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

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

Special announcement: 6pm Thursday 25 March 2010

Book Group meeting to discuss Ros Wynne-Jones' book 'Something is Going to Fall like Rain'. Learn more about the the Under Tree Schools' area of Southern Sudan and meet the author. Details here

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



For more information on the work of our Mission Group contact the chairman Nick Bryant