Overseas Mission
Through personal visits and relationships we have established links with many people and organisations around the world.
We are very conscious of our place in the worldwide church. 10% of each year’s budget is allocated to help meet needs outside Christ Church, and news and stories from our partners regularly feature in services and whenever we meet together to pray. We want everyone to feel involved!
We have a dedicated Mission Prayer meeting on the first Sunday of alternate months.
Tanzania
Amani Centre for Street Children is an award-winning project that provides a home and education for some of the world’s most vulnerable children, aiming to break the cycle of poverty by preparing them to support themselves as adults. The original centre is in the town of Moshi, at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and there are now additional centres at Singida and Arusha. Amani supports many more families through its outreach programme.
Two teams from Christ Church have been welcomed to Amani Centre for Street Children, in addition to some individual visits. A Youth Encounter team made the trip as part of a wider venture to East Africa in 2013. That was followed by an adult group a couple of years later. The overwhelming impression from both visits was of the genuine sense of care given to the children and the effort being made to turn their lives around.
Our members Cathy and Steve are trustees of Friends of Amani UK, one of a network of charities around the world which supports Amani, and a third member, Cathie, also served for many years in that role. The whole church joins together in supporting Amani through fundraising and prayer.
Bolivia
Our link with the Anglican Church in Bolivia began in 2012 when two teenagers made a pioneering visit to the country.
Their report back inspired many more to get involved, and the following year the progress of a 12-strong team was closely followed at home via the Brummies in Bolivia blog as God worked in power to bring about extraordinary changes.
Since then the link has expanded to include more Birmingham churches and there have been more team visits in both directions. One unexpected outcome has been the introduction of Messy Church to Bolivia where, thanks to the warmer climate, sessions can be held outside in local parks.
Kenya
A group of young people from Christ Church spent nearly three weeks in Kenya and Tanzania for a Youth Encounter trip in the summer of 2013. Much of their time in Kenya was spent in the rural west of the country, joining with local churches and helping in schools.
A Christ Church family returned to the area a year later as another step on the road to forging a lasting link. They came back with a desperate desire to replace a kindergarten building that was in such a poor state that it made the children ill, and the whole church got behind the project. In 2015 an adult Africa Encounter team was present for the opening ceremony of the new building.
Since 2015 further teams have returned to the village to further develop the link, working alongside the Kenya Navigators – who train young people in Christian discipleship – to help support the local churches and community. It’s been a special privilege to enable a group of pastors to receive training at a local Bible college, and to develop the skills of kindergarten teachers whose work is undervalued in Kenya.
Cyprus
Richard and Sue and their media outreach has been known to Christ Church for over 20 years. They have been regular visitors to join services and to share with us all. Until recently two of our members did their annual accounts and were a trustee of the charity. Several other church members have visited them in Cyprus including our previous vicar, Geoff. Their son Tim worshipped with us for several years.
Despite some recent structural and personnel changes the ministry continues with some new writers and translators.
More recently Richard has written a book in conjunction with his friend and colleague Stan Nussbaum who lives in the United States. The book is called, ‘The Messianic Pilgrimage’, and is an attempt to explain, with examples, the seasons’ on the website work, what the aim is, and some of the theology behind this kind of outreach. You can read more about it here.