2022
Mercy Ministry Update: Blood Donation Drive on Wednesday, 12/7
Mercy Ministries, Mercy Update | by Pastor Justin Keogh
DCC is partnering with Bloodworks Northwest for a blood donation drive on Wednesday, December 7th. Read more below and sign up to donate HERE.
THE HEART
As God’s people, we are loved and saved by Jesus and called to be a new redeemed people who love God with our whole being and love our neighbors as ourselves (1 Peter 2:9-10; Matthew 22:34-40). Scripture is full of encouragements and exhortations for God’s people to act in order to meet the spiritual and physical needs of our neighbors (Leviticus 19:18; Isaiah 58:6-8; Luke 10:25-37; Galatians 6:10; Titus 3:14; James 1:26-27; 1 John 3:16-18). As such, we talk about being a declaring and demonstrating community: declaring the good news of the gospel to meet people’s greatest need to be reconciled with God, and demonstrating the love of God in tangible acts of mercy to meet the physical needs of our neighbors.
The ways in which we serve are shaped by the stewardship of everything that God has graciously entrusted to us as stewards, the particular passions he’s cultivated by his Spirit in our hearts, and the unique needs of those he’s sovereignly placed around us. And it is through these things that we’ve come to partnering with Bloodworks Northwest to host a blood donation drive next week. Led by members of DCC, this drive is an opportunity for us to both hospitably welcome our neighbors, as well as tangibly care for their needs.
THE NEED
Donating blood is a simple, tangible, and life-saving way to bless our neighbors. Blood donations are used to help folks in emergency situations, those undergoing various cancer treatments, and those under chronic conditions.
While there is a perpetual need to maintain a critical supply of blood for emergencies, there are points of greater need when either the demand increases, or the supply decreases. And just this week, in light of the winter weather, a significant number of donations were cancelled or rescheduled—meaning our donations next week are especially important.
THE OPPORTUNITY
As a way of making blood donations as convenient as possible, Bloodworks Northwest hosts pop-up donations around the city, in order to get closer to where people live and work.
Next Wednesday, December 7th, we will be serving as a host and providing blood donors, while Bloodworks brings in the medical equipment and staffing to collect enough blood to serve over 100 people.
Each donor gives about a pint of blood which our bodies naturally replace over the coming days and weeks. The whole process takes less than an hour, with the actual donation taking about 10 minutes. There is a simple health check prior to donation to ensure that a donation will not be detrimental to the donor or the potential recipient.
If you are unable to donate on Wednesday at DCC, you can also sign up to donate at another time and location here. Every donation counts!
Let’s pray that we fill every available spot to donate (and then some!), that our space would be full of Christ-exalting conversations while we donate, and that we’d be a tangible blessing to our neighbors through this donation drive.
LEARN MORE
- To learn more about donating blood, check out Bloodworks NW’s Need to Know page or watch this short video (1 min).
- To learn more about other opportunities to serve our neighbors, visit DCC's Mercy Ministries webpage, or join one of the Mercy Ministry Groups on Church Center.
For the Kingdom,
Pastor Justin