Mission

St John's has a strong committment to Mission both locally, within our Diocese and further afield. Please see below for details of organisations with strong personal links to St John's whom we regularly support.

St John's has an active programme of Mission Support with a monthly focus on individual Mission partners through specific prayer and a detailed presentation on that Mission Support partner at the rear of the Church. The following gives outline details of St John's current Mission Support partners outside our Mission work locally and in the  Diocese of Leeds.

We support James Dannenberg a member of our congregation who is scholar of many languages. James works with the Wycliffe organisation translating the Bible into a number of Turkic minority languages such as Gagauz (spoken in Moldova), Uygur (spoken in Kazakhstan), Nogai and Balkar (spoken by Turkic people in South West Russia).

We have strong personal links with the Revival Christian Life Centre in Matugga, Uganda.  Since 2000 we have been privileged to help Bishop Ivan Lugolobi develop an orphanage for 150+ orphans (Champions), a primary school for 450 children, a secondary school for 200 children (February 2006), a clinic (May 2007), a Vocational Skills Centre  (February 2009), and a new Senior School classroom block (Spring 2018).  Bishop Ivan visits us each year and an increasing number of supporters are now going out to Matugga to support Ivan’s ministry and to be a blessing to all at the Revival Centre.  The Centre has become the common mission partner of the Churches Together in Ilkley.  We run a Champions Support programme and many people make gifts of time and money to support this work via the charity Give A Child a Hope. To find out more visit the website: www.revivalcentrematugga.org.uk . Bishop Ivan recently visited   Ben Rhydding and Ilkley from Thursday 7th June to Tuesday 26th June 2018.

We support the Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS), Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), Open Doors and the Church Missionary Society (CMS) on an annual basis and have strong links with the Otley Christian Resources Hub which supports work with young people in our area.

Brian Gregory, our previous vicar, is the UK co-ordinator of support for the Friendship Foundation based in Arad, Romania .  The work of the Foundation is organised by Puiu and Dorina Tarcea who have a heart for those rejected by their society including mentally and physically handicapped children, orphans, gypsies and criminals. The state authorities have recognised the good work of the Foundation and many projects are being run on a joint basis. They have made great strides in getting businesses to invest in social projects and to get some of the employees of supportive businesses to work with them on a voluntary basis. See also the website: www.proprietenia.ro

Do see our Church noticeboard at the rear of the Church for more details with a monthly focus on each of our Mission Partners. If you would like to become more involved in this important work please let us know via the Church Office.