Over fifty years ago a Christian called Brother Andrew saw the need to help our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ in what was then a Europe divided in two by the advance of atheistic Communism from the East. The story of that time was written down in God’s Smuggler, an inspiring book which many Christians have read. Brother Andrew went on to form Open Doors which today is “an international ministry serving persecuted Christians and the Suffering Church worldwide”.

            The grace and providence of God has been seen over and over again in the ministry they have provided, see the Open Doors website for more.

            As part of their Anniversary celebrations in 2005, Open Doors launched a Jubilee appeal and one of the projects was to provide safe houses in countries where Christians are in grave danger due to their commitment to Jesus. One safe house typically costs £7000.  We at Samares Methodist Church felt that the Christians of Jersey should be able to raise this amount to provide funds for a safe haven and so launched an appeal to this effect in June 2005.

Over the past year and a half we have seen funds come in through a general appeal to all churches, two "Safe House" cafes and finally a Dine 'n' Shine evening where 88 people met at Bethlehem Methodist Church for a sumptuous meal of Shepherd's Pie and Apple Turnover followed by a talent show of singing, dancing, magic, poetry... you name it and someone did it (OK, a slight exaggeration but it was very varied!). 

The good news is that our target has been reached and the appeal is now closed. A big "thank you" goes to all those who helped in any way to relieve some of the needs of our persecuted brothers ands sisters in Christ through this project.

    The final amount raised was £7,038.60