At St. John & St. Stephens, Reading, we aspire to follow the life-changing work of Jesus through various mission projects around the world. Our priorities are first to support church members who have a long-term calling to global mission, and second to inspire and equip people for long-term mission through short-term mission programmes and opportunities.

 Over the past thirty years the church family has been committed to establishing, with our other church partners, various projects within the Parish and neighbouring communities. Some of which are featured below. We are passionate about mission and hope that the information provided will help you catch more of God’s heart for the world. If you would like to get involved in any of these projects please contact the Parish Office.

St. John’s has a long standing commitment to give away 22% of the church general income to mission.

It has historically been decided to give 2/3 towards overseas work and 1/3 towards work within the UK.

The present Mission committee consists of Rosemary Croft (chair), Rachel Thake, Margaret Elcock, Julia Sserenkuma, John Pyuza, Nick Burn and Rev.Suzanne Knight. If you would like to become involved with the work of the commitee please contact the parish office.

At present we support the following charities.

CommuniCare

St. John & St. Stephens gives £3000 a year to CommuniCare who work as an advice, support  and advocacy centre. Based within its own building (behind Wycliffe Baptist Church in Cemetary Junction) it is run for the people of Reading. They offer practical help with benefits, forms and housing and with local community information. Their service is free and confidential. Sara Harwood works there as an advice worker and Andrew Taylor, Anne Morrison and Fr. Vincent Gardner are trustees. http://www.communicare.org.uk

Communicare provides all sorts of practical help and information including:

• Benefits checking and welfare rights

• Form filling

• Housing advice

• Information on living with disabilities

and advice for carers

• Local community information

• Details on health issues and services

• Dealing with divorce and separation

• Free Internet access during drop-ins

• Free Legal Advice Service

Church Mission Society

We give £4500/yr to the Church Missionary Society which works with the Anglican church and other Christians around the world. It is an evangelistic mission working to see a world transformed by the love of Jesus. We support the director of CMS, Tim Dakin, in our prayers and he visits to preach most years. http://www.cms-uk.org/

The International Nepal Fellowship

We give £4000/yr to INF with whom the Galpin family (Mark (director of UMN) & Liz ( a GP), Joshua (born 1999) and Mirium (born 2001)), and Ali Wilkinson (a Graphic Designer) – all members of our church – work in Nepal. The aim of INF is to help alleviate poverty, bring hope and build the church amongst Nepalis. It is an evangelical Christian Mission working to improve health and the health services, and facilitate social and economic change. http://www.inf.org/

Causeway Prospects

Causeway is a mission to people with learning disabilities and we support them giving £100/yr. A group meets in our church on Tuesday evenings which Judith Lawrence helps to run.

Reading Christian Schools Trust

We give £1000/yr to this. The trust employs two workers, Andrea Smith and Heather Garrett, to take assemblies, lead RE lessons and encourage Christian unions in Secondary Schools in Reading, to promote and stimulate the growth of Christian faith in young people http://www.rscwt.org/

R.E.-Inspired part of CTEER (Churches together in Earley & East Reading)

We give £750/year to RE Inspired which aims to enable support local schools in religious education enabling pupils to develop spiritually and engage creatively with faith. 20 local churches send teams into schools to take lessons and assemblies – this includes our church, led by Suzanne, Hugh, Anne, Ali, Maureen, & Judy.

Their website is http://fletcac1.memsites.com/~fletcac1/reinspiredwhat.html

Tear Fund

TEAR fund (£1000/yr), is a Christian relief and development agency working with a global network of churches to help eradicate poverty. Their 10 year vision is to see 50 million people released from material and spiritual poverty through a global network of 100,000 churches. It campaigns against injustice and climate change and works in areas following natural disasters. www.tearfund.org

Jubilee Debt Campaign

Jubilee Debt Campaign (£20/yr) calls for 100% cancellation of unpayable poor country debts, fighting for economic justice. The leader of the Reading group is Hamish Preston. Our church is active in campaigns – seeking to fight injustice against the poor and vulnerable. The next big campaign may well be the ‘Big Tax Return’ Christian Aids campaign for tax from multinational companies to be given where it should be – and not via tax havens. This could play a significant role in international development.

Cirdic

Cirdic; the Churches in Reading Drop in Centre for the homeless, based in Berkely Avenue in West Reading. It provides a range of daytime services including free food, clothing, showers, and advice on housing and homelessness. Liz Bailey volunteers there regularly. www.cirdic.org.uk

LAMB Project

The LAMB Project is a hospital and community health Christian project in the north west of Bangladesh seeking to help the poorest with health care and preventative services. The Crofts used to work there and Rosemary Croft chairs the charity raising funds to support its continuing work . www.lhcf.org.uk