St Johns is committed to mission in our village, our town and in God’s world. These are our main mission links
1 - Archbishop Greg Venables and his wife Sylvia
Greg is Primate of the Southern Cone and is currently living and working in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He and Sylvia have lived in South America for 30 years working with the South American Missionary Society. Greg is a great speaker and travels widely. Sylvia has her own outreach as well as supporting him. Their married daughters are involved in missionary work in Paraquay and Bolivia. We receive welcome visits on a regular basis. www.samsgb.org
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| Greg and Sylvia Venables | Daughter Nicky Irene
and family at Heathrow |
2 - The Light Centre
St John’s has supported the Light Centre at St. Cuthman’s, Whitehawk, Brighton since the Church Urban Fund Initiative. The centre, run by Esme Howell and Jenny Peleg, exists for people who can just drop in, supports families who are struggling and also does work with the children of this very deprived area. Church members also donate items such as tea, coffee, biscuits and tinned food as well as presents for children at Christmas. www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk
3 - Family Support Work
FSW pioneers work that focuses on supporting distressed parents and helping hurt and broken families through its many activities including home visits, support groups, one-to-one meetings, drop-ins as well as their residential centre, Knowles Tooth, in Hurstpierpoint. www.familysupportwork.org.uk
4 - Michael and Mercedes Bell
Michael and Mercedes Bell have a mission to local prisons and detention centres where they hold services. In December 2007 they went to Peru where they worked with Christian ex-prisoners who had been wrongly convicted. We support their work with prayer as well as contributing financially.
St Monica prison (Dec 2007)
Daniel (with his family and Michael and Mercedes) was
wrongly imprisoned and tortured badly. Peace and Hope
helped him to get out of prison. He is now the pastor
of a Methodist Church (Dec 2007)
Julio, once wrongly imprisoned and now an evangelist
visiting prisons
Cabanaconde – Arequipa
This is father Alejandro, the donkeys are his means of
travel to visit his "parishioners" in the Canyon. He
writes: "During the last few weeks we were in the
mountains taking some help to the children and also
preaching the gospel in the villages of the Colca
Canyon.
Many thanks for your help, sent through SAMS, it will
help to continue with the building of the mission
house"
5 - Jonathan and Dawn Clark
Jonathan and Dawn are working among students in Athens.
Dawn is the daughter of two members of St Johns and was
active in the Young Peoples group before going to
university. www.clarksinathens.blogspot.com
6 - Retrak
Retrak helps street children in Uganda, Ethiopia and
Kenya using football as a way of encouraging boys to
come into their centres. There they can find food,
medical care and shelter from the streets. Through
football, relationships are built with a team of very
committed workers. The Charity is able to offer the
boys a home within their own community or with a foster
family. Here they can re-enter education or training
and eventually find a future that reflects their true
potential. More information can be found at www.retrak.org
7 - Christian Aid
We support the work and ethos of Christian Aid,
providing aid to empower people in the Third World.
During Christian Aid Week, we carry out the local
street collection in our village and we sometimes hold
a funrun.
St Johns Fun in support of Christian Aid
8 - Tearfund
Members of St John's Church work for Tearfund or have
done so in the past. This gives Tearfund a special
place in the life of the church. Adrian Hawthorn is a
Government Donor Adviser while Helen Machin has been
involved in translation work for many years. Through
these personal contacts the needs of folk in the
developing world are brought closer.
This is a clean water project in D.R. Congo
An education programme in Bangladesh
An agriculture project in Brazil
9 - Traidcraft
Fairly traded products are available to purchase once a
month at St John’s (normally the first Sunday of the
month) after both services.
10 - Kigezi
St John's is committed to helping the
0.5 million people of the Diocese of Kigezi in Uganda
to have access to clean drinking water through
supporting the Water and Sanitation Dept of the
Diocese. Please read here about the
project. Factsheet
Click here to download a PDF
pamphlet, ‘Partnership in Mission’, giving even more
details about St John’s’ mission links.