The parish is committed to support charities and agencies engaged in social action locally and throughout UK and in wider mission around the world. We aim to encourage parishioners to engage more deeply with our partners, through informed prayer, and, where achievable, through active involvement.
We have champions for each charity, who liaise to bring regular news and to arrange visits by charity representatives. We have a Mission of the Month calendar to assist our champions to arrange these visits and also events such as conferences.
Christian Aid Week - 12-18th May
The particular focus this year is on Burundi, where Christian Aid has been working for nearly 30 years. One of the particular ways help is being given is in providing community-based training so that families come together to set up small businesses and support one another financially. The aim is to enable people there to move beyond uncertain subsistence farming to more reliable modes of living, and enhanced quality of life. There is no longer a house-to-house collection, but there will be gift-envelopes at the back of Church, and generous support is kindly invited.
Please read the Christian Aid Prayer Booklet
Prayer Request
Anthony Hopkins, our A Rocha partner at the Rock Christian Fellowship in St Helena has received an unexpected diagnosis of cancer of the gullet. Please pray for him as he awaits the oncology report, and prepares for the likelihood of flying to Pretoria in South Africa for surgery. Please remember Elaine his wife, his family, and the fellowship, and intercede for comfort and encouragement for them during these days.
Tearfund
Tearfund have sent a "thank you" to Heswall Parish, for our donation. "Your generosity is helping to answer the prayers of families, like Rachel's, in South Sudan"
Rachel is 28 years old and is a mother of four. Flash floods submerged her home in Panyagor, South Sudan, and sent her family fleeing to the highlands. With barely anything to live on, they began to try to forge a new life. But thanks to your support, Tearfund’s partners, African Inland Church, were able to bring Tearfund’s Church and Community Transformation Programme (CCT) to Rachel and other families. The change has been remarkable.
Please Pray for our Bible Society Partners in the Bible Lands
Victor Kalisher, a Jewish follower of Jesus, leads Bible Society in Israel, sharing Scripture throughout the country. He and his team, based in Jerusalem, serve Israel’s Hebrew-speaking majority as well as various minority groups. Now, in this crisis, they’re providing scriptures, comfort and essential supplies to people who have lost their loved ones and homes.
Israel’s Bible workers are part of their local communities and suffering alongside them. The manager of the Bible Society shop in Haifa has been called up to serve in the military and others are seeing their children sent to fight Hamas. Victor, having just finished a video conference, said: ‘Each of the staff gave updates on their personal situation and shared prayer requests. It was a very encouraging and comforting time for all of us. We need each other!’
The aim of this crisis outreach is to be a testimony to the love of Christ. They’re fostering unity among believers from different backgrounds, joining and leading gatherings for prayer and support. As rockets continue to rain down on the frightened populations of Israeli cities, the Bible Society team has emerged as a source of support and comfort.
Bible Society is also an organisation that can reach out across a divided land. Victor has met and prayed with Arab Christians. ‘It was a very special time in which we all prayed together and praised God together,’ he said. ‘We encouraged each other and confirmed and testified the love and unity of Christ.
‘We all prayed together for the salvation of both nations, for those who were kidnapped by Hamas, for the peace to be restored and for those who are suffering. We prayed for wisdom and guidance to all of us as leaders in the land in this situation.’