St John's Church - Living Stones

Living Stones

Living Stones Mission

"Living Stones Mission Partners is the name we give to those people commissioned and sent out by St John's church to full-time Christian work, either in this country or overseas."

We are committed to supporting them in prayer, finance and in other practical ways. We also have a number of Living Stones Associates doing similar work and linked with St John's, for whom we pray but to whom we are not committed in terms of financial or other support.

St John's Church Harborne supports mission partners working long term in the UK and overseas.

Our long term mission partners have usually been a member of the St John's for at least two years, and we commit to support them as necessary, through prayer, finance, and other practical ways.

For those who are wanting to serve for longer periods of time, both within the UK or overseas, please contact Patty McCulloch, the Living Stones Vocations Team co-ordinator (Via the church office). She will arrange for you to meet with someone to help you discern how to proceed.

If you want to pray for our long term mission partners, don't forget to collect a prayer leaflet from church, or look in the notice sheet each week. We also encourage C-groups to partner with overseas mission partners to support them with fellowship and prayer.

We also support people preparing to travel on short-term missions, and gap years, from our congregation. The most recent reports can be found at the bottom of this page.

If you want to read about previous reports, click to go to our Archive of previous reports

A short term mission is anything from a few weeks to months, and includes a Summer project, GAP year, or something more unique. These projects are supported on the condition that they have a Christian focus, but can be within the UK or international.

Please contact Liz Knell, the short-term co-ordinator, if you have any queries of would like more information.

Even if your plans are not definite, please contact Liz as soon as possible as she has a team of mentors who can help advise you, and pray with you through this process.

Our Responsibilities

The Living Stones Management Team, together with the Living Stones Vocations Team and the Living Stones Support Team undertakes the following duties:

Coordinate the ministry of St John’s outside our own parish
Develop the church’s understanding and commitment to mission
Keep St John’s informed about Mission Partners’ ministries
Recognise and advise those who are called into Christian service to be Mission Partners
Ensure the pastoral care and practical care of Mission Partners
Liaise with the sending agencies with whom the Mission Partners are working
Review the ministries of individual Mission Partners regularly
Administer financial support through mission agencies for individual Mission Partners
Administer financial support for projects and organisations which have links with St John’s and our Mission Partners.

Giving

Collective Support. St John's financial support for Living Stones comes entirely from regular giving from the congregation that is specifically given to Living Stones. It is up to members of the congregation to decide how to divide giving between Living stones and the general Church collection.
Personal Gifts. We are not normally able to pass on individually designated gifts and ask you to make your own arrangements for such cases. The mutual care fund enables you to make individual gifts if you wish to respond to needs within the congregation.

More Information

For any other information, please contact Ansley Stenning (via the church office). You can also collect a Living Stones pack, available from the information desk. This gives details about each Mission Partner and Associate, and how to receive their prayer letter.