Mission Partners
As a church we are committed to partnering with Mission organisations
in various parts of the world, both here and abroad. The Parochial Church
Council (PCC) has agreed that we will give 10% of the Church’s general
income to our chosen Mission Partners
each year. The PCC has also agreed that it would act as a clearing house
for anyone who wants to donate to these and/or other missions through
the church. As a result the church’s giving to mission in 2005 was
in excess of £28,000.
However, partnering in mission is not just about finance. The Mission
Stream want to raise interest in each of the missions in order that church
members are able to pray more intelligently for them; to participate in
mission in a more active way (an increasing number of church members have
been travelling abroad to help with various projects) and to be able to
respond by prayer or extra giving if urgent matters arise. We would
like the mission activities to be as much a part of church life as our
local outreach activities. During 2005, Christ Church congregations were
asked to nominate various missions or good causes that members felt the
church should support. Over the months that followed
the PCC felt that some of the suggested missions were not well enough
known by the majority of church members. Therefore in Spring 2006 using
the original list and one or two others that had been suggested, the Mission
Stream found people willing to ‘champion’ various missions
by supplying the church with information and arranging for visiting speakers
to keep us up-to-date with the causes we could support.
During a PCC half day away, each of these missions were considered and prayed about and then voted upon to produce a list of six main Mission Partners and four missions to be supported at a lower financial level. One of this second list was to be chosen by the young people of the church. As the Youth Groups wanted to support two organisations it was agreed that the second list should remain at four but with the two youth choices sharing the gift allocation.
Some church members may find that this year, the mission or cause they have a heart for is not amongst the ones we support as a church. The Mission Stream and the PCC have agreed that missions or causes to be supported by the church as a whole must have a member of Christ Church willing to champion its cause so that the whole church can be kept informed of why and to whom we are giving money. While it’s good to enable causes to have regular yearly giving they can rely on, nothing is set in stone – other missions can be suggested and the PCC will always give the matter due consideration.
Also, as the church now gives away 10% of its general income, if our giving increases so can the missions list.
Martin Brown | Mission Stream Leader
To download our booklet on "Mission Partners - Who we support as a church and why" please click here [pdf document file size: 172KB]
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To download our booklet on "Mission Partners - Who we support as
a church and why" please