St Paul's Church is involved with a number of different overseas missions, including OMF, Christian Aid, Tear Fund and the Vine Trust.
The Overseas Committee of St Paul’s Church is responsible for the support of overseas mission. It organises offerings such as for Harvest Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve service . Special collections are arranged in the aftermath of major disasters. We encourage the support of a wide variety of organisations including the Bible Society, Tearfund , MAF, Christian Aid, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Prison Fellowship, the Vine Trust, and the Barnabas fund. We also receive information from the Church of Scotland’s World Mission Council.
this year’s Harvest Offering will be in aid of Water Aid. Over recent years we have been involved in a project to provide a home for street boys in Kimo Peru (see below), a community event to support the cost of fuel for Mission Aviation Fellowship and a Souper Sunday lunch for the Church of Scotland HIV/ AIDs project. Below are some further details about a few of the projects and people we support.
Lorna Ferguson
David and Lorna Ferguson as members of St Paul’s went as a family to Japan in 1998 with OMF ( Overseas Missionary Fellowship). OMF serves the church and brings the gospel to many of the countries in East Asia. They help place Christians with professional skills in China and other Asian countries, and share the love of Christ with East Asians worldwide.
After two years’ language study the Fergusons moved to Otaru, a city of some 145,000 people on Hokkaido island, where they worked for eight years before handing over leadership to a Japanese pastor. After a year of home assignment in Milngavie, they returned to Japan in March 2009 when they began a new church in the Hiragishi area of Sapporo, the largest city in Hokkaido. In Spring 2013 they moved to Tokyo where they took up the post of OMF field director for Japan. In 2017 David was taken from us to glory, but Lorna continues to serve God in Japan with OMF
Tearfund
Tearfund is a Christian international aid and development agency working globally to end poverty and injustice, and to restore dignity and hope in some of the world’s poorest communities.
They operate in more than fifty countries around the world. As well as being present in disaster situations and recovery through our response teams,they speak out on behalf of poor people on the national and international stage by petitioning governments, campaigning for justice and raising the profile of key poverty issues whereverthey can.
Tearfund has a vision to see 50 million people released from material and spiritual poverty through a worldwide network of 100,000 local churches.
Find out more on the Tearfund website
Christian Aid
Christian Aid is a Christian organisation that insists the world can and must be swiftly changed to one where everyone can live a full life, free from poverty. We provide urgent, practical and effective assistance where need is great,striving to achieve equality, dignity and freedom for all, regardless of faith or nationality.It ispart of a wider movement for social justice. tackling the effects of poverty as well as its root causes.
Accountability is core to Christian Aid's values and the principles that inform their behaviour in all thatthey do and help define their approach to policy, campaigns, fundraising and communication.
These values include being authentic - being trusted to do the right thing, being rooted in the lives of real people, telling the true story, communicating real voices and having an open and honest relationship with the church.
Find out more on the Christian Aid website
The Vine Trust (Kimo Peru)
The Vine Trust is an international, interdenominational, volunteering charity which seeks to enable volunteers to make a real and significant difference to some of the poorest children and communities in the world.
After hearing about the work of the Vine Trust St Paul’s decided to launch an appeal to the congregation for money to build a home to be run by Scripture Union Peru. SU already had several other homes and this one would be in Junin Province near a beautiful man-made loch and the Chanchamayo River in the Andes Mountains to the south-east of Lima.
A massive fundraising programme was begun in June 2009 and many activities from a gift day, to Christmas tree fair, to sponsored walks to concerts and a personal giving scheme. After much prayer and hard work the target of £60,000 was reached several months early.
The home now houses about 40 boys from the countryside surrounding Chanchamayo.A work party from St Paul’s went over in 2009 to see the site for themselves and contribute physically to the building of the house - their story can be read in the back issue of Life magazine for October 2009.
As of 2016 this home closed and the boys have been housed in other SU homes in Peru.