2025 marks 80 years since the founding of Christian Aid, and throughout the year various events will be taking place to celebrate the anniversary. The Synod has long and close connections with the organisation with a number of Congregational ministers serving as staff of Christian Aid Scotland, the Edinburgh Office being located in Augustine United Church, as well as the longstanding support of congregations across the Synod.
Among those who founded what is now Christian Aid was Revd. Douglas Lister, a Church of Scotland minister who was serving in Gibraltar as an army chaplain when he was reposted by his commanding officer for insubordination because he refused to stop raising funds for a benevolent fund that helped a different part of the army than the one he was attached to. He was sent off to Luneburg in northern Germany. It was the beginning of 1947 when he arrived, and Europe was suffering one worst winters of the century. Lister was asked if he could help some of the 80,000 refugees who, a year earlier, had fled across the River Elbe to escape from the Russian army. He was taken down to the Elbe where, in the fields by the river, he saw mile upon mile of tents full of refugees all of whom possessed little more than a few blankets and perhaps a stove. Lister agreed to help and wrote to his high command asking for their assistance, but they refused telling him that non-fraternisation with the enemy was the order of the day. These refugees were German. Undeterred, he asked to be given permission to seek help elsewhere, and this was granted. He sent a letter all over Scotland, and particularly to the churches, asking for help, and soon each week he received tons of food and clothing, all of it anonymously. Lister wrote: “I was overwhelmed by Scotland’s generosity. It however spoke volumes about Scotland and her people that I was to discover later in over 50 years of ministry. Deeds, rather than words are their currency and strength.” Listers’ action, and similar work by other army chaplains in Europe at that time, helped to provide the basis for the work of Christian Reconstruction in Europe, Christian Aid’s first name.
At a service in Paisley Abbey on 26th January to mark the beginning of the 80th anniversary year the Synod Moderator, Revd. Lindsey Sanderson, offered these prayers and you are invited to use them in your worship in thanksgiving for and as an expression of our ongoing support of Christian Aid.
Gracious God, as we join together in prayer we lift our eyes beyond this place of worship and praise and look to you, the maker of heaven and earth, the one who watches over us and will not let us stumble, for you are ever-present, your desire is to gather us in to yourself so that we may flourish in our individual lives and collectively as part of your oikumene.
Today, as we begin the celebrations for the 80th anniversary of Christian Aid, we offer our praise and thanksgiving that justice and compassion are at the heart of your being and at the heart of all that you have created, they are at the heart of the relationship you desire to have with us and for us to have with our neighbours and the earth itself. We bring our thanks that justice and compassion have been and continue to be at the heart of Christian Aid’s vision of world where all are included in the feast of life.
And so we thank you for the vision and commitment of all those, who 80 years ago, recognised their neighbours’ need and were prompted to action. We thank you for Douglas Lister and others who persisted in their care for German refugees, in the face of opposition that this was fraternising with the enemy. We thank you for the generosity of early supporters without whom Christian Aid would not have come into being and still exist today and for all who have been supporters during the last eighty years raising awareness, raising money, raising prayers in solidarity with the world’s poorest communities.
Gracious God, justice and compassion lie at your heart and lie upon our hearts so this day we commend the work of Christian Aid to you.
We ask your blessing upon the local partner organisations with whom Christian Aid works as they address climate justice, gender justice, economic justice and emergency situations in their communities.
We ask your blessing upon the staff and trustees of Christian Aid. Through their work with partners, governments, and volunteers may they find renewed energy and vision for life before death.
We ask your blessing upon the churches and the individuals which support Christian Aid. In this 80th anniversary year may we recommit ourselves to a vision of a world in which the poor hear good news, captives are released, those whose lives are diminished find restoration and the oppressed are set free. As we give, act and pray may we proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour in which all are included in the feast of life and where justice and compassion flourish.
We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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