Mission Partners
WMGD is the Sunday in the year when we focus specifically on our Mission Partners, raising financial support to enable them to continue their excellent work. We encourage church members to include this day in their regular giving and to prayerfully consider their response as we support our Mission Partners for the coming year. We rejoice at the opportunity to give financially to God’s work at home and overseas.
Church Representative: Jane Poole
Wycliffe Bible Translators long to see a world where everyone can know Jesus through the Bible. They serve local partners worldwide as they bring God’s word to their communities in the language that speaks to them best.
Gift and Kathryn Asiku in Uganda
Gift and Kathryn live and work in Uganda with their two teenage sons James and Simon Peter. There are over 42 languages spoken in Uganda. Gift is responsible for overseeing Bible translation in six language communities. Kathryn leads the Literacy Team which supports communities in learning to read.
Members of St. John's church have visited Uganda in recent years and have been able to see just how much reading the Bible in their ‘heart language’ means to local communities. Members of St John’s have also visited Fundo, the village where Gift grew up. Individuals within the church are supporting the ongoing development of Fundo School and enabling some children to further their education by attending secondary school. To learn more about Gift and Kathryn's work, visit ‘I realised God can speak to me in my own language!’ - Wycliffe Bible Translators
To learn more about Wycliffe in general, visit: Home - Wycliffe Bible Translators
To learn more about Fundo, visit: fundofoundation.org
Church Representatives: Rosemary & Phil Tadman
Crosslinks is an evangelical Anglican missionary society serving the church as it takes the gospel to the nations – making disciple-making disciples of Jesus and equipping local leaders.
Jony and Jenny Bertin in Argentina
Crosslinks mission partners, Jony and Jenny, with their children Felipe (10), Emma (7) and Matias (4), are based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Jony and Jenny are working to develop CEBA (Centro de Exposición Bíblica Argentina) to train the next generation of ‘pastors and teachers . . . so that the body of Christ may be built up’ (Ephesians 4:11-12). This currently involves running short training courses and building towards launching an initial one-year preaching course, with the expectation that this will grow into a two- or three-year Bachelor of Theology programme.
Background: After a few years in the UK doing youth work and training at Cornhill and Oak Hill, they returned to Argentina in 2017. Jony was ordained in 2018 and served as Pastor/Rector of St. Bartholomew’s in Rosario, Argentina. In early 2022, the family moved across the Andes to teach at CEP (Centro de Estudios Pastorales), the Anglican seminary in Santiago, Chile. The family returned to Argentina in early 2026.
Church Representative: Brenda Wilkinson
Tearfund partners with churches in more than 50 of the world’s poorest countries, tackling poverty and injustice and responding to disasters and believes that an end to extreme poverty is possible.
Tearfund’s Church and Community Transformation (CCT) initiative impacts the whole community. Starting with Bible studies, church members are encouraged and empowered to realise their potential, reach out to their community, recognise the resources God has given them, and use them to overcome the challenges they face. This way, the whole community is impacted. For more information about Church and Community Transformation, visit https://www.tearfund.org/stories/2025/04/what-is-cct-also-known-as-transforming-communities
In 2018, a group from St. John’s visited Tearfund’s partner, World Relief Cambodia, and saw the work being done to help poor communities through improved agriculture, savings and loan schemes, healthcare training and raising awareness of the dangers of trafficking.
In 2025 the work of Tearfund and the Disasters Emergency Committee was recognised at a humanitarian reception hosted by King Charles III, Queen Camilla, The Princess Royal and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. Brenda and Gordon Wilkinson were honoured to be included among Tearfund’s representatives.
Church representative: Jenny Young
St. Catherine’s Hospice is a local charity with a big ambition: to help everyone face death informed, supported, and pain-free. Providing expert hospice care, St. Catherine’s is there for people in West Sussex and East Surrey “when life comes full circle”. They also pioneer standards in end-of-life care through collaboration, research and training as they strive to reach even more people facing death and bereavement.
Many of us at St. John’s have been supported, or know people who have been, by St. Catherine’s. Every year, they care for around 2,100 people who are living with a life-limiting illness.
The new hospice at Pease Pottage was opened in 2024 with 24 beds. From May 2026, 16 beds will be available, three will be funded through Surrey's Home First Initiative, and one will be organised by the Sussex Hospice Alliance. To learn more about the work of St. Catherine’s Hospice, visit their website t: https://www.stch.org.uk
Church Representatives: Rosemary and Phil Tadman
Andrew and Maria Leake in the Salta region of N. Argentina.
Andrew now has a full-time position with Compassion International supporting National Offices worldwide as they grapple with the devastating impacts of climate change on children living in poverty. He finds that amid the often-overwhelming negative news on climate, it is encouraging to witness local churches across the globe stepping up to the challenges. To find out more about Compassion International, visit www.https://www.compassion.com
The Leakes have been successfully supporting efforts to secure the land rights of the indigenous people through the Church Mission Society, CMS. They continue to do this through the charity they set up, Fundación Refugio. Maria has been awarded a distinction for her Certificate in Christian Rural Environmental Studies run by Ripon College Cuddesdon (Oxford) based upon her work with the indigenous Wichi people in Tartagal in the Chaco.
Church representative: Glen Jones
CPAS runs Christian holidays for thousands of 8 to 18s each year.
- Ventures are fun-filled holidays that offer children and young people the opportunity to make great friends, take part in incredible activities and explore life with Jesus.
- Falcons are subsidised holidays, designed to suit children and young people who may face disadvantages or difficult circumstances in their daily lives.
- School Ventures give pupils at Church of England primary schools the chance to investigate the core concepts of the Christian faith for themselves.
Young people from St. John’s regularly attend the Venture holidays and benefit greatly from them. Members of our leadership team volunteer to help run the holidays. For more information about Ventures watch the video on our YouTube channel and to visit their website go to: www.ventures.org.uk
Church representative: Caroline Kettlewell
Welcare is a local charity working with families in South London and East Surrey in need of practical help and support, providing food, toys, clothing, debt management advice, counselling and friendship. Their services are based on Christian values and they strive to empower families and change lives for the better, offering practical and emotional support to overcome challenges.
Their team of Family Support Workers is managed by professional Social Workers. They provide family-focused support for children coping with a wide range of problems, which could result from domestic abuse and violence, parental ill health, financial worries or living with disabilities. For more about the work of Welcare, watch the video on our YouTube channel You can visit the Welcare website at: https://welcare.org
Church representative: Lis Woolley
Care is a charity run entirely by volunteers with the aim of providing practical help to people living in East Grinstead, Lingfield, Dormansland, Ashurst Wood, Felbridge, Crowhurst, Blindley Heath, Newchapel or South Godstone. It was established in 1988 by members of local churches, including St John’s, as a means of Christian outreach. It seeks to help people within the community in practical ways, such as providing help with shopping, transport to medical appointments or to visit a friend or relation in a hospital or a nursing home in the area.
The Duty Officer is available on 01342 410086 between 9 am and 2 pm any weekday.
Churches Together initiatives in East Grinstead include the Foodbank, Street Pastors, CARE and the Community Bank.
East Grinstead & District Credit Union has become part of Boom Community Bank, which claims to offer a safer and cheaper alternative to high street sources such as payday loans, doorstep lenders and loan sharks. http://www.careineastgrinstead.co.uk/