The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Submitted Article The Fellowship of the Least Coin Ingathering Service in Flin Flon will be held at 7 p.m. on Oct. 26 at the First United Lutheran Church. For more than 50 years, Fellowship of the Least Coin (FLC) has been celebrated. In a humble act of giving her least coin for commitment to prayers, Shanti Solomon began a worldwide movement of prayer for peace, justice, and reconciliation. In 1956 she was travelling with an ecumenical team in Asia seeking reconciliation among women from war-torn countries. She was denied entry into Korea. Rather than turn back and go home, she waited patiently and prayed for inspiration. Shanti's vision took shape and changed the hearts and minds of many. The FLC has flourished as a global ecumenical women's prayer momvement. The key to the movement's success is its simplicity. Individuals or groups may join by committing to pray for peace, justice, and reconciliation among families and communities, and worldwide. Each time a woman prays, she sets aside the least coin of her local currency as a symbol of the prayer. Women's national groups collect the coins and send them to the central FLC Fund c/o World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland. The prayers offered and the least coins collect support projects for women and children around the world. The idea for the FLC logo came from the late Mrs. Rayann Ma from Hong Kong, the first chairperson of the first Assembly of the ACWC. The actual design was the gift of her brother-in-law, James Ma, a commercial artist. It is folded hands in prayer, encircling a small plum flower, and which form a lotus flower. Lotus plant grows in the muddy pond, but its flower rises above the murky water and opens beautifully and without blemish. Feeling the need to reaffirm prayer as the vital element of the FLC, the ACWC asked the women of Hong Kong to prepare a booklet of prayer: 'Circle of Prayer' to be used as prayer is offered and the least coin is set aside. Since then, the 'Circle of Prayer' has become an important part of the FLC. Twenty-four meditations and prayers are written by women around the world and published by the International Committee for the FLC every two years.
