What is mission? The Archbishop of Canterbury calls it
“finding out what God is doing and joining in”. It is a
state of mind through which we find ourselves looking outwards to the
world, sensing God’s presence there yet seeing the potential for what
might be
Our objective in St Mary’s is to have a clear and vigorous programme
for mission in our community and overseas, to which the congregation is
committed.
We have adopted two major projects to which we believe we can make a
significant difference and which in turn will shape us as a church for
a long time into the future
One is the Under Tree Schools charity,
committed to building a school for girls in Malek, Southern Sudan, and
developing a relationship with its community. We have been very
fortunate to have Joseph and Karin Ayok-Loewenberg with us for a number
of years. The charity is Joseph’s vision to educate women in his home
area and thus help the development of the new country after civil war.
We are able to generate a substantial contribution towards the work of
the charity in financial and management terms, and are benefiting from
the closer knowledge it brings us of African issues. Click here for the latest newsletter. And for recent photos of the school click here
In North Barnes we support the Castelnau
Centre Project, which is working with all age groups on the
Castelnau Estate, including families who have fewer opportunities than
most Londoners. We contribute some funding but also our time
For more information on the work of our Mission Group contact the chairman Nick Bryant
Through our diocesan Fairer Shares
contribution we support the work of the Church of England in
providing parish priests in the inner city
And in 2009 we continued to provide £4,000 in grants for a range of projects, mainly
local:
Welcare: social support for families
SPEAR: emergency accommodation for the single homeless
Shenehom: long term accommodation for people with mental health problems
FiSH: provides welfare facilities
West London Churches Homeless Concern Appeal: overnight accommodation in the winter and internationally
Income support for Clergy in Zimbabwe: to help clergy survive the current rampant inflation