Christmas Day Offering
Every year on Christmas Day we take up an offering to support a charity outside of Kerith. This year the charity we've chosen is Caring for Ex-Offenders, a national charity seeking to reduce reoffending by reintegrating ex-offenders into society through the local church.
As a church we've been involved in prison ministry for a number of years. When I first joined the church there was a group who regularly visited Huntercombe Prison in Oxforshire (which at the time was a young offenders institute). I particularly remember one year taking our son Zak there (he was only about three) on Christmas Day to sing carols with the young people - I'm not sure you'd be allowed to do that any more! In more recent time Lee and Sonia Brett have done a great job leading a group visting various local prisons and running services - I went along with them recently and had a very moving time. We'd like to see that ministry grow, and supporting Caring for Ex-Offenders is part of that.
You can find a great video about the work of Caring for Ex-Offenders here. Please take the time to watch it, and to think about what you're going to give on Christmas Day.
Simon.
As a church we've been involved in prison ministry for a number of years. When I first joined the church there was a group who regularly visited Huntercombe Prison in Oxforshire (which at the time was a young offenders institute). I particularly remember one year taking our son Zak there (he was only about three) on Christmas Day to sing carols with the young people - I'm not sure you'd be allowed to do that any more! In more recent time Lee and Sonia Brett have done a great job leading a group visting various local prisons and running services - I went along with them recently and had a very moving time. We'd like to see that ministry grow, and supporting Caring for Ex-Offenders is part of that.
You can find a great video about the work of Caring for Ex-Offenders here. Please take the time to watch it, and to think about what you're going to give on Christmas Day.
Simon.