We are Acts of Faith Ministries a Christian organisation that is on a mission to make a positive difference in the community that we live in. We dream of an inclusive community where the power of human touch can make a difference in every life and every day. Through Fellowship, Love and Kindness we believe that we can empower every person we encounter to live their best life – whatever that may be.
Our organisation is already making a difference daily in many lives through a variety of projects e.g. foodbank, weekly fellowship services, community outreach and counselling services, many more projects which can be found on our website (www.actsoffaithm.com). We are extremely blessed to make a difference in our community, but we are acutely aware that our efforts are only scratching the surface of the community’s needs. We feel there is more to be done, we have big ambitions that currently outweigh our resources, which is why we are writing to you!
We are looking to establish a community centre positioned in the heart of Bedford (our home) which will be open to everyone, a place where people can come in and feel secure, empowered, have fellowship, establish new friendships among many other things. With a new facility we will be able to expand the help that we give our community and provide the following life enhancing services that we currently only dream of. To name a few key areas.
Family Advisory & Counselling Services
We appreciate that a lot of families have a lot of pressures in their lives, more so now with the impact of Covid-19. We would like to provide families with a safe & secure environment where they can come in for a cup of tea and have a chat about matters of life. We have a dream of a place where families can be listened to and offered with genuine, honest help (if required) on a variety of matters, such as (but not limited to) government finance support, marriage, domestic violence advice and new parenting courses. We know that once we have a facility that is available to us 24/7, 365 days a year, then the Sky is the Limit!
Homelessness Support Services
We would love to live in a community that has nil homelessness, but we know this is not the case today! There is a lot of work to be done in this area, with a new facility we would be able to provide a safe and secure place where the homeless can be provided with basic life needs such as food, clothing and shelter but also with nourishing mental health support services. Prior to Covid we were providing food services working alongside Hebron Soup Run but we know that with our own facility we will be able to do much more, provide much more empowerment to help the homeless to get back on their feet, to live independent, healthy, safe and secure lives.
Youth Services
The words the “Youth Are Our Future” have become somewhat over-used and ineffective, we at Acts of Faith Ministries want to make a real difference in Youth lives in our community. We believe that the Youth can benefit from empowerment in its many forms such as vocational training, life-skills training, mentoring, fellowship, the list goes on! We want a facility where youth want to visit, call a second home, a place of fellowship, a place to meet like-minded peopled all underpinned with an opportunity to gain real life skills. We have a vision of a centre where a variety of training programmes can be made available including (but not limited to) Public Speaking, Money Management courses (CAP), Career Advice, Volunteering Opportunities etc.
BAME Services
We love that our community and organisation is highly diverse, we celebrate this! We have a vision of a truly inclusive community where everyone can achieve their full potential and “Dare to Dream” without ethnic background limitations. It is great to see the world is really focused on this with the various movements such as “All Lives Matter!”. We think there is more to be done in our local community Bedford, it is one of the most diverse places in the UK. We see our future facility as being key to advancing the BAME community. We have bold plans to have specific programmes to help the BAME community access the various government and business schemes that are available, coupled with our cultural awareness will help us be a very effective organisation in advancing the BAME community.
We are sure you are thinking this all sounds good and How Can You Help?
In order to secure this new facility at the heart of Bedford we are having to raise £2M (Yes, we also almost fell off our chairs when we found out this)! We are doing all we can locally but as you can imagine this is a large target. We are looking for any donations (large or small) to help us achieve our target. We have set up a variety of ways to raise these funds, details of which are below.
Redonno – https://giver.redonno.com/giver/without_login?give=OTY=
Cheques can be sent to – Acts of Faith Ministries, 38 Keysoe Road, Thurleigh, MK44 2DZ
We would like to thank you in advance for your generosity.