Thus Far The Lord Has Helped Us.

December 03, 2024 0 0

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Thus far the Lord has helped us.

Following on from our last announcement we promised we would be in touch with you as a supporters of Sanctuary First, to outline our vision and strategy as we move forward and to seek your support. We feel that we must reach out in faith and shape our budget to meet the vision we have for Sanctuary First rather than be constrained by our present situation and resources.

The whole project of Sanctuary First has been a miracle from day one. The story of how God has provided for us over the years is a story still to be told.  Perhaps we should share it over a series of blog posts. Enough to say that the phrase “Thus far the Lord has helped us” (1Sam7:12) is our understated truth and faith experience, which we as a board hold to, knowing  we have not come this far to become faint hearted or for the God who called us into this ministry, to leave us without hope and support.

What has been achieved

During Covid, our ministry was the subject of academic study papers and labelled as the UK’s leading digital ministry by Dr Pete Phillips of Durham University Digital Theology Department. Take a moment to cast your eye over what has been achieved to date.

• The creation of a unique Website & App offering a variety of material to attract seekers, to encourage Christian discipleship and to help individuals connect with God, as part of a worldwide worshipping community. In 2023 over half a million forms of engagement took place across our digital presence. There is no other website and App provision like Sanctuary First

• Live Morning Prayer at 7am every day on Facebook, our website and our App, with the facility to catch up at any time during the day. (This past weekend was our 4^th anniversary of morning prayer).

• Daily Worship (online bible readings, reflections and prayers) with audio available on Facebook, website and App.

• Weekly Connect (bible study) material that is being used by both online & in person Connect groups across the world.

• Weekly Sunday Live Worship service, broadcast online across our, App Website, Facebook and YouTube pages simultaneously.

• The Virtual Coffee Shop, an online gathering space hosted on Sanctuary First using zoom, allowing the community to gather after worship for fellowship.

• Weekly Live Jam Friday Music promoting Christian and other singer songwriters based in Scotland and further afield.

• Weekly online Art Connection group, encouraging good mental health and fellowship, and place for people to realize their creativity.

• We have ran serval Book Clubs such as the Tales From The Library Book Club, which now has over 70 short audiobooks in its archives.

• Published regular Blogs from a range of Christian writers diving into challenging and relevant topics and themes to our daily walk with God in a modern society.

• Produced a range of new and original Podcasts Series, many now running on their second season. From exploring Church hurt and good news stories of growth in ‘Emerging Emmaus’, to the Important Women of the Bible with ‘Time of The Month’ and many more.

• Our various programs and projects have been broadcast on BBC and Premier Radio, enabling us to reach a larger wider group of people.

• We have connected with the arts community at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the past three years, creating podcasts known as Faith at the Fringe and in 2024 we held eight separate Praise Ceilidh events for the public, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival which attracted over 300 paid attendees, mostly unchurched people. This has allowed us to build a strong partnership with St Cuthbert’s Parish Church in Edinburgh where it was held.

• Our Windows on the Resurrection art installation has toured multiple churches and has now been viewed by several thousands of people, challenging people to think of how they view a sacred space as they view the immersive visual & sound exhibition, while giving the local church community an opportunity to engage with people who normally would not attend their church.

What has still to be achieved

While all this has been achieved it is our constant purpose to deliver scripture and prayer into the lives of the people of Scotland and beyond. This we believe is to be the most important aspect of our work. Without prayer and the encouragement of the scriptures and the fellowship of God’s people, through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, all our efforts are nothing, no more than words blowing in the wind.

Today Sanctuary First is an International Online Worshipping Community, connecting with thousands who may no longer be attending, or have never attended, regular church services but who are finding their spiritual home within this unique community. We are enabling many of our house-bound and elderly Christians to stay connected with church. Our desire is to become an inclusive inter-generational faith community. Sanctuary First is not a church, but we seek to partner with local church congregations of all denominations, becoming their online arm - connecting them with Christian’s or those interested in finding out more about Christianity, locally and worldwide, building up the unity of the body of Christ. 

The following are areas where we feel we now need to explore.

• An expansion of our effort in marketing to help us connect with an unchurched audience.

• Enable more denominations and individual church congregations to partner with Sanctuary First as their linked digital partner supporting them in their mission strategy.

• Upgrading of the Sanctuary First App and website to create bespoke broadcasting channels for churches to use as part of their digital strategy. This is currently in progress.

• To establish a Sanctuary First Creative Hub where creatives can come in person to collaborate and explore the opportunities that digital technology offers the church in her mission to share the gospel. (A new pilot partnership in this area is under discussion and is a distinct possibility)

• Create new pathways of connection with the under 40s.

Funding Sanctuary First

Here is how we aim to replace and grow the core funding we have lost.

We would like to prayerfully invite everyone who uses Sanctuary First to consider how they can help our cash flow situation this month as we move into 2025. It may be that you are already one of the contributors to the Gideon Appeal and in that case we’d like to thank you very much for your support.

Your encouragement has given us the strength to go forward in expectancy. The Gideon Appeal has increased our monthly giving from around £1200, per month to £2,500. This is an amazing increase but we require £12,000 per month for the vision to grow. Our forecast is that we will move into 2025 with a balance of around £17,000

It is our hope that we can begin to raise more financial support from the community to enable us to keep our present staff employed over the next few months while we send out applications to major Christian funders to invite them to pick up the costs of staffing and digital design. Often trusts and foundations help with core funding over a three yearly cycle.

If you have any links with any trusts and or businesses who might be prepared to support us financially, please get in touch with us office@sanctuaryfirst.org.uk 

If you are able, can we ask that once more you contact Jane at our office and share what you value about Sanctuary First and if possible advise us of your gift to help with our cash flow. office@sanctuaryfirst.org.uk  If you have not already done so, and do not use online banking, perhaps you could ask for a standing order form that you can fill in and send to your bank. If you fill in a standing order, can you please let Jane know so that we can thank you for your support and trace your gift when it arrives in our account.

One final thing to consider. If we want to build into the future perhaps leaving a legacy to Sanctuary First would be one of the greatest investments, you could make to help secure our future. We are now a registered charity and able to be named in a will. It is also helpful for us when making applications to trusts, to be able to make them aware that we have been named in a will. Of course, any such correspondence would be completely confidential and names would never be mentioned.

Thank you once again for all your kind words of support and for enabling us all here at Sanctuary First, to feel that this experience has drawn us all closer together, to share in a cause that is greater than any of us.

Very Rev Albert Bogle - Chairperson

Rev Laura Digan - Board Member 

Jim Steel - Board Member

Rev Jonathan Fleming - Board member

Paul Goode - Treasurer & Board member

Jane Steel - Secretary to the Board & Accounts Administrator