0-Love Southampton 2022-2023

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Part 3 - Work of wider local international projects (Friends International, etc). Above Bar Church’s English Language Café and classes have been led by John Ayrton after Alison Risbridger stepped down in mid-2022. The café and classes, staffed by qualified TEFL teachers, helped to provide a sense of belonging and a community as well as practical language support, to those coming to the city from overseas. The Southampton branch of Friends International, led by Nigel Paterson from Kings Community Church, continued to provide a valuable service to many international students that were starting to come to Southampton again for the first time post-covid. These and many other examples in this report illustrate the importance of community to the people served by the churches and Christian charities in Southampton, and this is something that as Christians we are well placed to provide. Page 30
Story highlight 4: Friendship Festivals Although Love Southampton were not directly involved in processing the influx of Hong Kong refugees (or ‘Hong Kongers’ as they prefer to be known) coming into the city over the last few years, we felt it was important to help them build community in the city by introducing them to churches, organisations and groups. To achieve this, we organised two ‘friendship festivals’ to provide a welcoming environment for Hong Kongers to make new friends and to introduce them to Christian support groups, such as ‘Welcome Churches’ and local services, such as Citizens Advice. The first friendship festival took place on Monday 2nd May 2022 at Oasis Academy, Mayfield where an estimated 280 Hong Kongers of all ages attended over the course of an afternoon. A large ‘bring and share’ buffet was organised. Paul Woodman put on a magic show, indoor and outdoor games were provided, and people were on hand to talk to about local services and support. The second friendship festival took place on Sunday 23rd July 2022 at Portswood Church and was attended by about 90 people. The Love Southampton team organised a barbeque, children’s games (e.g. Jenga), sports (e.g. table tennis), a magic show, and a short welcome talk from our Chair, Professor Keith Brown who had lived in Hong Kong as a child. Our special thanks go to John and Mary Ayrton who coordinate the international support work that Above Bar Church does, for their hard work preparing the food for the second friendship festival at Portswood Church. The event was paid for through a donation from Southampton Vineyard Church, which we are also very grateful for. Although these events were probably quite small-scale when compared to some of the larger projects that Love Southampton has engaged with through the year, they were a good, perhaps Godly, reminder to us that size is not always important. The energy at these events was obvious, with new friendships being formed and community clearly being built. The tangible effect of the event is hard to measure, but God clearly provided the resources, the venue, and the volunteers. It was a simple way that Love Southampton could demonstrate our mission of working with churches to bless those within the city, demonstrating that there is hope! Page 31
Page 1 and 2: Love Southampton Annual Report 2022
Page 3 and 4: Contents Page 1. Foreword 4 2. Exec
Page 5 and 6: 2. Executive Summary As the UK emer
Page 7 and 8: Statement by Councillor Satvir Kaur
Page 9 and 10: Figure 1: This illustration breaks
Page 11 and 12: B: Social media We use social media
Page 13 and 14: 5. Reintroducing ourselves to wider
Page 15 and 16: Story highlight 1: NHS Cost of Livi
Page 17 and 18: Figure 2: This illustration shows h
Page 19 and 20: 7. Networks In the autumn of 2020 L
Page 21 and 22: signposting through the local GP pr
Page 23 and 24: Story highlight 3: Southampton Cost
Page 25 and 26: Page 25
Page 27 and 28: 7.III Students The various student
Page 29: C: Hong Kong City Life Church, with
Page 33 and 34: 8b. Faith Covenant (A snapshot of s
Page 35 and 36: Story highlight 5: Faith Covenant r
Page 37 and 38: C: Church community output mapping
Page 39: Contact details: www.lovesouthampto

0-Love Southampton 2022-2023

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?