Across Woking annual report

Scott Webb

Across Woking annual report 2016-17

Dear Simon

Thank you for the annual report and an invitation to feedback to you.

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Across celebrated 20 years of ministry this year and although I have only been part of the ministry for the last two years, even in that short time I have rejoiced at seeing the Lord at work in Woking, using ordinary Christians to unveil Christ's love to the Muslims.

Our ministry begins and ends with prayer. The monthly Friday prayers have taken place in Woking every month for the last 20 years. I make that 240 dedicated times of prayer solely for the varied cultures and faith groups in Woking.

Our prayer breakfasts that take place quarterly and well attended Mahabba Meals have also been great opportunities to draw Christians together to highlight and pray specifically for cross cultural needs. Just last week our Mahabba Meal was hosted by a MBB who through her own experiences has set up a charity to support other women like herself who find themselves in need of a safe house following their conversion. £300 was raised through the kind donations at the Meal, and more importantly we saw the willingness of those who attended to support this cause by opening their own homes.

A new initiative this year began in the summer when Across became active within the community to engage with Muslims on a one to one basis. We ran a free Adult craft tent at three local family events known to be well attended by Muslims. The craft tents allowed for meaningful conversations to take place in a relaxed environment. Just one story to share is that as a result one Muslim lady has been whatsapping me and has expressed an interest to come to my Church in December for our church craft event. This will most likely be her first time being welcomed into church and I can't wait to take her.

Earlier in September, armed with 400 'you are Loved' cards, a team of Christians went to the local mosque and handed them out with messages of love as men and women left the mosque after Friday prayers. We turned up unannounced and yet the Imam in his acceptance and acknowledgment of us coming, fed us all lunch before we left. We look forward to repeating this at the other mosques in Woking in due course.

In November we have a half day training scheduled thanks to Mahabba's focus on training and we look forward to church members being inspired to befriend their Muslim neighbours as a result.

We are grateful that Across can share in the Lords vision for Mahabba to love all Muslims and pray that it will go from strength to strength.

Blessings,

Riz - coordinator (Woking)

Network Annual Report 2016-17

Matt Briney

Network Annual Report 2016-17

Welcome to our annual report for the last financial year (1 September 2016 to 31 August 2017), or, as everyone wants to know, what we've done with your money!

Please do take a couple of minutes to leave your feedback at the end of the report - we particularly want to hear back from people in local Mahabba groups.

Here's a quick index, if you want to skip to particular sections (click on the links):

What's been happening >
How we've used your funds >
Impact of what we've done >
Reports from Mahabba groups >
Feedback >

What's been happening

As ever, Mahabba has been up to lots. Here is a quick summary of the main things this year:

New growth!

The Network has grown to 51 local groups, and the following have joined us to pray and share Jesus with Muslims: Peckham, Basingstoke, Aston, Frenchay, Newham, Southampton, Morden, Dublin, Salford and Loughborough.
See our groups >

Prayer and action campaign

During Ramadan, for the fourth consecutive year, we have run Lovefast, a campaign to encourage Christians to pray for Muslims and engage with them in the community. Over 330 people joined us across the 30 days.
Read more about Lovefast >

Annual Gathering

For the third consecutive year, Mahabba people from across the UK, as well as other interested parties, gathered for prayer, networking and equipping with us in Derby.
Read more >

Supporting local groups

This year we successfully distributed 500 '30 Days of Prayer' guides to local Mahabba groups. This coincided with Ramadan and our Lovefast campaign. The aim was to encourage individuals into prayer in groups, as well as among Christians in communities.

Tithe Fund

Mahabba has continued to sow 10% of all its income this year into like-minded projects and ministries. It has distributed £17,342 into over 20 individual projects.

Within Mahabba

1. We have welcomed a new member onto the Network Team - made up of regional reps - who will focus on strategic development with other organisations, among students and strengthening the Network
    
2. We launched our new fundraising initiative, Friends of Mahabba, encouraging individuals to partner with us closely financially as well as prayerfully. We believe this will play a key part in increasing individual giving. Find out more about Friends >
    
3. We commissioned a brilliant animation all about Mahabba and to inspire people about what God is doing among Muslims to get involved. This tells the big story of how Muslims are coming to know Jesus as well as Mahabba's work. Watch the animation >

Don't forget The City!

