Since its foundation the church has had a clear focus beyond the immediate neighbourhood. It believes that it has three key responsibilities

·         GIVE

·         GO

·         PRAY

GIVE

The church has a policy to give away 15% of its normal income from general gifts and any Gift Aid reclaimed from the revenue. Over the last few years this has been around £30,000 per year. There is also an opportunity for special gifts around three times a year. Three projects are selected and a collection is taken during the morning and evening services. In 2010 these were for projects in Ecuador, Rwanda and India, which targeted the less well off in those countries.

In 2011 there have been gift days for Rwanda and Ecuador. A gift day for India is planned for December. More details can be found in the Who We Support section.

GO

Career missionaries

The church encourages both long term and short term service. Currently Sheila Etherington serves in Rwanda with Free Methodist World Missions and Janet Chapman works with OMF. More details on both Sheila and Janet can be found in the Career Missionaries section.

Short term service

In recent years short term service of up to a year has been undertaken in Bolivia with YWAM; Tanzania with Oasis Trust; Russia with Love Russia; Argentina and Peru with Latin Link; Namibia with AIM.  There have also been gap years with various youth organisations in the UK. Short term service overseas has ranged from helping with building work, serving in hospitals, teaching and working with street kids. In the UK it has involved work with youth groups and schools.

Visits

The church also operates what it calls VISA (Volunteers in Service Abroad). These are short term trips of two or three weeks which often visit work that the church supports financially. Last year there was a visit to the slums of Mumbai to work with children. In March this year a group visited Kibogora in Rwanda. The group included teachers, administrators, a doctor and a paediatric nurse. It undertook training for the hospital administrators at Kibogora and worked with the children in the hospital. The doctor and nurse were directly involved in work and undertook some training sessions. The next trip is planned for Ecuador in summer 2012.

PRAY

Missions are featured regularly in prayer spots on Sundays and the weekly prayer meetings concentrate on missions once every two months. Individuals are encouraged to take the information letters from the organisations which we support and to pray for them on a regular basis.