Church marks centenary by welcoming locals in and sending regulars out

The Church of the Good Shepherd in the East Hampshire village of Four Marks will be opening its doors for a special centenary exhibition running from 1 to 6 December, and plans to welcome in over half of the 4000-strong local population.

The week-long exhibition follows a thanksgiving service on Sunday 30 November, which will see the Anglican congregation give thanks to God for 100 years of blessing. The Bishop of Basingstoke, the Rt Revd Trevor Wilmott will be speak at the service and look forward to the next hundred years.

The Four Marks church is celebrating its 100th birthday, having arrived as a tin hut on the back of a tractor from the neighbouring village of Ropley in 1908. The centenary exhibition charts the history of the village church over the last hundred years, as well as reflecting other historical events in the period - local, national and international. Pupils from the Church of England Primary School in the village have been delving into the records too, and have devised a vivid and creative 100 years timeline which will be one of the centrepieces of the exhibition.

But keen to ensure that the celebrations are not introspective, as well as welcoming locals in, the church has been sending its regular attendees out. Since January, more than 100 of the congregation have been despatched across the room, across the road and across the world to demonstrate that the Christian faith is practical and relevant.

Teams of church members have been working on a range of local community projects, including a monthly litter-pick around the village. Initiatives have also involved helping with gardening and maintenance work at the primary school, as well as running holiday clubs for local children and helping nearby village churches develop youth and children's work and enhance their contemporary worship. Further afield, volunteers have been assisting at the Winchester churches night shelter for homeless people, and visiting inmates at Winchester Prison.

The international dimension of the 'centenary send-out' began in February, with teacher Ali Beckett travelling to Peru to help a Christian organisation which works amongst deprived street children. In March, Four Marks couple David and Sarah Giles spent five weeks in South East Asia using their professional skills to assist local charities with publicity and promotional material to highlight their work amongst deaf, disabled and orphaned children, ethnic hill-tribe and Burmese refugees and those suffering from HIV/Aids.

In May, two teams travelled to support parishioners at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Lotome, Karamoja. The Four Marks church is twinned with this rural Ugandan congregation, and those who made the journey were able to share material resources and help in a range of practical ways, including the installation of an IT networking infrastructure.

The church's youth group took part in a life-changing mission trip to South Africa and Namibia during their summer holidays, helping to paint walls and renovate a toilet block at a daycare centre which serves one of Fish Hoek's most troubled townships. The teenagers also spent a night on the streets of Cape Town, distributing blankets and soup to homeless youngsters of their own age, before coming face-to-face with the horrors of child prostitution in nearby Kayamandi.

One participant, 14-year-old Tasha Oakes-Monger describes her time in Southern Africa as "completely life-changing".

She explains: "I knew I would meet Christians on the trip, but never did I imagine returning as one! It was an awesome journey. I learnt about faith and prayer, and most importantly the power of God. What struck me most is that the Africans we met, even those who are starving with no home, clean water or medicine, were always smiling. Here we have everything but still complain about everything."

Also in August, a team travelled to the Wukwashi community in Zambia. Here, church members were able to bring some joy to the faces of disadvantaged and disabled children by running a special activity programme for them, including games, crafts and songs. Meanwhile, Four Marks music teacher Janet Griffiths joined the chaplaincy team in the Swiss mountain village of Zermatt, offering pastoral support to holidaymakers and the many hikers which are based in the area over the summer months.

In September, wood-turner David Comley found himself turning his hand to roofing a rabbit house in Granja Peniel, Colombia. This was in support of a NGO which rescues abandoned children from the streets of the country's capital, Bogota. David also helped with maintenance and decorating at a number of homes which have been set up to feed and accommodate these children.

And last month, a fifteen-strong team spent October half-term at a home for abandoned girls and vulnerable women near Pune, India. The team provided general support to the local workers, assisted with the delivery of much-needed healthcare services, helped in the kitchens and organised a fun afternoon for the residents. The year of mission concludes in December with a team flying out to Nepal to pray for the fledgling Christian church in the formerly Hindu kingdom. 2008 will be the first year that Nepali Christians will officially be able to celebrate Christmas without fear of persecution.

Summing up the year of special events, vicar Rev Howard Wright said: "We hope that this centenary exhibition will capture the imagination of the whole community. We would love as many people as possible to come along, to see for themselves what God has been doing here in Four Marks, not just this year, but throughout the rich hundred year history of our local church. God has been so good to us that we want to share his blessings with as many people as we can, and that's why we've been so thrilled this year to be out and about in our own village and around the world."