For four year now we have continued to provide an online community platform - The City - which gives people a place to network, encourage each other and engage in issues to do with outreach to Muslims.

We actively sow into this forum, while encouraging discussions and sharing organically. There have been some inspiring and robust exchanges, which have been very informative.

We produced a popular FAQ off the back of one of these which has been visited regularly:

How we've used your funds

Here's what we brought in

Income - our main sources

N.B. graph does not represent the the total income for the year, just the main areas

• Our main source of income for the year was from major grants (£5,000 and above)
• Although we have been successful at fundraising in this area, we want to reduce our reliance on this source
• One-off gifts has been an equally fruitful area for us, with the same caveat as above
• Overall, we want to build up regular giving to Mahabba from individuals and churches to give us a strong, sustainable base on which to grow for the future

Here's what we actually spent

Expenditure - main expense areas

N.B. graph does not represent the the total expenditure for the year, just the main areas

• Overall, we have faced a challenging year in terms of income, so had to reduce our spending to reflect that
• Our largest expense is for fees paid to our Regional Facilitators
• Other significant costs incurred were for support personnel (£36,000), UK travel costs (£6,643), office rent (£5,385), hospitality (£1,984), conferences and networking (£1,006), and overseas travel and conferences (£3,585)
• Payments from the Tithe Fund in the year amounted to £16,342

Impact of what we've done

Animation

Thanks to a generous grant, we commissioned a video about Mahabba and its mission to Muslims. This has been well-received, taking central place on the website. At the National Gathering, almost 80% said that they would be prepared to share it with friends and church.

On the move

Our small team of Regional Facilitators has been on the move across the UK. Between them, they have covered approximately 1,345 miles, visiting groups, encouraging coordinators and spreading the word. This is the equivalent of Land's End to John o'Groats 1.5 times, although our teams generally didn't visit groups on foot or bike!

New growth

Through investing in our team of Regional Facilitators, who are key personnel in Mahabba, we have increased the number of groups from 41 to 51, which is an increase of almost 25%. This has released and encouraged more Christians on the ground across the UK to pray and engage with Muslims as a result.

Prayer and action

This year was the fourth consecutive Lovefast campaign, and an additional 113 people signed up to get involved with prayer and action. This was an increase of just over 50% - from 224 to 337 participants. We took out a targetted Facebook advert in order to boost numbers, which resulted in a healthy conversion rate to subscriptions.

“Just appreciated reading some stories of changed lives and how to pray specifically. I appreciated the action points to keep in mind when the Lord allows me to cross paths with Muslims in the future.”

— Deb

Annual Gathering

We used funds to put on our third consecutive Annual Gathering. 73 delegates from around the UK gathered together in Derby for encouraging, equipping and networking of those interested or working among Muslims. This was an increase of 20% on the previous year.

Here's the feedback from the event:

• Over 80% would recommend the National Gathering to a friend
• Over 80% felt the event achieved its aims 
• The favourite session was Adam's (session 2) - Working with refugees locally
• 90% said they are likely to attend in future

“So encouraging to see how God can use our simple skills and time in a myriad of ways to reach out and touch Muslim hearts”

“A great way to meet others from in the Network, be inspired and encouraged to persevere in local outreach to Muslims”

Tithe Fund

We were particularly excited to hear back that one of the tithe projects that we sowed into was very fruitful. The individual, alongside other believers, was very active in praying for Muslims and sharing Jesus with them.

“We met an elderly Muslim man on crutches who was in extreme pain, leaning against a wall. We shared the love of Christ and helped him find somewhere to sit to relieve the pain. While praying with him, his leg grew and the pain melted away”

— Karen

Reports from Mahabba groups

Feedback

Comments are closed on this blog, but please do let us know your feedback.

We are especially interested to hear back from those of you in local Mahabba groups.

How can we continue to grow a sustainable income, and in what ways, so that we can support Christians reaching out to Muslims?

How would you like to see us spending the funds we receive?