Impact 2020

Impact Offering 2020 Accelerating Kingdom Initiatives

Accelerating Kingdom Initiatives as Opportunity Arises Our Impact Offering enables us to support churches and partner with ministries and outreach projects that are reaching the poor, oppressed, vulnerable and sick, both locally and globally.

EQUIPPERS ONE Equippers UK captured at Equippers One in March 2020, Woking Theatre. This event, funded by last year’s Impact Offering, renewed our motivation and inspiration to keep moving forward together. What an opportunity we had to celebrate being together before going into lockdown!

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I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT UPON ALL PEOPLE. YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS WILL PROPHESY. YOUR OLD MEN WILL DREAM DREAMS, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN WILL SEE VISIONS. JOEL 2:28 (NLT)

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Dear Church, Do you love to dream and imagine what could be, or what might be, for you and for others? Everything that was intentionally created first started off as a dream!

God is a dreamer! He dreamt of you before you were conceived. He dreamt of the earth and all its beauty before it ever existed, and He has dreams for His creation and His people that are still to be brought to reality.

He encourages us to dream too. He guides us as we dream with Him. Our dreaming hearts lead us to discover the destiny He intended for us. Dreams and visions mark the work and moving of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. When we dream WITH God, the Creator, the Original Dreamer, our dreams take on so much more significance than simply being a good idea. God-dreams call us out of our today and into our future!

Impact Offering 2020 has been inspired by dreaming with God. Over the years, Impact Offering has helped many people fulfil dreams, and through your ongoing generosity, it will continue to awaken future dreams. Whether it’s planting a church in a new city or nation, starting an NGO, or reaching hurting people in our immediate communities with Jesus, we all can play our part.

As you read the following pages filled with stories of people’s dreams being established and fulfilled, allow the Holy Spirit to show you the part you can play in fulfilling dreams as you prepare for this year’s Impact Offering on Sunday 8th November.

This is our chance to be involved with Jesus in His mission - to make His love and His Name known, both in our nation and beyond. God wants us, together, to dream with Him - to see further and to experience greater things than we could have imagined on our own.

With love,

Mark & Monica Collard Senior Pastors, Equippers Church

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AWAKENING DREAMS THROUGH

CHURCH PLANTING

We Will Primarily Change The World Through The Local Church And By Planting SigniďŹ cant New Churches We have the ongoing privilege to support emerging churches as well as to strengthen existing ones in local and global locations.

Our Impact Offering helps meet practical needs that make Sunday services a great experience, as well as ways to reach their community through outreach programmes.

This year we have supported some of the following churches from our Equippers family through our Impact fund:

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EQUIPPERS GHANA

For the Equippers church near the city of Accra in Ghana, our Impact gift has enabled Pastor Stephen and his wife Eunice to secure a lease on a new property and to start a building project to welcome their growing numbers.

Earlier in January, we sent several of our leadership team to spend time strengthening and encouraging the church. We helped support their services with upgraded equipment, advised on their building construction, and inspired the church with preaching and teaching to equip them for the season ahead.

On 6 September, Equippers Ghana celebrated the “cutting of the soil” to commence building work for their new facility to accommodate up to 300 people. We are trusting God together with them that He will fill it!

“We are so grateful for the support of our Church family in the UK. Your generosity keeps releasing our faith to do mission for God. Together we are winning for Jesus the reward for His sacrifice.”

- Pastor Stephen, Equippers Ghana

EQUIPPERS BUDAPEST, HUNGARY EQUIPPERS SAO PAULO, BRAZIL

Pastored by Miro and Martha Toth we have helped to fund the church’s new city centre venue for their Sunday gatherings. In fact, long before there was a vision of planting a church in Budapest, God put this venue on Pastor Miro’s heart when he was walking the streets of Budapest!

Whilst meeting physically was restricted for some months due to the pandemic, the church maintained momentum by taking their services online, holding mid-week Zoom connections and outreaching and praying with many in Budapest’s beautiful Margit-sziget park. Recently they have resumed gathering together in their new venue again and we stand with them to see God touch this incredible city.

Equippers Church Rio, led by Ps Jeziel and Esther Koehler, is a thriving church in Brazil. With their heart to reach more people, they launched their first public gathering in the major city of Sao Paulo at the end of 2019. Over 100 people started meeting to experience God’s presence and worship.

As the impact from Covid-19 lockdown eases, the church is excited to build momentum to meet safely in public gatherings. Funds from our Impact Offering helped the church in their first 3 months of venue hire. We can’t wait to hear how the church impacts this city in the coming years!

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AWAKENING DREAMS THROUGH

GLOBAL ACTIVITY

In our global reach we partner with NGOs, ministries and community outreach and their dreams to bring the hope of Jesus to the marginalised, poor and down-trodden.

