the warwicks head south

Thought it was about time we let you know what our plans are for this summer...

On 20th July, we’re flying south, to Durban in South Africa, where we’ll be working for 2 weeks. We’ll be working for the Grassroots Trust, who we were involved with when we lived in London, getting alongside some community projects in the city, run by SoulAction – a joint venture between Tearfund and Soul Survivor. Teams travel to Durban every summer to serve the projects which are run all year round by local churches. We will be visiting them all, looking at ways in which effective prayer structures can be implemented. These projects include food parcels for orphans, a crèche to enable refugee parents to find jobs to support their families and a team working to clear a massive rubbish problem around a block of flats. We believe that these projects are serving the communities very well but could have even more impact on the people they touch if the teams could create spaces within their work to pray.

We will also be meeting with some of the church leaders and prayer people from Durban to begin to discuss a prayer event for the city in July 2008. All of these things will be coming together for a Soul in the City event, showing God’s love practically in Durban in 2009, similar to the event held in London in 2004. There's more information about these projects on the SoulAction website or drop us a line and we'll make sure some information comes your way.

This is quite a big trip for us, firstly because of the work we’ll be doing while we are there, and then secondly because we will be meeting with Grassroots on our return to consider our involvement in Durban over the next 2 years and beyond. We’d really appreciate knowing that our family and friends were standing with us in this.

We’d really really love it if you would pray for us while we are there, for our health and safety and for effective meetings and connections with the people we need to see. We believe that prayer works, which is why this is most important to us. If you feel you can commit to praying for us, please let us know and we will send you more information about what to pray, as well as updates while we are there.

Please do pray for the Soul Action teams and the churches running these projects, as well as the communities in which they serve. Durban is a diverse city, with extreme poor ghetto areas just a minute’s walk away from particularly rich residents. Whilst community projects such as these can make a difference, many of the changes which need to occur are things that only God can do.

Finally, as with all trips like this, there are costs involved. The budget for our trip currently stands at £3,000. Flights will cost more than half of this, with the rest covering our accommodation, insurance, travel in the city and resources for the projects. We are trusting God that he will provide the funds that we need, and are actively working to raise this amount. If you feel led to support us financially in this, we would be extremely grateful.

If you've made it this far and would like to know more or want to support us by praying and/or giving, please drop us a line and we'll let you know how. Alternatively, head on over to the Grassroots website, download a form and follow the instructions.

Thanks!