Mission Links
The parish has two main on-going involvements in mission overseas:
· Christian Aid
· Church Mission Society (CMS), and particularly our link Partner in Mission in Nigeria
An agency of the churches in the UK and Ireland, Christian Aid works wherever the need is greatest, irrespective of religion. It supports local organisations, which are best placed to understand local needs, as well as giving help on the ground through 16 overseas offices.
Christian Aid believes in strengthening people to find their own solutions to the problems they face. It strives for a new world transformed by an end to poverty and campaigns to change the rules that keep people poor.
Out of every pound received, 75p is spent on tackling poverty on behalf of the poorest people in the world; 11p is spent on campaigning and education, to change the structures of inequality that keep people poor; 12p is spent on fundraising; 2p is spent on administration.
More information may be found on the Christian Aid Home Page
We organise the house-to-house collections throughout the parish. In 2007, we collected over £1,300 towards the Rugby area total of over £23,000. In 2007, the year of the most recent published results, Christian Aid week raised £14.1M.
In July 2007, the open day and strawberry tea at St John's, Long Lawford, raised £220
We are always delighted to hear from suitably qualified volunteers over the age of 16. Each volunteer collects from 20 to 60 houses in the same street of the parish. Please contact the vicar.
We also make special collections in the churches for Christian Aid disaster relief, in response to specific appeals.
CMS is a mission agency working in partnership with churches in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Established in 1799, the Society's goal remains the same - to spread the Gospel to every part of the world.
CMS six main priorities are:
leadership
training and theological education;
support
for small and struggling churches;
evangelism
and church planting;
dialogue
and witness with people of other faiths;
community
development and health care;
work
among refugees and migrant peoples.
You can lean more about CMS at the CMS web page.
Deaconess Susan C Essam Susan has been working in Jos since her arrival in Nigeria in December 1983. For some eight years Susan travelled widely, teaching and preaching and leading TEE (Theological Education by Extension). When the Rt. Rev Dr Benjamin A Kwashi was consecrated and enthroned in February 1992 as Bishop of Jos, he asked Susan to work with him. Under his leadership the church has taken on a new lease of life, and God can be seen working in and through his people in amazing ways.
Susan is the Bishop’s Administrative Chaplain and also finds herself involved in many aspects of church life including teaching, preaching, writing and editing. Music has come to the fore again in recent years and she is Director of Music at St Luke’s Cathedral, and Head of the School of Music at the Diocesan Christian Institute. Since February 2000 she has also been Acting Dean of the Christian Institute.
Susan was born and brought up in Northamptonshire. She read music and gained her teaching qualifications at Southampton University. On leaving University she taught in Norfolk. From there Susan went to Lincoln Theological College, and later worked in the Diocese of Worcester, becoming an ordained deaconess in 1980.
The CMS Link Scheme connects congregations in Britain with world-wide mission through a CMS Partner in Mission. It brings British churches into closer partnership with churches in another culture. It also brings the experiences of Christians of other cultures into our worship and witness here in Britain.
Through our link with Susan, we gain a greater understanding of God’s work in the Jos Diocese of Nigeria, a very different culture from the Diocese of Coventry! We contribute to that work through prayer, letters and financial support. We are challenged in our own mission and learn much from Susan and her colleagues through both Susan’s letters and her occasional visits to the parish.
We have a Parish Correspondent, currently Tim Weedon, who is responsible for writing to Susan and for disseminating her letters amongst the congregation. Tim is always delighted to receive news items and, particularly, relevant photographs for inclusion in letters to Susan.
In her January 2003 letter, Susan mentioned the need for pipes to bring water to the Christian Institute. At the suggestion of a member of the congregation, this was adopted as our lent appeal. Tubes of Smarties, representing water pipes, were given out, to be returned full of money. Rugby High School, the Rainbows and Brownies of Newbold-on-Avon also adopted the project for their lent charitable giving. The results were a resounding success. We were able to send £902 to CMS for Susan's pipeline.
Now is a period of active growth for the Jos Christian Institute, of which Susan is Dean. It is responding to a pressing need for growth that coincides with remarkable opportunities for expansion of its campus. These opportunities have been grasped in the faith that adequate funds will be forthcoming. In support of this project we selected the development of the Institute for our Lent Appeal in 2006.