The Parish Church of St Andrew; Kimbolton Road, Bedford
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This web page gives you information about the outreach work at St Andrew’s Church, and the organisations we support. To find out more, or to talk to someone about our work, please e-mail carolwood51@hotmail.com, or contact us via the church office.

Click here for our Annual Report

Our Outreach Partners

Every year we support a number of charities with our donations and our prayers. Here you can find details of the organisations we are currently supporting, along with links to their websites. We ensure that our funding is split between national, local and international charities. We welcome more suggestions for organisations to support from members of the Church Family – please contact Carol Wood on carolwood51@hotmail.com

Swaziland Schools Project exists to advance the education of the children and adults of Swaziland. The charity pays school fees for children where the families cannot afford the fees, undertakes building projects for schools, provides equipment and encourages volunteers to visit Swaziland and work in one of the schools associated with the charity.

FORWARD is a charity which campaigns to stop the practice of female genital mutilation and early marriage among African communities in this country and in some countries in Africa.

Read more here          

and  see   www.forwarduk.org.uk      

BRASS (Bedfordshire Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support) works to empower, inform and support refugees and asylum seekers and to protect rights with an aim to develop independence and involvement in UK society. www.brassbedford.org.uk

Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) operates over 130 light aircraft in more than 35 countries, to assist aid and development agencies, missions, churches and other national groups as they each seek to share the love of God by word and practical means. See www.maf-uk.org

Smile Train helps children born with cleft lip and palate by providing free treatment worldwide, training and education for doctors and supporting research. Surgery is provided by local medical staff, funded and educated by Smile Train.

See www.smiletrain.org.uk

or read more here

 

The Rainbow Trust supports children with life-threatening illnesses, and their families, by giving practical and emotional support throughout treatment and following bereavement. See  www.rainbowtrust.org.uk or read more here:

Acorn House in Cambridge is part of the Sick Children's Trusts, which provides and runs homes for families to stay in while their children are in hospital. The house staff are there for families to turn to when they need someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on. There are also facilities for brothers and sister such as play areas, and direct phone lines to the wards at Addenbrooke's Hospital. See www.sickchildrenstrust.org/acorn_house.php

USPG (The United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel) works in direct partnership with Anglican churches in over 50 countries, helping to support healthcare, education, leadership training and action for social justice. Currently it is supporting the Diocese of Chile with emergency funding to enable it to support relief work and meet other needs – see www.uspg.org.uk

Disasters Emergency Committee. We have all been moved by the news reports concerning the recent Earthquake (and aftermath) in Haiti. We are therefore supporting the Disasters Emergency Committee in their work to help the Haitian people rebuild their lives.

See http://www.dec.org.uk/item/200

A Prayer for Haiti

O God our refuge and strength, we hold before you the nation and people of Haiti, and pray for healing in the midst of tragedy and devastation. Give comfort to the homeless, the bereaved and the suffering, courage to survivors, wisdom to those who seek to help, and light to all who live in the shadow of death. This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our rock and our salvation.

Amen.

The Parish Church of St. Cuthbert, Birkby, Huddersfield is a church and community under one roof. In addition to worship and all the usual activities you would expect at a parish church, the church hosts various community groups. Our support will help to restore the building and enable all this activity to continue. See more information at: www.stcuthbertsbirkby.org.uk 

 

Bedford Guild House improves the lives of older people in Bedfordshire, by providing a wide range of activities which are both enjoyable and beneficial to health and well being. It provides a welcoming place to meet other people each day, lessening the likelihood of older people becoming depressed and isolated at home. See

www.bedfordguildhouse.org.uk 

Bedford Street Angels provides a team of Christians to be available to everyone using the night clubs and other  entertainments in Bedford Town Centre on Saturday nights. They aim to support, care and treat persons in need, by giving advice, support and signposting. See

www.bedfordstreetangels.org.uk

 

ActDev (The Association for Co-operation in Tunisia) is a Christian development organisation which supports the most vulnerable in Tunisian society: single women and their babies. It engages volunteers to work with these women and to engage in reconciliation with the whole family. It offers single mothers the choice of keeping their babies, and funds professional training of single mothers. See the website at: www.actdev.org

ASCEND is a community-based charity based in South Oxhey, an area nationally recognised as a regeneration district with social deprivation issues. Ascend's work is all about moving people forward, challenging their perceived barriers to education and training; providing people with more choice and control over their lives. See www.ascend.org.uk

 

Bedford Open Door is a charity providing free and confidential counselling to young people between the ages of 13 and 25, and referral to other agencies where appropriate. It offers young people acceptance and respect for their rights and feelings, support for making choices and decisions for themselves, and information on a wide range of issues. See www.bedfordopendoor.org.uk

Monthly Prayers

Each month we focus our attention on one particular Outreach Partner, to be featured in intercessions during our services, and by a specific report in the Fisherman magazine and displays in the foyer of the Church Centre. For details of these charities, see above.

