St Margaret's Church
Overseas
We are committed to supporting mission, not only in Uxbridge, but also in other places in the United Kingdom and overseas. Each year as part of our support, we are committed to giving 10% of our income as a church to varying mission initiatives beyond our parish. 80% of this goes to support the following five core mission organisations:
- Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS)
- Church Missionary Society (CMS)
- A Rocha
- The Church in the Congo - The Kisangani diocese
- SAMS - The South American Mission Society
The remaining 20% is allocated to a wide variety of causes nominated by members of the St Margaret's church congregations.
In addition, in selected years, we have had a Parish Challenge, enabling people to work together to raise money for a specific cause. It has been great to see adults, children and young people working side by side to enable electricity to be put into a school in Ghana, a meeting hall to be built at a centre supporting Aids-orphaned young people in Uganda and, in more recent years, funded new workers for the Amos Trust team working with street children in South Africa.
To give a flavour of our core mission partnerships, here are a few basic historical and geographical facts -
CPAS provides resouces and arranges events for parishes in the British Isles and runs Summer camps for children and teenagers, catering for all varieties of family budgets. CMS operates in Europe, Asia, Africa and a number of islands scattered around the oceans. SAMS serves Spanish and Portuguese speaking communities in South America and the Iberian peninsula. A Rocha has its HQ in the UK but operates in several countries around the world, encouraging us to adopt what is known as the 5th Mark of Mission - "Saving the planet"! One of its sites is right on our doorstep. The diocese of Kisangani is an isolated one and probably occupies an area which is larger than Great Britain.
How can you find out more or be involved with any of St Margaret's mission partners?
- Ask to receive general or specific literature about any of the above, varying spheres of mission.
- Use the parish and Oasis prayer diaries which sometimes feature overseas work and personnel.
- Seek out members of our mission team to find out how to get updates or to tell you how you could help on a regular basis.
- Meet partners visiting from either UK or overseas when they are with us for a day or more (in 2008 between April and August we received Yvonne, Felipe and Sarah and Bishop Funga).