Following the success of the Preach With A View service there was a request for another joint service. Following discussion at Elders and at Church Meeting this was endorsed by those present. Therefore as an experiment (it is not intended that we do this very often) all our group congregations will be meeting at Avenue St Andrews for morning worship on July 8th at 10.30am. Please support this service.
The Church also supports Christian Aid and its work through the URC’s partner organisation Commitment For Life, and in particular this Church has been supporting ongoing work in Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador).
Central America has high levels of economic inequality. Christian Aid’s regional approach works because of the close economic, social and political ties between the four countries, leading to coherent programming, links between partners and other allies across the region, and shared learning.
More than 40 million people worldwide have been forced from their homes, yet remain in their own country. They're unable to return home – but they're largely ignored by the international community.
We can’t stand by. Over the next year, we'll be raising awareness of the overlooked millions of internally displaced people and telling their stories. We’ll ask you to raise your voice for a fair deal for all displaced people.
Our inspiring church exhibition, with stories and resources, will be touring the country from February. Sign up to be a campaigner with Christian Aid and get involved when this new campaign launches: christianaid.org.uk/campaigns.
This year’s Christian Aid Week will be from 13th to 19th May 2018. Please do support the work of this charity by giving generously. A place of particular focus in this year’s materials is Haiti and the endeavours to build up resilience in communities here that are amongst the poorest in the World and endangered by extreme weather and natural events.
As usual envelopes will be available in Church for donations on both Sundays 13th and 20th May. UK taxpayers are encouraged to complete the attached section so that Christian Aid can reclaim gift aid, which adds significantly to donations by taxpayers.
Many Haitian homes have been flimsily constructed. Christian Aid has been helping to build or rebuild houses in Haiti that were damaged or destroyed by earthquake and hurricane winds.
Guatemala is one of the most unequal places in Latin America, and indigenous groups are some of the worst affected. Over half the people living in poverty in Guatemala are indigenous, and 8 out of 10 indigenous children are seriously malnourished.