Partners in Mission

Everything related to mission at St Luke’s is the responsibility of the Partners in Mission Group, a PCC working group which is charged with:

  • Helping St Luke’s congregation to a deeper understanding of mission and our potential for involvement.
  • Supporting our mission partners and other agencies locallyelsewhere in the UK and abroad.
  • Making known the needs of missions partners and agencies in respect of prayer, financial support and practical involvement.
  • Encouraging and challenging individuals, of all ages, in our church that God might be calling them to mission involvement at home or overseas.
  • Making available, through occasional Partners in Mission Sundays and other events, resources and information to inform the church about the work of our partners and other agencies so as to assist church members to make informed choices about their support for mission activities.
  • Advising the PCC on the allocation of our church’s giving to mission and being alert to new mission challenges and opportunities.

Here are news stories from some of our Partners in Mission

Kisumu Children’s Home (KC) Update

Kamuganguzi School in Uganda

The Malawi Project: April 2021

Profiles of some of our Partners in Mission


St Lukes Watford, Partners in Mission

Mark & Sarah Gelsthorpe

Hanamaki, Japan

Mark & Sarah work for OMF (the Overseas Missionary Fellowship) planting churches in Japan.

  • They are currently part of a team of missionaries running a church in the city of Hanamaki, about 500 kilometers north of Tokyo. 
  • The church has recently purchased a house which they have been converting into their church building. St Luke’s contributed towards the fund-raising appeal for the new building .
  • Mark & Sarah have three children – Grace (14), Isaac (12) and Caleb (10). All three children attend local schools and are all fluent in Japanese!
  • Mark and Sarah met at Durham University and discovered they shared a passion for mission, and a love for Japan. They have been working with OMF in Japan since 2014.
  • Sarah grew up as part of the St Luke’s church family, and the family have been mission partners of St Luke’s since 2018.

Sally Miller, Friends International

Sally Miller

Lancaster, UK

Sally is Lancaster Centre Team Leader of Friends International, a Christian charity supporting International Students in the UK.

  • Friends International’s mission is to seek to grow friendship and faith with international students in the UK & Ireland. Its vision is: Transforming Students, Transforming Nations. 
  • Sally works with international students at both Lancaster and Cumbria Universities, leading a team of interns and volunteers and organising events and activities including the very popular ID or International Dinners.
  • She has a particular passion for spending time with international students on a one-to-one basis answering their questions about Christianity and sharing what the Bible says.
  • Another important part of her work is the Returnees’ Ministry, keeping in touch with students who have returned to their home countries, and encouraging them to link up with local churches.
  • Sally grew up as part of the St Luke’s church family, and now worships at Moorlands Evangelical Church in Lancaster, where she is also a Mission Partner.

Andrea & Clive Thomas

Clive and Andrea grew up in the local area and attended St Luke’s youth group.

For over 25 years, Clive and Andrea have been dividing their time between the UK and Nepal.

Nepal

Based in Pokhara, they support the work of the International Nepal Fellowship (INF); a Christian health and development organisation serving the poor and marginalised in Nepal.

UK

Clive and Andrea work for All Nations Christian College primarily in the area of online intercultural course development and facilitation.


Bishop Alfred Olwa, Uganda supported by St Lukes Watford

Bishop Alfred Olwa

Uganda

Bishop of Lango Diocese based in Lira in northern Uganda.

  • Bishop Alfred was for many years Dean of the Faculty of Theology at Uganda Christian University in Mokono, near Kampala.
  • Alfred studied at London Bible College (now LST) over 20 years ago and St Luke’s was his placement church. We have supported his ministry ever since.
  • Bishop Alfred has a vision to use Lira as a strategic base to take the gospel northwards from Uganda into South Sudan and on up the Nile valley to Egypt. To that end he has a vision to train 200 evangelists to embark on this mission.

Ruth Guinness

Malawi

Based in Blantyre, in southern Malawi, working with SIM (Serving in Mission)

  • Ruth worked until 2020 as a Lecturer at EBCoM (The Evangelical Bible College of Malawi), teaching Theology and Biblical Studies to students from both Malawi & Mozambique.
  • Ruth grew up at St Luke’s where her father was the Vicar. She has been working in Malawi since 2000.

AMP

South Asia

  • Based in P., providing IT and typesetting support for Bible translation work, producing tracts, song books and children’s colouring Bible story booklets and developing various speaking Scripture and picture book apps for smart phones.
  • Currently working mainly with local translators working on scriptures for the G. language group plus other minority and national languages.
  • A. grew up in the Cassiobury area and attended the local Crusader group.