OurMission

Downs Baptist Church seeks to support projects both at home and overseas through prayer, financial giving and offering practical help. One tenth of our offerings are used to support mission projects. The main areas of support abroad at present include Romania, Kenya, France and Israel.

Support is given to other churches in this country through such organisations as the Home Mission Fund and Brighton & Hove City Mission. We also support Off the Fence, a local charity for the homeless.

Romania

DBC has a strong link with FAST in Romania who support thr Rroma community in areas near to Brasov. Their main operation is the Better Home Project which seeks to replace cold, dirty & unstable slums built from cardboard, plastic and other scrap material with sturdy, dry, warm homes suitable for living in. Our youth congregation has taken a particular interest in this project and in 2011 are sending a team over to volunteer.

Kenya

We are privileged to have a close link with Pastor Daniel Gitau and his wife Fennih in the village of Dundori near to Nakuru in Kenya. There they lead a staff of eight people, who presently care for four congregations, a school and a clinic. Daniel also has administrative responsibility for six other churches in the area.

The faith and work of this group of people has been a source of inspiration to DBC as we have seen how diligently and sacrificially they have used limited resources to benefit the community they serve.

Fair Trade

The Greengrocers Shop sells a growing number of Fair Trade as well as health Food items. The Youth combined evening service in March looked at inequality and injustice through focussing on a “Stop the Traffik” theme. See the Youth Activities page for more details.

Tearfund

The church continues to support Tearfund, the Christian relief and development charity which cares for the world’s poor in 70 countries across the world. An offering was raised earlier in the year when we again used Tearfund’s resources for a special Tearfund Sunday. The theme was the HIV/AIDS pandemic which affects 42 million people across the world. This figure includes 3.2 million children under the age of 15.