyday living basics, such as food, it is a much needed and well received service or act of ministry to many in our community.
Over the years I've had the pleasure of visiting many different churches and congregations throughout our region.
From Flaxmere to Havelock North, from Whakatu to Napier I've sat in pews. I've sat under powerful sermons and messages delivered by our Pentecostal, Charismatic, and Evangelical, Anglican, Presbyterian and myriad of other denominational Preachers, Pastors and Ministers.
I have been invited by our Mormon congregation to give a Christmas message and to partake in their special occasions.
I've listened to an address by the Israeli Ambassador, invited by a Flaxmere church. I've recently attended a women's night at one of our major churches and attended a community conference at another.
I've sat in a Samoan congregation once even, not being able to understand a single word because the message was delivered in Samoan language, yet oddly enough I could pick up and understand the general thrust of the message which was backed up by the harmonies of the congregation when singing that gave me goose bumps in its ethereal, almost otherworldly quality.
We have a splendid and rich tapestry of faith in our community. The above is but a tiny snippet of what goes on in our community on Sundays and throughout the year in our faith communities.
I am a woman of faith myself, hence why I enjoy visiting our churches. However even I sometimes have to stop to recognise the profound contribution faith communities contribute to our social fabric.
As I stopped to collect my thoughts for this column about my exposure to this network of faith in our community over the years, professionally and personally, I was amazed at the extent and richness and depth of the impact it has had on my life.
I know similar is true for thousands of others in our region. I see the fruit of it as I visit.
Often I feel that the positive effect our faith community has in our society largely goes unrecognised and underestimated.
I view the church as the spiritual backbone of our community - strong and quietly holding the spiritual climate of our community together.
To me it's also a gentle giant. Giant in sheer number of churches and congregations and gentle in that they quietly soldier on to support the social and spiritual needs of our people.
These are places, emotionally and spiritually, that Government typically can't go.
Our churches step in to fill these voids, or at least attempt to. This is not to discredit other non-faith based NGO's and agencies that also do profound work for our community and which I have the upmost regard for, but this is to give a special salute on this day to our faith community and your leadership and members who faithfully serve our people.
*Jacoby Poulain is a Hastings district councillor, a board member of the Hawke's Bay District Health Board and is on the EIT Council.
