PROJECT 2- OFF THE FENCE
​Supporting those sent from our local Church serving those most in need within our own City.

Did you know that while you’re curled up in front of Netflix in the evening, teams of Christians are walking the streets of Brighton, looking out for homeless men and women who may be in need of food, hot drinks and warm clothes?
They are signposted back to the Off The Fence day centre on Portland Road where they can get a hot shower, clean clothes and support with accommodation, rehab or any health needs they might have. That’s where they’ll probably meet Nigel. S, who works there making sure the homeless get not only the practical support they need but the pastoral care. A client who has been living in a hedge on a local trading estate described the work at Antifreeze as ‘a really special place.’
As well as the this work with the homeless and our Gateway women’s work, Off The Fence has a schools’ team working across fifteen city schools, providing support through mentoring, workshops, courses, safe spaces and interactive prayer spaces. The team is led by Lizzi. D and supported by intern Emily.W. If you read the news, schools are struggling in so many ways, and also becoming increasingly intolerant of Christianity. As we walk alongside the struggles, we find that our work is not only deeply appreciated but encouraged, and it’s clear the difference it makes.
‘They bring God to the students in a really relatable fresh safe creative 21st century way that the children have just really engaged with and loved.’
Head of School, Cardinal Newman
All of this work, which involves around 30 staff, is made possible by a core team headed up by Monica. H holding us to our core values of excellence, compassion, integrity and unity.
Please do what you can to support these valuable BH members of our team at OTF.  At this time of year when we think of the lengths God went to so He can reveal his love for us, it’s right that the church is sending its members to some of the most difficult places to continue revealing God’s character. The streets are indeed dark at this time of year; please help enable us to continually reveal the everlasting light. 
 

The weekend got off to a great start with the drop-in prayer morning where people could visit various activities around the room to help them engage in praying for the world, our Mission Partners, Jesus’ sacrifice for us and to prepare for Sunday’s teachings using the Bible passages we would be looking at.
It was such a pleasure to have Michael Prest, Director of UFM to join us on the Sunday
His teachings to us in the morning & evening services were not only a careful handling of God’s Word but a very practical challenge to encourage us to share the Gospel with those around us.
A good number of the church family enjoyed lunch together to discuss further what we’d heard from Michael and to hear about the work of UFM.   
If you’d like to listen to the sermons from that weekend, please click LISTEN & scroll through to 20th October am & pm sermons. 
It’s been encouraging to hear from some of the church family how they would like to get more involved in supporting our mission partners & getting involved in short-term mission trips.
So, watch this space!

As we look towards Easter the James Hannington Memorial Trust highlight projects that we would like to invite the church family to support. 
If you wanted to make a donation please pick up a Lent Appeal leaflet available at the church or contact the church office for more details. This year we have 2 projects & they are:
Project 1 - FESTIVE
​Festive believes that the best people to reach students are students! We long to see a generation of Christ's ambassadors living out and sharing the Gospel where they study.  This year we want to connect with more Christian students than ever before so that more 'student missionaries' can be encouraged, equipped and inspired to 'let their light shine' at College/Sixth. 
 We hope that half of the money raised by the Lent appeal will go towards pioneering and developing new social media work as our research has shown that this is one of the best ways to reach students we haven't reached before. Since launching an Instagram page last Summer we have made over 100 new contacts and this is just the beginning.  As we develop this work we can reach many more new students and CU’s and can link them into our wider support and prayer network.
The other half of funds given will be used to develop our 'student support volunteer' (SSV) team to help us to train more former-students to encourage and pray for new students and CU leaders!  Rosie a SSV from Brighton says this about her role “I was so encouraged by having a contact at Festive when I lead a CU in my sixth form.  I was inspired to commit to supporting and praying for students in the same way”

​Project 2 - The Milsons in Spain with Crosslinks.
Thank you everyone for your prayers over the last year.  We’re just coming up to our first anniversary in Valencia and as we look back it’s so encouraging to see God’s wonderful provision for our work here in Spain.  Language learning has gone well and we’ve been building solid relationships at church and in our wider community.  It’s been a particular encouragement to see the Lord providing opportunities to share something of the Gospel in random situations and with a variety of nationalities. 
 We’re so grateful for the support we have received from BH and would like to say thank you in advance of the financial support from this Lent Appeal. Our overall budget with Crosslinks is somewhat precarious and so any gift your are able to give will go directly into our general fund to help ensure that our Mission work in Valencia can continue in the long-term.  Thank you so much for you partnership in the Gospel.

