Charity and Missions

		Charity and Missions St Ursula's Church Berne, Switzerland A Church of the Anglican Communion, welcoming all who seek the Lord Jesus Christ
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Please read our flyer about our local food-bank and help project.

For many years, St Ursula's has sought to give generously to support the work of Christ in the world. In practical terms, we aim to give at least a tenth of our income to support charitable causes and missionary activity. We also respond to particular needs through dedicated collections, and our collections at Christmas and Harvest go to Tearfund (that's The Evangelical Alliance Relief Fund), and in particular to their water project in Uganda, run in conjunction with the Diocese of Kigezi. Our Junior Church also supports this project.

We are currently looking at ways to help the needy here in Berne, who number more than is often realized. This could take the form of a Food Bank, or focussed and practical support for one of the projects being organized by our fellow Christians here in the city.

We try to maintain close personal contact with the recipients, and to support them not only with our giving but with our prayers. We invite your prayers for:

• the Anglican community in Cairo and their "Helping Program", Refuge Egypt, working for the refugees who fled from Sudan during the civil war there;
• the Talagolla Child Development Centre, Professor da Silva's hospital and convalescent home in Ragama Municipality, in the Western Province of Sri Lanka;
• the Holy Land Institute for the Deaf at Salt in Jordan (there is a good overview on the Archdiocese of Jerusalem website)
• Cecily's Fund, supporting and educating Zambian children who have been orphaned by AIDS;
• the Lifeskills Education Project (Sakh'ulutsha), run by Scripture Union South Africa;
• the Passantenhilfe run on behalf of the Bernese churches by the Salvation Army, offering advice and support to people locally without fixed homes;
• the Legal Advice/Foreigners Rights for the needy project newly started in 2023 by the Bernese Council of Churches. Most cases involve foreigners living in Bern, often with a F permit, who are being threatened by the local council or the Fremdenpolizei with withdrawal of support or deportation. Even in these few months decisions have been reversed in favour of the foreigner by the intervention of the legal advice team;
• Partners, the Swiss Old Catholic relief agency, with whom we work closely together.
• A Rocha International, an international network of Christian environmental organizations, working in over twenty countries.

We also give generously to the Bishop's Advent and Lent appeals, which are usually focussed on a specific area where the need is more acute - there are details of these at the relevant seasons on the diocesan website.