Last Sunday, on 10 July, 17 amazing people from across the Diocese of London ‘donned running shoes and took to the streets of London with over 11,000 other people raising money for hundreds of different charities.
As well as being a fabulous run taking in all of the best sights of our wonderful city, it was really inspiring to see the huge number of great causes that were going to benefit from the event, including, of course, the Bishop of London’s Mission Fund. The BLMF is funding churches to do Christian youth, children’s and family outreach. It is an exceptionally difficult thing to raise money for with very few Christian funders being able to support this and poorer parishes particularly struggling to raise the money they need within their congregation. Rather than spending loads of time going to multiple funders, the BLMF offers significant grants over a period of three years, which means that churches can spend more time on achieving their mission and less on fundraising.
The BLMF funded the amazing work going on at St Mary Islington where the youth work has among other things, changed Nicholas Castell’s experience of church and meant that despite his autism, he and his mother can come there and feel at home. This has both helped him to grow in his faith but also in his confidence. Frequently isolated or misunderstood, it cannot be underestimated the value of the church being able to tailor their youth work to include him. It really is worth hearing him tell his story here.
A recent grant will provide the Fern Street Settlement which is connected to All Hallows, Bow with three-years of funding for a children’s and families worker. This person will work with a very high Muslim population and other very poor residents on the Lincoln Estate in East London to provide these families with vital support, and to share Jesus’ love and the Good News with them.
We have raised over £2,000, but we want to reach our target of £3,000.
Yann, Alex, Gillian, Debbie, Paul, Susy, Dave, Billie, David, Charlotte, Thomas, Lisa, Kathleen, Larry, Linda and Elizabeth – we salute you! It was really incredible seeing people from across the Diocese come together to support this vital and brilliant cause.
This is written by Sarah Webster, formerly of the Fundraising Team.
