The Beacon Project SR5, is a five year funded project, which seeks to build up the people and place of North Wearside, Sunderland; praying with and for people as we seek to know and show Jesus better and grow into all we can be, together.
We are aiming to be an evolving authentic expression of Church, visible and valued in the community; accessible to all, led by locally grown and nurtured leaders. We will be a focal point for the community, valued for feeding people spiritually, physically and sacramentally, with significant emphasis on assisting, developing and equipping local leaders.
As such we intend that the project will lead to the mutual growth of the staff, local leaders, volunteers and community alike. We want to be a people and place where knowledge of God is made known, discovered and celebrated, across all ages and backgrounds; where God is seen as much in the learning and innocence of a young child to the decades of wisdom of a life veteran, from the highly educated to the illiterate; where blended families and individuals form community, both transient and rooted. We will be engaged in the needs and concerns of our community and ensure that we build and develop relationships with other organisations in the area to have an integrated approach; enabling organic growth of faith, skills and leadership, with our key themes/points of focus being social isolation, poverty, & young people and families.
Like everywhere, this community has been impacted hugely over the last year by the Covid-19 pandemic. We profoundly felt the tension of Covid restrictions versus the provision of necessary child care; our ehausted frontline, yet low paid, key workers versus furloughed shift workers stuck at home. The community has been fractured and we need to rebuild, providing time and space for all, to heal with care and understanding. We feel called to be at the centre of this - it's what Jesus would do!
