Oxford, United Kingdom
Viva + 650 churches + Tearfund = communities strengthened It’s 17:00, and in most church buildings around the UK it’s fairly quiet. Playgroups and after-school clubs are finished and evening Bible studies or youth events have not begun.Yet even when the buildings are dormant, the congregations are not. They are an active part of a worldwide team working hard to meet the needs of children at risk: they are part of the global church. “When we work together, the church is unparalleled in its ability to reach out to society,” says David Westlake, Integral Mission Director for Tearfund and trustee of Viva. “Where organisations come and go, churches are very much a part of the community. Viva’s city-wide networks connect and anchor churches to the other people, projects and authorities working to bring change to those local communities, increasing their potential even more.” So this year we have worked with Tearfund to distribute eleven grants of £5,000 through our networks, to help these local churches see that potential realised.
some space to call their own; and some church members have actually been inspired to personally take in and care for children who are homeless. One congregation even elected a child to their church council, so they can make sure the needs of children are considered in every part of church life. The grant also helped the programme develop into Kenya and Tanzania, meaning that this year more than 12,000 children across East Africa have discovered what it’s like to belong to a church that loves, respects and reaches out to them.
One community where a grant helped churches to bring great change was in Kampala, Uganda, where our Child-Friendly Church programme is taking root. Developed by Viva, supported by Tearfund, and implemented by local churches, this initiative has been educating congregations about how best to include and care for children. As a result of our work this year we have seen many churches rise to the challenge and work to become more child-friendly – they now involve children in the planning and leading of services; they have built new rooms and play areas so the children have
It is not only African communities that are seeing the power of the church in action: through our city-wide networks grants have been distributed across several continents and a total of 650 local churches have been empowered by them over the year. Money given has helped churches in Nepal continue to prevent trafficking in their communities; enabled our Pakistan network to campaign against child labour; helped our partners in Kenya provide education for children living in the Nairobi slums; and given our Kolkata network the ability to help churches raise awareness about child sexual abuse in India. Through these grants we have not only worked in the lives of more than 35,000 children this year, but also strengthened the churches surrounding them to offer support in the years to come.
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David sums up the ethos of the partnership between Viva and Tearfund when he says: “Some hugely positive changes have been made in the lives of thousands of children this year, and those changes were brought about through the generosity – in both time and money - of congregations around the world. It’s not about churches in the UK supporting churches overseas to do mission work - we’re all on the same mission!”
Photo courtesy of John Cairns
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Viva Review 2010