Overseas mission

The mission of ‘the church’ is not difficult to ascertain as we read through the New Testament. We are to ‘Love God, Love others and make disciples’ – this is clearly what Jesus commissioned His followers to do (Mt22, 28). Since the entry of sin into the world God has been on a mission to bring people back to Himself, for His Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven and to restore the fracture that had come as the consequence of sin.

 At The Vine, we have the privilege to support many people who serve God around the world with regular team visits to several of them to encourage and build relationships.

Enock and Alice Muigei, Ziwa, Kenya

The Vine has been supporting the work of Enock and Alice in the local community of Ziwa since 2001.  

What started as initial visits to assist with providing lighting and power to the Arise and Shine primary school, soon developed into building lasting relationships and involvement that would cover a much wider development of the school, its fledgeling Sunday Fellowship, its impact on the local community and the development of individuals through sponsorship, support, and personal encouragement.  From the beginning the aim was to help, encourage, and support those we worked with to realise their potential economically and spiritually through regular visits from Vine members who have shared their professional skills and experience.

There are now 2 schools covering a full curriculum from nursery to secondary, a thriving church (now joined to the Africa Inland Church (AIC)) serving the local community, a small, but growing orphanage caring for local orphans (now managed by the AIC), and a self-help group within the church that has developed to provide a real example of what the poorest can achieve given a little help and encouragement.  Many children have benefitted from sponsorship to receive or complete their education, and currently 23 children are receiving sponsorship.

The schools’ performance in the national exams at both primary and secondary level has always been at the top level, and has provided incentive for other schools in the area and beyond to improve.  At the peak of all this is Enock’s own development and standing in the local community, whereby he served as Minister in the new Uasin Gishu (Eldoret) County Government, responsible for education, culture, youth affairs and social services.

Jane Frances Acheloi, Soroti, Uganda

The Vine has been in contact with Jane Frances since she first came to the UK in 1998. As well as supporting her local community development, she cares for twelve nieces and nephews following the loss of three of her siblings. She is also a trained consultant working with Tear Fund through her local church (PAG Soroti)

Her main source of income is breeding and selling pigs, which has been a successful business since 2016. She sells or donates piglets from every fallowing to her community which has made a significant contribution to addressing poverty. One of her “children” – now an adult – has a university qualification in agriculture and provides advice and support to all recipients of the new piglets. 

In May 2021 we received the devastating news that all 20 of the pigs had died from swine flu. Through donations from members of The Vine, Jane Frances has been able to recently purchase three pigs to restart her breeding programme, enabling her to continue to support her family and local community. 

Hany and Marinette, Mansoura, Egypt

We have a very close relationship with a church in Mansoura, in the Nile Delta region of Egypt. The church of 50-60 people meet regularly to pray and worship Jesus. Small teams from The Vine have regularly visited to support and encourage the fellowship and several Egyptians have visited the Vine. 

We support the leadership of the El Salem School which has 1500 pupils aged from nursery to 18 years. The Vine funds a ‘compassion’ ministry which provides support to those in need in the local community.

Jürgen Graalfs, Regiogemeinde Church, Weil am Rhine, Germany

Jürgen is part of the leadership team of Regio-Gemeinde Evangelical Free Church in Weil am Rhine in southern Germany, serving alongside Eugen Heppler and Thomas Berger.  The church is part of Relational Mission, the growing family of churches which The Vine is part of.

The church has a particular passion for mission and outreach – particularly in their local community, which includes a large refugee camp.

Vlada & Sonja Stojanovic

Vlada leads Good News Church in Niš, Serbia, which is part of Relational Mission, a growing family of churches from different countries which The Vine is also part of.

Niš is a city of 350,000 people with no more than 100 followers of Jesus. Whilst many know the name of Jesus they have been caught up in the religion of the orthodox church rather than a personal walk with God.  Vlada and his wife, Sonja, ’love fighting for every single soul'.  The Vine has visited Vlada and Sonia several times as well as hosting visiting from them for support and encouragement.

Compassion UK

Compassion is a leading Christian children’s charity. At its heart is a relentless passion to act on our compassion and empower every child left vulnerable by poverty. Since 1952, they have been giving children around the globe the opportunity to escape the suffering and fear poverty brings through a one-to-one child sponsorship model.

Many members of The Vine support children through Compassion through regular giving, prayer and written letters.