Mission Partners 2024/25

St John’s has three main Mission Partners - the Mathieson Music School Kolkata, Bishop Agostinho Buque of Maciene, Mozambique, and CMS Mission Partners in South East Asia. The Filipino Chaplaincy has a new Mission Partner, The IFI Kindergarten in New Washington, Aklan.

We also support other charities at specific times during the year - Christian Aid in May (Christian Aid Week), The British Legion in November, as well as a specific charity in Lent. As well as holding these charities in our prayers, we aim to give them financial support and build up personal links. For every front-line worker, there are approximately eight people supporting them to be there. In mission it is no different! We can support our mission partners through our constant prayer and also financially where possible. You will find details of our main Mission Partners below.

Mathieson Music School

Kolkata, India

The Mathieson Music School is a Christian organisation, where children of all religious backgrounds are accepted, and their various faiths respected. The school is funded by the Mathieson Music Trust, a registered charity in the UK and in India.

Musical training not only furnishes the children with a way of expressing themselves but offers them the possibility of securing life-long employment; the flourishing Indian film industry, military establishments, hotel and entertainment sectors are in need of Indians literate in Western music, and a trained musician has an earning potential two or three times that of the average Indian school leaver.

Apart from their normal school activities, the children practice performance skills, giving daily music and dancing concerts in preparation for the public performances they frequently give in Kolkata and abroad. Instruction is in the English language. The regular teaching staff is augmented from time to time by qualified teachers and gap year students from the UK who go out at their own expense.

At present the school is raising funds to establish the St John’s International School. St John’s has assisted in raising significant sums of money for the school since its beginning 25 years ago.

Blessed Virgin Mary

Chambone, Mozambique

St John’s has had a Mozambique Parish link since 1998 when ALMA was founded. ALMA (which means soul in Portuguese), has become part of the soul of all four partner Dioceses, London, Angola, and the two in Mozambique, Lebombo and Niassa.

Our link is with The Parish of Blessed Virgin May, Chambone, in the Lebombo Diocese, and their priest Fr Emmanuel Capote. Their plans for this year involve a fight against erosion and rehabilitating their parish houses. They also have a need for computer equipment relating to their church sound system. All these of course require funding and as their ALMA partner they rely on St John's for financial assistance.

IFI Kindergarten School
Incorporated

Aklan Capiz, Philippines

The Filipino Chaplaincy is supporting the IFI Kindergarten School Incorporated a Church School for children aged 4 – 7 years old from families who cannot afford to educate their children in other schools. The school is in New Washington, Aklan Capiz. The school was founded in 2011 by Canon Larry Galon. Most of the teachers are volunteers.

CMS Mission Partners

South East Asia

St John’s also supports the Rev’d Beom Jin Shin and his wife Dr. Marie-Laure Verdier as mission partners in South East Asia. Beom Jin Shin has long standing links with this church, having come here from South Korea, training first as a youth worker and then as an ordinand.

Fair Trade

St John’s supports Fair trade the goal of which is to make sure that companies in developed countries pay a fair price to producers in developing countries for their work. We support this in two ways, on the first Sunday of every month, and for both the Christmas and June Fairs we have for sale goods that are produced under the Fairtrade principle, both generally Fair-traded goods and Palestinian goods.

Currently there are many farmers in developing countries working hard to produce items that end up in our shopping baskets, however, they do not get paid enough to support their families and afford life’s essentials - like food, education and healthcare. By thinking and selective buying we can correct the imbalance.