Through Impact Offering we have helped meet people’s basic needs, giving them dignity, value and in turn helped awaken their hearts to dream for their own lives, their family and their community.

Outreach in Manila, Philippines In February our missions team travelled to bless the church in Equippers Manila and took to the streets to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the Philippines' neediest.

Ministering Hope To Victims Of Taal Volcano - We funded over 100 care packages that were distributed to victims in a coastal community destroyed by the effects of the Philippines’ Volcano, Taal. The eruption only a month prior, caused wide-spread devastation. Heavy ash buried homes, farms, livestock, the fishing industry and transport networks. People were grieving the loss of their loved ones, their community and many face hopelessness.

Our team travelled 3 hours from Manila and spent the day walking from house to house, talking, praying, sharing hope and leading some people to salvation. One man who was partially visually-impaired encountered God’s power and his vision improved after prayer.

Ministering Hope In Prison - We also funded care packages full of groceries, health-items and a nutritious meals for 120 women in Manila’s Marikina City Jail.

Partnering with the restoring ministry ‘Beauty for Ashes’ the team spent time sharing life-giving messages, imparted hope and took time to pray and encourage the women about God’s redeeming love.

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Action On Podoconiosis Association (APA) For the past 8 years, our Impact Offering has helped support APA, whose vision is to see Podoconiosis (Podo) eradicated in Ethiopia within our lifetime.

Podo is a form of elephantiasis (grotesque swelling / deformity of the feet and legs), affecting at least 1.6 million bare-foot farmers in Ethiopia alone. Podo starts when thick, dry skin on the feet cracks, allowing specific volcanic soils to damage lymphatic vessels. Left untreated, it destroys a life – it is agonising, foul-smelling and shameful.

Sufferers are mistaken as infectious or cursed. They are ostracised and shunned from family, school, work and their community.

Many starve or die prematurely or take their own lives.

Our Impact Fund furthers APA’s partnerships with local Health Centres to train and monitor Health Care professionals, drive prevention (through community education) and treatment (through supply of treatment kits and the training to use them). Daily washing (with water and soap) and application of a barrier (petroleum jelly) elicits a minor miracle, as legs and feet start to shrink over weeks and months. Patients with very large feet also receive custom-made high-quality, leather boots, built for them personally in one of APA’s 7 Shoe Factories.

To date, APA has treated 33,200 patients.

With healing, those once shunned and feared can return to family, work, education and life. Moreover, with new life comes dignity, confidence and the chance to dream again.

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AWAKENING DREAMS

LOCALLY We invest in our communities by sowing into local ministries as well as strengthening our own church and initiatives.

This year’s events have also highlighted more than ever that people need Jesus.

Despite Covid-19, we are taking the hope of the Gospel to those in our streets and neighbourhoods where we can impart kindness and believe that God will awaken their hearts to a life of purpose, belonging and peace in Him. We love gathering together, as our heart is for people to experience the presence of God and the power of a unified church.

Equippers One in March enlarged our vision as our UK locations gathered to worship, celebrate and dream together.

Our 7th annual Revo Tour last November reached over 6,000 young people in 13 Surrey and Richmond-based secondary schools. Over a five-day period, our youth teams, with hired professional musicians and dance artists, presented the message of “being the change” and encouraged young people that they can make a difference.

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LAND, VENUES AND NEW BUILDINGS

Richmond Location Richmond Upon Thames School

After 4 years in the RHACC, our Richmond Location took a step of faith and moved to their new venue in September - Richmond Upon Thames School. Modern, the venue offers upgraded facilities for Equippers’ Kids as well as spacious indoor and outdoor areas for connecting with others over hospitality.

God is building His Church and we are growing. During 2020, we have been believing with God for “Land, Venues and New Buildings” to accommodate more people as they encounter God. Both our Chertsey and Richmond location venues were at capacity. Our Impact Offering has facilitated both these venues with significant technology and production equipment so they could launch strong and make services great.

In addition, the same equipment purchased for Chertsey allowed us to transform our Hub location during Lockdown into our Live-Streaming Studio for Church at Home.

Chertsey Location Chertsey High New Building

We celebrated moving into Chertsey’s new Sunday-service venue in Chertsey High School 5 weeks before the Covid-19 lockdown began. With the opportunity to enjoy more space, we also had record numbers of nearly 200 people, along with new visitors and salvations!

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OUR GIVING STORY

MATTHEW & FIONNUALA HOWARD

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Over the years, like many young families we had faced some perpetual financial challenges, mostly based on historical circumstances. We remained positive and thankful but every month tended to be a challenge.

We had never given into any offering before and shortly after settling into Equippers Richmond, we had the opportunity to give to the 2018 Impact Offering. We did not think we could offer anything. However, the Holy Spirit spoke to us, so we listened and gave beyond what we had ever given before. We stayed faithful and knew the benefits our contribution was making. That year we were financially in a much better place than before.

