Church Army Lent Appeal Focuses on Future of Evangelism

Church Army has launched its Lent Appeal for 2007, with the focus set firmly on the significance of praying, giving and receiving for the future of evangelism.

The appeal has gone out to around 10,000 parishes and individuals calling on supporters to prayerfully and financially remember the work that Church Army is doing, reaching people in their everyday lives.

In particular, Church Army are focusing on its training college, Wilson Carlile Centre of Evangelism in Sheffield, for its Lent Appeal.

The centre works with men and women from all church traditions to help equip them to think about the message and context of evangelism for a contemporary world. The college is committed to empowering them to work over the UK and Ireland finding new and exciting ways to be church in the 21st century, tells Church Army.

Jade Watson, Sheila Samuels and Patrick Samuels are just three of the evangelists-in-training studying at the Wilson Carlile College of Evangelism Sheffield who are featured in this year's appeal.

Jade Watson, a married mother of two is training for prison ministry. Jade says "Through my training at Church Army I hope to work in a project that helps prisoners and ex-offenders live out their Christian lives and be encouraged to reach out to others who would be in the same position as them. During the training at college, I am getting involved in prison ministry. I am really looking forward to being able to use my gifts in the way that I know God blesses."

Sheila and Patrick Samuels gave up their respective careers to train as evangelists at the Church Army college: "As Asian Christians we have a long established link with the Asian Christian Fellowship as well as the wider church community. Our heritage and bi-lingual ability has equipped us to develop relationships with Muslim colleagues and community members to share openly and in trust about our different faiths.

"Our vision for the future is area evangelism, where we can evaluate the needs of the local community, find out about the local networks and then begin to meet the spiritual needs of the community."

Commenting on the new Lent Appeal, Church Army's Chief Secretary, Mark Russell states, "Lent is an inspiring time for Church Army. Church Army works across the nation, sharing in everyday situations with everyday people that they may come to a living faith in Jesus Christ.

"Our focus for the past 125 years has been to train and equip men and women to work on the cutting edge; ordinary men and women like Jade, Sheila and Patrick to fulfil Jesus' command to 'make disciples of all peoples'. I have been inspired by our students, and I'm excited to think where God can take them in the years ahead."

Accompanying the appeal is a free 12-page resource written by Peter Graystone, author of the recently published 99 Things to do Between Here and Heaven.

The resource Praying, Giving and Receiving, features 40 short reflections taken from the book of Matthew which can be used for meditation or reflection. It has gone out with the appeal to parishes and individuals, and Church Army hopes it will serve as a useful tool to enable people to come to a deeper awareness of God during this Lent season.

Edna Darko-Sarkwa, Head of Fundraising at Church Army adds, "My hope for this year's appeal is twofold. Firstly that the Lent publication will truly be a resource to support parishes during this Lent period, and secondly, that parishes and individuals will support our Lent Appeal this year to enable us to raise over 30K to continue our vital work in training evangelists for the 21st century."