Mission Support

As well as working in our own parish of Yeadon, we seek to support mission throughout the world in its various forms. Each year we take part in Christian Aid week and our annual Christingle service raises money for the Children's Society. There are also special occasions when church members are asked to give money to relieve the needs of others and many support causes on an individual basis.

However, there are four mission societies that we currently support from our annual budgetted giving, and which we seek to build ongoing links with. We pray for these organisations, receive prayer letters and information from them on a regular basis and representatives come to visit to share how their work is going. There are more details below and further information can be found on their websites.

The Church Army

The Church Army is a Society of Evangelists within the Anglican Communion, which exists to enable people to

come to a living faith in Jesus Christ. Many people, even within the Church of England, for which it provides

evangelists, are unaware of the Church Army and the work that it does.

The reality is that Church Army has been at the heart of Evangelism within the established Church since 1882 when Prebendary Wilson Carlile a young Curate at St. Mary Abbots, Kensington, founded Church Army to take the Gospel to all, but particularly those suffering the injustices of the age. This has been Church Army's goal ever since.

Church Army Evangelists share the Christian faith through words and action and equip others to do the same. 350 full-time evangelists and 180 further staff are devoted to a wide range of service in Anglican churches, projects and ministry teams throughout the British Isles.

Barnabas Fund

Barnabas Fund serves the suffering Church and makes their needs known to Christians around the world,

encouraging them to pray. It provides practical help to strengthen and encourage the Church in many

different ways. Barnabas Fund was established in 1993 and channels aid to projects run by national

Christians in more than 40 countries.

The problems faced by Christian minorities in some parts of the world range from discrimination to genocide. Even in places that allow worship and evangelism, a convert to Christianity will almost always be rejected by family and community. Whilst many ancient churches are declining because of intense social pressure, new growth is suppressed by the persecution of converts. The recent spread of anti-Christian violence is reducing Christian numbers by the most savage means.

Compassion UK

Compassion works through local churches overseas to release children from economic,

social, physical and spiritual poverty. They help run projects that provide education,

health care, vocational training, social and emotional support and spiritual care. Their

work links people in this country with children supported by one of their projects

through their 'Sponsor a child scheme'.

Compassion currrently works in 25 of the world's poorest countries and through their

church based projects over a million children are receiving support.

SAMS

SAMS are a Mission Agency that has long worked in partnership with the Anglican Church of the

Southern Cone of Latin America, and some Diocese of the Episcopal Church of Brazil. More

recently SAMS has also begun work with the tiny but growing Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church

and the Lusitanian Church of Portugal. The organisation seeks to help the Churches of England

and Wales and the Scottish Episcopal Church to become linked with the Churches of South

America, Brazil, Spain and Portugal. Recently SAMS has seen its role changing from becoming a traditional sending agency to becoming part of a multi-way international mission. With an annual budget of £1,500,000 the mission is entirely voluntary and depend upon live giving with 60% of this coming from parishes such as St. John's Church, Yeadon and of course individuals.

The mandate of SAMS is to help the church to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, visit the prisoner, care for widows and orphans, bring Good News to the poor and set free the oppressed. SAMS wants only to be a link in a chain that helps the churches of South America reach out to its future - to the needy children, whether through orphanages, schools, programmes for street kids, feeding programmes, health care, education, or evangelism. In every way it wants the church to be equipped to introduce the new generation to the fullness of life offered in Jesus.

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