Churches
Churches through prayer, financial and volunteer support play a vital role in helping us to demonstrate the love of God to the poor and needy. There are a number of ways that individuals and Churches can get involved:
For further information or assistance, please contact the fundraising department on 01438 727800, or email fundraising@mercyships.org.uk
Become a Church Rep
The role of a church rep is to act as a point of contact for Mercy Ships in your church to help us raise much needed funds, awareness, and prayerful support for our work. This might include:
• Placing articles about Mercy Ships in your church newsletter, distributing leaflets and up-to-date information, displaying posters and so on
• Arranging for a Mercy Ships speaker to give a talk after a service and taking a collection in support of our work.
• Organising a special service in support of one of our projects at Easter or Christmas
• Organising a fundraising event after a service or one evening during the week. You could show a Mercy Ships DVD, or arrange one of our speakers to give a talk
• Organising a group of people join a Mercy Team – a 10-day mission trip to work alongside ships and land-based programmes on specific field projects
• Setting up a Fundraising Support Group in your Church to pray, fundraise and raise awareness for Mercy Ships. You could encourage your bible study group to help you, or ask your church leader to identify people who would be interested in helping.
• Setting up a prayer group to pray for our work once a week or monthly using materials provided by Mercy Ships.
• Co-ordinating the distribution of Mercy Ships collection boxes to other church members and the banking and receipting of all monies raised from them.
If you are interested in becoming a Church Rep, please contact Jane Palmer on 01438 347481 or email jane.palmer@mercyships.org.uk
Invite a Speaker
We have a dedicated group of individuals countrywide that can be booked to speak to churches.
Many on the Speakers Network are ex-crew and have first hand knowledge and stories of life on a Mercy Ship. They give presentations from 20 minutes to and hour about Mercy Ships with photos, and other multimedia presentation material. You can support us by arranging one of our speakers to come to you.
Click here to download a Speaker Engagement request form and return it to us at the address provided on the form. To book a speaker by phone, or to request a form by post, please contact Mercy Ships on 01438 727800 or email fundraising@mercyships.org.uk
Pray For Our Work
The Ship’s Watchman plays a vital role in increasing prayerful support for Mercy Ships, while keeping supporters up-to-date with our life-transforming work. It’s an audio information diary inviting supporters to pray individually, or as a group, for ships, staff, projects and the people whose lives we aim to improve. To request a copy of the Ship’s Watchman on CD or cassette, please contact us on 01438 727800, or email info@mercyships.org.uk
Hold A Special Collection
By holding a collection for Mercy Ships during a service, or at a special time of year such as Easter or Sea Sunday, your church can give children and families a new start in life. Mercy Ships can supply collection envelopes, money boxes, literature, and posters to support your collection.
For further information or assistance, please contact the fundraising department on 01438 727800, or email fundraising@mercyships.org.uk
Sponsor a Project
Get your whole church working together to demonstrate God’s love to the poor and needy by raising funds for a development project. Your congregation could raise money to buy a piece of equipment on a Mercy Ship, or fund a project that will transform the lives of an entire community.
Mercy Ships will work closely with you to select a project suitable for your church and provide support, resources and feedback to make it a year to remember.
For further information on our projects, please contact Amanda King on 01438 347485 or email amanda.king@mercyships.org.uk