Church to feed 5,000 people

St Saviour’s Sunbury said it will be part of a big evangelism event called Joy at Kempton Park at Kempton Park Racecourse.

The event will have a line-up of worship bands, US preacher Andrew Palau sharing his testimony and the Bishop of Kensington closing the event in prayer.

Following the service, 300 local church volunteers will be attempting to feed 5,000 people for free. The church said the big lunch is “way beyond” its capabilities, but they’re praying that “Gods provision and glory will be seen”.

One of the goals of the event is to highlight food poverty food waste in the area.

Rowena Cross, director of mission, evangelism and discipleship, told Premier how they came up with the idea.

“We chose the feeding of the 5,000 because we knew it would be a story that people will know, and sure enough it is what people are talking about,” she said.  

“We have a big foodbank in our church so we see a lot of food poverty. There’s also a massive amount of food waste. Every week we do a lunch for 150 people and we use surplus food from supermarkets.

“They donate it to us and we turn it into a meal and give it away. So we’re kind of doing that but in a really big way.”

Cross said the hope is that attendees will not only leave the event with a full stomach, but with salvation.  

“We’re trying to reach people who don’t know Jesus yet because…