An invitation from Chris Thompson, Tearfund’s Northern Ireland Director:

I am delighted to invite you to a series of special events with Safa Hijazeen, Tearfund’s Regional Director covering the Middle East, a part of the world that has featured heavily on our screens and our minds in recent months. But with so much happening in Gaza and Israel, as well as more widely in the region, it can be hard to know just how we should respond. I really hope these events will fuel and inform our prayers.

It’s such a privilege to have Safa in Northern Ireland, especially in the midst of this crisis. We all have many demands on our time, but this really will be worth joining us for.  We need all the help we can get to be informed and prayerful for the Middle East. At Tearfund, we are so thankful for the support of Bishops’ Appeal. This event will be a perfect partner alongside the generosity of local parishes and congregations.

Based in the Middle East, Safa navigates the beauty and potential, as well as the challenges, in the region. He has decades of experience, both in the church space and in business and social entrepreneurship. As he and his team interact with church leaders and communities, including with key partners like the Diocese of Jerusalem, the efforts of peace-building, reconciliation and community transformation are paramount in their day-to-day lives.

Come and hear exclusive stories from this work, the stories behind the headlines, either at:

10am on Thursday, 7th November, at:

Emmanuel Church Lurgan
23A Castle Lane
Lurgan
BT67 9BD

7.30pm on Thursday, 7th November, at:

Skainos Centre
239 Newtownards Road
Belfast
BT4 1AF

Please RSVP to ni@tearfund.org by Friday, 1st November 2024. You’re welcome to bring others from your leadership or church with you.  We’re looking forward to hearing from you soon.

The Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross has launched an appeal for funds to support a Christian Aid Ireland project which helps dispossessed farmers living in poverty in Sierra Leone. The appeal, which aims to raise €30,000 (currently equivalent to £25,000) over two years, was launched by the Rt Revd Dr Paul Colton at the Cork, Cloyne and Ross Diocesan Synod, held at Bandon Grammar School on Saturday, 5th October.

Bishop Paul Colton and Christian Aid Ireland’s Head of Fundraising and Supporter Engagement, Ruth Cooke, launching the Cork Diocesan Appeal for Sierra Leone at the Cork Diocesan Synod recently. Credit: Denise Stobart.

The money raised will support the work of Christian Aid’s local partner, the Sierra Leone Council of Churches, which is helping families rebuild their lives and find new sources of income after being displaced from their farmland following the arrival of a huge palm oil plantation.

It’s estimated that as many as 400 people in Pujehun District in the south of Sierra Leone abandoned their farmland because of the impact of the plantation. Funds raised by the parishioners of Cork diocese will enable more than 200 families displaced or impacted by the plantation to develop new sources of income. The cash will pay for basic farming tools (hoes, pick–axes and watering cans) as well as rice and cassava stems, enabling people to grow food to feed themselves and their families and surplus to sell for an income.
One of those now receiving help is Hawa Sannoh. Hawa has joined a savings and loan scheme which has given her cash to establish a business and to pay for essentials during family emergencies. Hawa explains: “I left my home because the chief took my father’s farm. His land was sold without his consent. He used to have lots of land where he would grow palm oil, fruit and vegetables. He was left with nothing.”

Between 2019 and 2021, the diocese raised thousands of euros for Christian Aid’s work in Burundi. To support that fundraising effort, Carrigaline clergyman the Revd Tony Murphy visited each of the 22 parishes in Cork diocese to receive donations, walking with parishioners for 5km at each location. Mr Murphy plans to visit each parish again in support of the Sierra Leone appeal.

The Cork Diocesan Appeal will help more families like Hawa’s to make a living and provide for their families. Credit: Chris Nelson.

Bishop Paul said: “The United Dioceses of Cork, Cloyne and Ross have a long tradition of engaging with the needs in society and in the world beyond our shores. Recently we completed our partnership with Burundi to support maize cooperatives there. This year, we were looking for a new project and we are delighted to enter into partnership again with Christian Aid and the Bishops’ Appeal (the Church of Ireland’s World Development Fund). The project this time is in Sierra Leone and we have given it the name Liloma, meaning ‘hope’ in one of the local languages there. We are delighted to make this new commitment of ‘Partnership in Hope with Sierra Leone’ for the coming years.”

Ruth Cooke, Christian Aid Ireland’s Head of Fundraising and Supporter Engagement, attended the Cork Diocesan Synod to help launch the new appeal. Ruth said: “We are grateful to the Bishop of Cork, the clergy and parishioners for choosing to support our work in Sierra Leone. The good people of Cork diocese have shown remarkable generosity in responding to the need in Burundi, and we trust they will respond once more to the plight of people in Sierra Leone.”

