Mission partners
St Augustine's Church, Locking, supports the following organizations and individuals who are committed to telling people about God and what He can accomplish in people's lives through faith in Jesus Christ.
HoverAid
HoverAid hovercraft, bring aid and development to remote communities in Madagascar where hunger, malaria, HIV and lack of clean water affect the health of millions. HoverAid’s hovercraft reach unreachable villages when Africa floods, providing relief organisations with access to those most in need.
HoverAid is a Christian humanitarian charity based in the UK and the Netherlands, and working in Madagascar. We use hovercraft to reach isolated communities, making it possible for aid organisations to work in areas that have been simply too difficult or expensive to reach before. Most aid organisations limit their work to areas where there are roads, very few use rivers at all.
It is a very simple concept – hovercraft can reach communities other vehicles and boats cannot. Hovercraft can easily travel over mudflats, swamps, ice and rapids, and crucially, along waterways which are too shallow for ordinary boats.
Communities struggle and people die because of poor access. It is hard enough being amongst the majority of the poor on this planet without always being overlooked when help is available. That may simply be because your community is too difficult to reach.
Our job is to reach the unreachable.
Tearfund
Tearfund is a Christian development and relief charity working with partners to bring help and hope to communities in need around the world. In 2020, Tearfund supported over 600 projects in more than 80 countries.
Tearfund has been at the forefront to lobby government to cancel third world debt for the betterment of local communities. It advocates for justice and hope for those facing persecution, develops strategies for sustainable livelihoods for those living in marginal environments and responds rapidly in bringing relief to those suffering disasters through natural causes such as hurricanes, volcanoes, floods and droughts.
Susheela, 31, is beaten by her husband - beacuse she is a Christian. Her neighbours say that they will kill her unless she stops holding prayer meetings in her home. Being poor is not just about lacking safe drinking water or basic healthcare. It's also about persecution and oppression. You can help the world's poorest peoples to stand and face the future with dignity and hope. 'They will run and not grow weary, they will walkand not be faint.' Isaiah 40:31.
Tearfund works particularly in Africa, Asia and South America – and also across Eastern Europe and the UK. Right now, we’re focussing on some of the biggest challenges facing the world today including:
- Defeating disease - Thanks to access to drugs, Berta is living with her HIV, not dying with it.The prevalence of killer diseases such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis
- Improving basic services - The injustice of lack of water and sanitation, which leads to disease and death
- Resolving economic injustice - We're standing up again injustice wherever we find it. Unfair trade that locks hard working people in poverty
- Restoring the envinronment- The desert is encroaching in the Sahel region in Niger as the climate hots up.The devastating effects of climate change on poor communities
- Tackling disaster - Natural disasters – helping communities to prepare for them, and dealing quickly with their effects
Tearfund supports craft-workers and artisans from some of the world’s poorest communities, helping them create and market products of the highest standard. In the UK, Tearfund has been implementing a special programme through partner churches to help people along the refugee highway by providing drop-in centres, advice on immigration and housing as well as after schools clubs and English language courses.
St Augustine's also supports special collections for disaster relief coordinated through Tearfund. The most recent one has been for the relief of millions of people in southern Africa badly affected by recent floods and droughts that have ruined harvests, and earthquakes.
Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS)
The vision of CPAS was to 'take the Gospel to every person's door with the single purpose of glorifying God'. CPAS takes the Bible as its authority and prayer as its heartbeat in proclaiming its message.
Today the vision remains the same and CPAS is committed to serving the church in a world changing in technology, communication and lifestyles. As a major Anglican UK based mission society, it seeks to help church leaders whether lay or ordained who are working to meet the needs of people facing loneliness, guilt, family breakdown and poverty . This is carried out by providing support through training and resources for leaders; advice and counselling; strategies for outreach; professional assistance with clergy appointments and providing Christian holidays with a purpose for children and young people.
More About The Church Pastoral Aid Society
Christians Against Poverty
Christians Against Poverty (CAP) provides free debt help and local community groups across the UK. Our free services, run with local churches, provide practical and emotional support and show people that there is always hope.
The Weston Area CAP (Christians Against Poverty) Centre has been running for over five years. It is based in Weston-Super-Mare and offers a free debt help service. The key feature for CAP debt help is that we usually visit people in their homes. There are, of course, larger debt help agencies, but we visit people who struggle with emotional and mental health issues and who find using the phone or the internet difficult. To date, we have had over 100 New Client Enquiries in the Weston-Super-Mare area. As a result, 24 clients are now debt-free, 10 clients are on CAP debt management plans, and 25 clients have gone on to find their own solution after we've visited.
More About Christians Against Poverty
Somewhere to Go
Somewhere to Go is a local support centre in Weston-super-Mare set up specially to help rough sleepers and disadvantaged, vulnerable adults. The centre is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10.30am to 2.30pm in St. John's Church Hall, Boulevard.
Somewhere to Go offers a warm, welcoming and safe place for people to come. We serve 30 to 40 meals each day that we open, including some free food and a lunch that costs only £1.00. We never waste food and no-one ever goes away hungry; a meal will stabilize someone using drugs for the next 24 hours. We provide activities such as crafts and art, table tennis (including mini tournaments) and circus skills, and these are very much appreciated as they take peoples' minds off their problems for a while and give them a sense of achievement and well being.