May 2010

 

June 2010

July/August 2010

 

September 2010

October 2010

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Christian Aid

USPG

Bedford Area Schools Christian Support Trust

Rainbow Trust

Act Dev

St Cuthbert's

Ascend

Please pray for our Outreach Partners:
 

O God, whose nature it is to be generous:

We confess to you our share of the guilt

for a world of hungry families and homeless peoples;

Forgive us for our self-centred living and spending.

Grant that we may all have listening hearts and generous spirits

that both our Church and our nation may give due place

to the cries of those who have nothing to eat

and nowhere to live;

For the sake of Jesus Christ, Amen.

OUTREACH EVENT REPORTS

Bishop’s Harvest Appeal 4 October 2009

The Bishop’s Harvest Appeal was held on Sunday, 4 October 2009 to coincide with the Harvest Festival. This year the appeal was to raise money for a water scheme in South West Ethiopia which would pump water from a spring to a reservoir which would then serve 55,000 people. Drawing on her experience of having worked for two years in Ethiopia, Fiona McLeod was able to show the children, and the adults, in the congregation just what was involved in collecting water for many rural Ethiopians. The children carried a jerry can and a bucket of water the length of the church, only to have the water stolen by some ‘bandits’ before they could reached home.

In the afternoon the events committee arranged a Harvest high tea of cold salmon and salads and this was followed by an evening service. Altogether the services and the high tea, with Gift Aid, raised £1,280 for the Bishop’s Harvest Appeal.

 

Christmas Collections 2009

Two charities were supported with Christmas Collections – Bedford Day Hospice and the Church Urban Fund each received over £1,500. Read more about these causes above.

     

Outreach Sunday – Yarls Wood

Thank you to Revd Adèle Rowlands and Ben Clackson for giving us an insight into life at Yarls Wood at our Outreach Service on 7 June 2009, and thank you to everyone who contributed the gifts of Bibles and books for adults and children there, and also for the suitcases. A high percentage of the women and children are committed Christians, and it means a great deal to them to own their own Bibles.

 

Bishop Michael Baroi of Bangladesh

Bishop Michael visited the Parish on 12 July 2009 and opened our eyes to life in Bangladesh and the dire effects of climate change there. See the article in the August Fisherman. Please pray for solutions to the consequences of environmental change in God’s fragile world.

Homelessness Sunday Breakfast

On 7 February 2010, around 60 people came for a bacon roll breakfast between the 8.00am and 10.00am services. This year, our chosen charity for Homelessness Sunday was The Foyer – a project offering affordable accommodation and training for 16 to 24-year olds, to help them get back on their feet.

 

 

Members of the Outreach Committee prepared breakfast……..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

......whilst a musical band entertained the diners!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were able to welcome Helen and Dalia from The Foyer organisation, to the breakfast and as guest speakers at our 10.00am service. The breakfast and collection raised £250 for the charity. You can find further information about The Foyer at:

 http://www.bpha.org.uk/services/younger-people/foyer.asp

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christian Aid Week 2010

Another door-to-door collection was made this year (w/c 9 May), raising £3,296 (excluding gift aid) for Christian Aid. Thanks go to all the volunteers who gave their time and effort to achieve this result.

Proceeds go to Christian Aid (UK charity number 1105751, company number 5171525). Read more at:  www.christianaid.org.uk 

 

 

The Church Year in Colour

Open Days 26 - 27 June 2009

   

 

At the Church's Open Day, The Church Year in Colour, Outreach Committee members helped children visiting the Church to make toys from scraps and rubbish, such as children in the two-thirds world might play with.  We made cars from foil containers and tin lids, telephones from yoghurt pots and string and dolls from the inside of toilet rolls, plastic bags and scraps of material. We showed the children footballs made from plastic bags, cars made from bent wire, hoops from old bicycle tyres and dolls from wooden sticks and material scraps. 80 children came on the Friday from two schools and all went away with a toy they had made.

 
 

Future Outreach Events

Outreach Sunday 4 July 2010

Our worship on Outreach Sunday will highlight the work of the Bedford Area Schools Christian Support Trust, and we will be welcoming Jo-Anne Gaunt as our guest speaker. Come along on the day to learn more, or see

 http://www.scriptureunion.org.uk/AssociateTrusts/East/BedfordAreaSchoolsChristianSupportTrust/40378.id

 

 

 

 

 

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