Then, when it came to giving last year in 2019, we wanted to sow more, but old feelings returned to haunt us. We prayed and the Words, “I will never fail you” came to us both. We stretched as we gave but knew we could not suffer. A month later, we experienced a miracle from God. We received a very unusually worded letter from our bank, stating that due financial oversight, we were owed a sum that was vastly in excess of our original pledge! We were in total shock that God had us in mind at a time when we really needed His help!

We are grateful every day that we love and serve an amazing Father and can live in the present without fear.

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RICHMOND WINTER SHELTER For the second year, we have partnered with churches in the London Borough of Richmond to run Winter Shelter which provides overnight accommodation, meals and relational support to serve Richmond’s homeless community during the coldest months of the year. We were able to fund hot nutritious meals and purchased 31 new beds so that more individuals can get a better night’s sleep safely and warmly, rather than on the cold streets.

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COVID-19 RESPONSE We have all felt the vast effects from the global pandemic - the isolation, the monotony of lockdown, the juggle of work and home-learning; for some, fear, financial difficulty or job loss, virus symptoms, or more devastatingly, the loss of a loved one.

However, if there’s ever a time for the Church to rise up and shine, then it’s now!

Through the generosity of our church, we have received over £37,000 into our Love in Action fund to help those in immediate need. This specific fund enabled us to deliver food parcels to over 1200 households in our communities, and with no strings attached. We have also given gifts of £500 to assist members of our own church who have experienced financial hardship, meeting their needs at a critical time. From our Impact Fund, we honoured 57 NHS Key Workers from our church, each with a £50 dining voucher to treat themselves to a special evening out, and during the course of lockdown, a dedicated team prayed daily for each of them.

We recognise that the impact of the virus is far from over, and helping people is paramount.

Using our 2019-20 Impact Fund, we have therefore ring-fenced £60,000 as a COVID-19 Relief Fund to respond to needs as they arise over the next year. We are not yet committed to a single course of action, but are prayerful and prepared as we position ourselves to respond in our communities.

"I just wanted to thank you and your church who have supported our families during these unprecedented times. You truly made a difference to so many families and we will forever be grateful for such generosity. It really is people like you who make this world a better place."

- Headteacher at a Richmond School.

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OVER THE LAST 12 MONTHS YOU GAVE ÂŁ198,924.

Thank you for your generous giving.

Impact Offering allows us to respond quickly and gives us a resource to draw upon so that we can respond to emerging opportunities or more urgent needs.

Your giving has made a huge impact to all of these areas in 2019-20

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£73,894

Chertsey - Move to New Venue

£2,000

JD Church

£60,000

COVID-19 Relief Fund Designated for our future response

£1,064

Pastor Support

£19,244

Equippers Ghana

£1,000

“Uncaged” Book Print

£15,000

Equippers Budapest

£1,000

Philo Trust

£13,000

Richmond - Move to New Venue

£1,000

Oakwood Youth Challenge

£11,500

Equippers One

£8,000

International Justice Mission

£8,000

Action on Podoconiosis Assosiation

£6,420

Equippers Manila

£6,098

Equippers Woking

£6,066

Church at Home

£6,000

Equippers Sao Paulo

£5,914

Revolution Tour

£5,000

Equippers Rome

£4,500

Equippers Mexico City

£3,655

Equippers Berlin

£3,000

73rd Trust

£2,651

NHS Key Workers

£855

Egypt - Nathan & Sawsan Bassaly

£786

Glass Door Homeless Charity

£626

The Meads

£500

Feltham Young Offender Institution

£500

Christmas Celebrations

£555

Miscellaneous

TOTAL SPENT £209,004 Total including funds designated for future COVID-19 response:

£269,004*

* This is covered by Impact funds received in the last 12 months as well as Impact funds brought forward from the previous year.

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AWAKENING DREAMS

FOR THE FUTURE

Our Impact Offering gives us the ability to move quickly when and where there is need. This coming year we will continue to support our Equippers churches worldwide and the incredible life-changing outreach of our current local and global partners as they dream yet bigger.

We also recognise that there is so much more for us as a church. We are dreaming about how we can touch individuals, families and children with the love of Jesus.

With increased loneliness, fear and confusion within our communities, there is a greater appetite for people to hear the Gospel which is laced with grace, truth and hope.

We move forward as a church, anticipating how we can be His hands and feet within our different communities and are therefore continuing to position ourselves ready for what God reveals to us in His purposes.

What dreams are awakening in you?

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DREAMING TO IMPACT MEXICO CITY

We are excited to champion the newest addition to our Equippers church family, Equippers Mexico City, led by Pastors Bob and Shona Barnard.