The trustees of the JHMT would to thank our church family for their generosity towards our Christmas Appeal which raised over £12,000. We thank God for the impact this money will have on our 2 projects that we supported this year; Brighton & Hove City Mission and Arab World Ministries/Yemen Crisis appeal. More information about their valuable work this money will go towards can be found on their own websites. 

The trustees of the JHMT would like to thank our church family for their generosity towards our 2018 Lent Appeal.  Praise God £6710.75 was raised to go towards the ministries of FESTIVE and The Milsons. 

Here’s what they said

"Thank you for the generous gift we received from your Lent Appeal! You are funding two key projects this term: sending free copies of the book Beyond Beans on Toast to students who are heading off to Uni in September, packed full of recipes, advice and inspiration for Christian living at Uni and funding several filming days to create videos for YouTube to equip and inspire FE students to share and live for Jesus at college and sixth form." FESTIVE

"We are so very grateful for the love and support of the church family at BH.  We’ve now started language learning at a school which is only five minutes away and we’re both feeling a little overwhelmed with how much we don’t know!  Speaking Spanish well is key to our ministry here, so thank you once again for your help with this essential area of our work." The Milsons

As we look towards Easter the James Hannington Memorial Trust (JHMT) highlights projects away from BH that we would like to invite the church family to support.
If you wanted to make a donation please pick up a Lent Appeal leaflet available at the church or contact the church office for more details.
Here is some information about the projects:
Project 1: FESTIVE
FESTIVE works to inspire and equip students and chaplains in Further Education
​(post school/pre university or working world) across England and Wales. 
​As the only national Christian charity working in this sector we aim to support Christian students with their faith at this pivotal time in their lives and encourage them to reach out to their friends and college with the good news of the Gospel.
FESTIVE would value your help to fund two special projects as follows.
“Beyond beans on toast”.  At Bishop Hannington you have been involved from the beginning in supporting this evangelistic cook book for students going to university.  Full of recipes, tips for university life and Christian testimonies, we have given thousands of these books away to non-Christian students and the demand for them each year seems to increase! For every £1 given we can give away a copy of this great evangelistic book to a non-Christian student!
  YouTube. Young people spend a lot of time on YouTube and in our work of inspiring and equipping Christian students for mission in their local colleges it is the best place for us to connect effectively and regularly with growing numbers of students.  We are planning to film success stories from CUs and missions, testimonies and video resources over the coming two years. 

​Project 2:  Julian and Nicky Milson
As you read this we will have just arrived at our new apartment in Valencia where Julian will shortly begin ministering at the local Spanish Anglican Church. 
​We’ll spend the first few months settling into our new home, getting to know people and learning Spanish.  We’re really looking forward to being able to share the gospel in Spanish, as Spain is such a spiritual needy country.
We anticipate that our language learning costs will be £3,000 in Year 1, £2,000 in Year 2 and £1,000 in Year 3.  We would be so grateful if the church family at Bishop Hannington were able to support us in this particular area, as it will not only enable us to minister effectively, but will make the whole process of settling into a new country that much easier for our whole family.  
​Thank you so much for your partnership in the Gospel.

Since I last wrote, I’ve finished up my linguistics studies in Gloucester
(end-of-term happy snap with some of my classmates above).
​It was an intense but rewarding time of learning and reflection: not only gaining skills and insights into the technicalities of language analysis, but being encouraged to think carefully and humbly about how we will play our part as ‘cross-cultural servants’ in working alongside minority language communities, supporting them to translate and communicate the Word of God in their mother tongue. Please join me in praying that I will retain and apply well all that I learnt during this season.

        I would like to say a sincere thank you to the trustees of the JHMT for dedicating this year’s Harvest Appeal to the ministry of Wycliffe Bible Translators, and specifically my upcoming service with them in Tanzania. Thank you too to the members of BH for giving so generously to the Appeal, which raised over £9000 for my supporter fund. I’m deeply grateful for your investment in God’s work of Bible translation and for the trust you’ve shown in me as I journey down this path.

        It was lovely to be able to visit BH on Sunday 22 October, to catch up with friends old and new and to share a little about the work of Wycliffe and my involvement in it. Thanks to all those who came to my afternoon presentation (not least the incredible team of bakers who served up a lavish spread of cakes, scones and slices for the occasion) and for the many great chats throughout the day. BH has a strong place in my heart and your encouragement and support means a great deal to me.
 
        Thank you for your prayers! As I enter the final few weeks of my linguistics study at Redcliffe College (Gloucester), please pray that God will continue to grow me in both competency and character for the work he has planned for me. Please pray too for my ongoing partnership development and personal preparation, that God will provide all that is needed financially, practically and spiritually for me to begin my assignment in Tanzania in July 2018.

Susanna