Church of Ireland Bishops’ Appeal Education Advisor Hilary McClay said: “The Bishops’ Appeal is so pleased to see the start of this initiative to raise funds for Sierra Leone, for which we will act as conduit. We congratulate all those involved for their generosity and hard work.”

Congratulations to Louis Parminter for winning the prize hamper, provided by Bishops’ Appeal, in the caption competition at General Synod! A great opportunity to promote fair trade products within the Church of Ireland.

Archbishop John McDowell presents Louis Parminter with the caption competition.

Thank you! The Bishops’ Appeal sends a message of thanks to all those who have supported recent appeals and given so generously to enable those in great need to receive help and practical aid around the world today.

Thanks to the generosity of parishes and individuals, at its meeting in March, the Bishops’ Appeal Advisory Committee has been able to allocate more than €200,000 (£171,000) of funds to support a wide range of relief and development work around the world.

At the security fence for Yei Vocational Training College, in South Sudan, funded with help from Bishops’ Appeal, are Morris Logulomo, manager, Tom Finlay from St John’s parish, Moira, and Baraka, an instructor from the college. Photo credit: CMS Ireland.

From supporting people displaced by the war in the Middle East and sending essential relief funds to the Diocese of Jerusalem, as well as stoves to people in Ukraine whose homes have been destroyed, every pound and euro we have received and can pass on makes an enormous – often life-changing difference.

Bishops’ Appeal also supports projects away from the media spotlight where the needs are equally urgent and where climate change is having a devastating impact on the lives of millions of people.

In Madagascar, we have been able to support a project promoting sustainable silk production businesses, which are replacing the previous dependence on cutting down trees to create charcoal.  Elsewhere, a Mothers’ Union literacy project in Burundi is not only supporting women to run businesses to support their families, but also basic literacy and numeracy skills help prevent fraud with the added bonus of the women being able to read the Bible for themselves.  Both these projects benefitted as a direct result of funds raised by the Dioceses of Tuam, Limerick and Killaloe during Bishop Michael’s peregrination around the churches.

Victims of two recent natural disasters in 2023 – the earthquake that devastated large parts of Syria and Turkey, and floods in Libya – have been provided with ongoing support through our partners on the ground locally.

Other projects in Malawi, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Somaliland will all receive support to enable lives to change, with training, green energy projects, and security measures around a vocational college which all help to address the many challenges people face in their everyday lives.

It is our privilege through Bishops’ Appeal to support brothers and sisters around the world who are often living in great need, but who are full of faith. As we celebrate the wonderful truth of Jesus’ Resurrection this Easter, let’s pray that the monies raised and distributed will bring the hope, kindness and goodness of God today and always.

Thank you to each person, each family and each congregation who has given so generously to support the work of Bishops’ Appeal in 2023.

Thanks to you and your generous donations we have been able to support a wide range of health, education and rural development projects around the world. From Uganda, to DRC, Malawi, Burundi, Kenya, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cambodia to Chile and Peru, there are literally thousands and thousands of people who have benefitted from your support and generosity.

Blankets shared at a local project in Lebanon. Photo credit: Tearfund.

There are girls whom you have enabled to stay in school, survivors of domestic and sexual abuse who have benefitted from your kindness, farmers affected by climate change who have benefitted from training and support, literacy projects run by the Mothers’ Union which have enabled women not only to prosper in running their businesses but also read their Bible, and people at risk in leprosy hotspots who have been spared a lifetime of intense suffering – to name just a few.

You responded with incredible generosity to our appeals for those impacted by the disasters following earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, the floods in Libya, and most recently to our Advent and Christmas Appeal for Gaza and the Middle East.  Bishops’ Appeal also sent emergency support to those impact by the earthquake in Morocco.

In the face of almost overwhelming suffering, your generosity has enabled Bishops’ Appeal to support our partners working on the ground, demonstrating the kindness and compassion of Jesus to people facing incredible challenges. Together we have been able to make a real difference to the lives of many vulnerable men, women and children around the world.

It is a sad reality that there are still so many people living in poverty, in areas devastated by natural disaster, or displaced by violence and war – but what we have been able to do to help at least some of those affected is an expression of the Body of Christ in action – reaching out with our prayers and our gifts to help his children around the world.

The hymn–writer Graham Kendrick in his beautiful hymn God of the Poor (ICH 494) wrote these words:

God of the poor
Friend of the weak
Give us compassion we pray
Melt our cold hearts
Let tears fall like rain
Come, change our love
From a spark to a flame

Refuge from cruel wars
Havens from fear
Cities for sanctuary
Freedoms to share
Peace to the killing–fields
Scorched earth to green
Christ for the bitterness
His cross for the pain

Thank you for all that you have done in 2023 to support the work of Bishops’ Appeal! Let’s pray for a peaceful and Christ–centred 2024 around the world.