Celebrating ten years of ROCK Giving 2016 - 2026 

On 12 June 2016, All Saints had the first (of two) Giving and Pledge Day in connection with the ROCK Project. It was one of many steps of faith + generosity that we had to take as a church in order to bring out the vision of Reimagining Our Church for the Kingdom (ROCK). During May 2016 the PCC and Staff Team had led the way with their pledges and gifts. By the end of Pledge Sunday, we had received 90 pledges (representing around 150-60 church members). The smallest gift/pledge was £20 and the largest was (with Gift Aid) £100,000. All were welcome. The total given and pledged by the end of that day came to £578,000. This was a fantastic start to our aim of raising £3,000,000.
 
But more was to be given over the next 10 years (and still counting!). By the time we had the official celebration in October 2024 for the completion of Phase One of the Project around £1,600,000 (including Gift Aid) had been given by individual church members to the project. And as of the end of June 2026, we ‘only’ have about £85,000 remaining of the loan we took out – so only another £85k to go!.
 
But what has this to do with the picture of an African Hospital?
The answer is the ROCK Appeal contained a pledge that we would donate £20,000 to a building project in Africa, probably Malawi and probably Eagles Relief (one of our major mission partners). We have waited until now for a viable project to come forward from Eagles but for various reasons that has not happened. However this month, the PCC determined that the ten-year old commitment will be fulfilled through a gift of £20,000 to CURE International - which provides life-changing surgical and medical care for children with disabilities at CURE Children’s Hospitals across sub-Saharan Africa and the Philippines.
 
One of those hospitals is in Malawi where CURE is  currently building a residential facility (Hope House) next to the hospital so that children who can be treated as outpatient but who need somewhere to stay overnight have somewhere to stay. It will also accommodate family members of children who need to stay as an in-patient perhaps for weeks. Our gift of £20,000 will go towards the costs of building Hope House
 
Happily, there is an historic church connection with that hospital. Some church members will remember John and Robin Cashman who worked at the CURE Malawi hospital for a number of years before relocating back to the UK. So all in all it is very gratifying to be able to play a part in this venture. For much more information on the hospital and this project click here.