An extra-generous church
When one British congregation embarked on raising £1.8 million to upgrade their buildings, they decided to give £160,000 of it to charities: including £12,000 for A Rocha Portugal, so that they can install a solar heating system at Cruzinha.
The church is St Mary’s, Upton, in NW England, the visionary fellowship which first sent out Peter and Miranda Harris to Portugal in 1983. More than thirty years later, A Rocha is still being aided and encouraged by their faith and generosity. Marcial Felgueiras, National Director of A Rocha Portugal, lives with his family at Cruzinha, A Rocha’s first field study centre. He says, ‘St Mary’s faces a big challenge in raising the funds needed to make their church fit for current and future use. They are modernizing their beautiful old place of worship and adding on new facilities so that they can better serve the thousands of people who come through their doors each year. We’re very grateful that they are not just fundraising for their own buildings, but for ours also’.
If your church is undertaking a ‘big build’ and you’d like to follow the example of St Mary’s, please contact us. Several of our centres around the world need urgent work and we can send you details.