They started the church in Mexico City in 2012. Recently they have re-established connections with the Equippers network, with Ps Steve Graham and Ps Bruce Monk investing in the church leadership. This year, the church has been transitioning into an Equippers Church.

The church is located in the densest area of Mexico City, with around 2 million people.

With their former building at capacity, God miraculously provided a new building.

Our Impact Offering over this next year will resource this new church family as they launch into a larger venue and strengthen themselves to be a voice of hope and inuence in Mexico City.

We not only want to get behind planting more churches, but we want to get behind a move of God in Mexico and Latin America.

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Mexico City, Mexico

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Cairo, Egypt

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DREAMING TO IMPACT EGYPT Our long-term ministry friends Nathan and Sawsan Bassaly minister to some of the poorest and neediest communities within Cairo.

In addition to leading a church and Bible school, they assist to meet practical needs as well as equip people with work-based skills, helping combat the cycle of poverty within families.

Last year our Impact Offering funded 260 Christmas parcels for children so that they could be warmly clothed for the looming winter months. 140 children from the community, as well as 120 hospitalised children battling cancer and other diseases, encountered the care, kindness and love of Jesus.

The need remains significant, yet Nathan and Sawsan are committed to the people of Cairo. Our Impact Offering will continue to support their life-giving work and their dream, to raise up further leaders to enhance and expand on their transforming outreach to the marginalised and poor, in particular the Syrian refugees, the Sudanese community, the recovering addicts and the very sick.

“I prayed that somehow my 3 children would stay warm in the winter. I have no money, but then you blessed us with new clothes. You are an answer to my prayers.” Mum of 3, Cairo

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DREAMING OF LAND AND OUR OWN HOME

“In those days the people of Judah and Israel will return together from exile in the north. They will return to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance forever.”

JEREMIAH 3:18

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Pastor Mark received a prophetic verse about a new church home where our Weybridge and Chertsey locations would unite.

This year, our church “I believe” vision statements include, “Believing God for land, property and better venues.” We are seeing this fulfilled - our Richmond and Chertsey Locations have acquired a new Sunday-meeting venue, and we have new offices in Weybridge. God is good and faithful!

Our dream, however, for a substantial venue continues, and we are excited to announce that we are in the process of acquiring a NEW facility to become our church home!

In early 2019, both Ps Mark and Ps Monica separately sensed the Holy Spirit’s nudge to view a building within the Weybridge Business Park. On closer inspection, the building is a 40,000 sq ft empty facility that was previously occupied by Toshiba. When we enquired, there were a number of obstacles to either renting or purchasing the venue, so we let go of the idea.

This year when lockdown came into force, God re-ignited the idea of the building and this time momentum gathered. The building has been empty since we first looked at it and God’s favour has removed many of the obstacles that originally stood in our way. At time of print, we now have an agreement with the owners to lease the building for 5 years with an option to buy when we choose. We are now in the next stage of applying for Planning Permission with the Council, as the property requires a ‘change of use’.

God has been preparing our hearts and positioning us as a church in both our faith, and our resources, to acquire a significant building of this nature to become our church home.

It will have an auditorium to accommodate at least 600 people who will be able to encounter the presence of God, and where we will celebrate multitudes finding Jesus.

It will hold world-class Equippers Kids facilities, space for our Youth Ministry to expand, dedicated space to support children with additional needs, conference and meeting space and a base to engage with our community. It will also be a Training facility to equip, train and develop church leaders and young people, who will plant and help grow churches in the UK, Europe and beyond, and this is just the start of us dreaming…

Converting the building and supporting these ministries is going to cost money and commitment, but we are trusting God in His leading for the many miracles that He will provide for us in our future as we establish a church home!

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PLAYING OUR PART Impact Offering is our annual commitment to go over and above our regular giving. This year we will receive our Impact Offering pledges on

SUNDAY 8TH NOVEMBER. This is an annual pledge, meaning once you have pledged an amount you can fulfil this at any point over the course of the next 12 months. Some people fulfil their pledge in one lump sum and others in monthly payments over the year.

Once you have pledged you will receive details on how to give based on your location and your preference as indicated on your pledge.

PRAY

Over the coming weeks, allow God to guide you as you prayerfully consider your contribution in what to give. If you are married or have a family, why not do this together and come into agreement on how much to pledge.

PLAN

Once you have agreed in your heart how much you would like to pledge, plan how you can fulfil your pledge over the next 12 months.

PLEDGE

Finally, submit your pledge. We will do this together as a church family on Sunday 8th November during our church service.

YOU CAN PLEDGE IN A NUMBER OF WAYS

1. Complete a pledge envelope and pop it in the offering container at an Equippers Watch Party.

2. Visit equippers.co.uk/Impact and complete your pledge online.

3. Scan the QR Code

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equippers.co.uk/impact AWAKENING DREAMS

IMPACT OFFERING 2020