THE PIONEER OF A CAN CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE (CSR)
Pastor Eskor had a yearning to alleviate the suffering of the masses and give a meal to every hungry person on the streets of Lagos. This led him to launch CAN at the City of David on Sunday 19th February 2001. He borrowed the phrase A CAN CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE from Bishop Bart Pierce of the Rock City Church, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. who had a similar programme to distribute food to the poor. The key scriptures that Pastor Eskor used to share the vision of CAN with the congregation are Psalm 41:1-3 and Proverbs 19:17. CAN derives its name from the idea that if everyone brought a can of food to Church, many people would be fed by the food collected.
The programme was launched at very great personal expense to Eskor because he was notified of the death of his sister on the morning of the launch. He had to hide his personal pain and carry on as a good soldier of Christ. With CAN, every Sunday, individuals in need received hearty meals and basic medical care thereby experiencing the love of God. This outreach also extended to Lagos prisons.
After sharing the vision of CAN with pastors of the Apapa Family churches, Pastor Eskor who was then head of the Apapa Family extended the scope of CAN from the City of David alone to all the churches of the Apapa Family. In April 2001, at the Easter ‘LET’S GO A FISHING service (an outreach service to win souls to Christ) held at the National Stadium in Surulere. Lagos, thousands of destitutes were fed at the neighbouring Teslim Balogun Stadium. This came after a big media hype and extensive preparations. Church members and professional cooks prepared thousands of packed cooked rice, meat and drinking water were given to destitutes. Every Sunday thereafter, meals were prepared at the soup kitchen acquired by the Church; and the Church members would go out in groups to preach and feed the hungry all over Lagos. Free medical services was also provided at some locations. The scope of CAN was later extended to the prisons. CAN has proven over time to be a veritable tool of evangelism which has won many souls over to Christ and alleviated the suffering of the less-privileged all over Lagos. More importantly it has demonstrated the love of Christ. “For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty, you gave me drink” Matthew 25:35.
This policy is now a strong policy direction adopted by the authority of the RCCG after more than a decade that the vision was birthed: the church wanted to touch lives by feeding the needy in the society as an act of Corporate Social Responsibility.
