For our 2014 harvest appeal we are collecting for J10:10. J10:10 are a charity based in rural Uganda and have number of projects including providing clean water, nursery education, primary school education, medical care, gender equality, child sponsorship and a passion fruit orchard. In September 2014 they launched ‘Hospital in the Hills’. They now need to build a kitchen area where relatives of patients can cook for their admitted loved ones. Our aim as a parish is to at least donate enough money to build this kitchen and also much more!

J10:10’s Philosophy

We believe all men, women and children are created equal in God’s sight and that He loves them passionately.

Life expectancy in Britain is 80+ but in rural Uganda it is only half that. This injustice makes us sick. We believe that if we follow Jesus then we have to live life differently than many people in the developed world. We believe that we will have to give an account to our God: not of what we thought, said, planned or preached but of what we DID. So we are running businesses that give away our profits to fund education, clean water and health. Our version of God’s instruction to ‘Love justice, act mercifully and walk humbly with Him.’

J10:10’s Mission

Our mission is to love justice, show mercy and walk humbly with our God. And to tell everyone we can about Jesus. 

We do this by building businesses that offer employment, skills, income, training and stability to the people of Kabale District, South West Uganda. We want to build those businesses until they become wildly profitable. And then to live our lives ‘upside-down’ – to give the money away and use all the profits to build and run schools, health facilities and water projects. And so we hope in God’s power to transform individuals, families, communities and areas – in Jesus’ name. To see them have life – in all its fullness.

St. Mark Newtown’s links with J10:10

Rev’d Will Gibbons attended an Alpha Course alongside Jon Pedley (founder of J10:10) in Spring 2004. Will had made a commitment to Christ a few weeks before Alpha began and Jon gave his life to Christ on the Alpha Weekend Away.

In June 2014 St. Mark’s CE Primary School sent ‘love’ bunting that was created in the Prayer Space. Our church school will also be collecting for J10:10 and continuing to build links with J10:10’s Primary School in Uganda.