Pub landlord provides inspiration to reach new supporters

Thousands of Christians across London and the south-east have received an invitation from Church Army to provide prayer and financial support to help build church without walls. The strap-line for the campaign was inspired by a Harlow pub landlord, who praised Church Army’s Tim Stanford as somebody who “gets the church out from behind those walls and meets the people where they are.”

The direct mail campaign highlights the work of skateboarding street based youth worker Andy Milne, pub evangelist Tim Stanford and on-line chaplain Angela Jarvis. The focus is on how Church Army is making church effective by reaching people where they are - outside church buildings. This is the first time the 122 year old society has developed a direct mail campaign to engage potential new supporters with its work.

Along with a letter from Church Army’s Chief Secretary, Philip Johanson which highlights costs of £15k a year to train and support an evangelist, those mailed will also receive a bookmark encouraging them to pray for the work of Church Army in pioneering evangelism.

Rosemary Cottrell, Church Army’s Head of Fundraising comments: “We rely entirely on individuals and parishes for our funding and felt that the time was right to share with Christians other than our regular supporters how important our work is in reaching those who would otherwise have little or no opportunity to hear or respond to the gospel.”

“We are committed to building the foundations of effective community wherever we find ourselves working. At present around 60% of people consider themselves not connected with the church. We are at the cutting edge of building relationship with these people for whom church is not seen as relevant. Church Army supports this long term work, and needs funds to ensure that existing projects can be consolidated and that similar work can be established in more areas.”

To contribute to Church Army’s work click here or phone the donations hotline on 020 8309 3519 or send your donation to Church Army, Marlowe House, 109 Station Rd, Sidcup, Kent DA15 7AD.

For more information on how you can help Church Army with fundraising .