Just Love August: Relay Fundraiser and Student Training

 

Thank you for supporting our mission to equip students and support alumni to pursue justice with their whole lives.

 

Hello and welcome to this month’s update from Joe and the Just Love team. I hope that July has treated you well and that you’ve been enjoying the summer. The last few months within the Just Love Network have been jam-packed. In this, I’ll share about our students’ work, our Alumni ‘Campfire Night’ socials, our Relay Fundraiser, and more! Thank you, as always, for your support and partnering with us.

Student Highlights

Although the summer has officially begun, and many students are now at home, our Just Love groups have still been up to all sorts over the last month:  Just Love Sheffield completed their ‘Dare to Journey’ fundraiser, raising £406 for Tearfund’s work and raising awareness of the distances refugees travel to flee their contexts. They raised these funds by walking the distance between Caracas to the border of Brazil, 515 miles, which is a journey 48,931 people make every year.

Just Love Sheffield completing part of their 'Dare to Journey' fundraiser for Tearfund.

Just Love Edinburgh are also running a summer fundraiser for Tearfund - this time to support their ‘This is a Rubbish Campaign’, which aims to end plastic pollution and its harmful impact on people living in poverty. Sticking to this theme, Just Love Edinburgh have been mobilising their community to complete sponsored litter picks across the UK during the summer holidays - both contributing to this larger campaign, and serving their local communities in the process. We love it! Following their ‘Transforming Lives Conference’ that they ran for Restored, a charity that supports survivors of domestic abuse and equips the church to stand against gender violence, Just Love Durham put on a Colour Run to raise funds for Restored’s important mission.

Alumni Campfire Nights

Throughout the last few months, our Alumni Network have been meeting up in regional events that we’ve called ‘Campfire Nights.’ These were spaces for Just Love graduates and students to connect, hear stories from justice practitioners young and old, and build local relationships that lead to action in their region. In Birmingham, Just Love students, graduates, and friends gathered for a BBQ and stories from Ash and Anji Barker about their work with refugee communities in Australia, Thailand, and more recently at Newbigin Community Trust in Winson Green, Birmingham. We also loved hearing from Fred Kratt about the reality and challenges of working on violence reduction in faith communities in Coventry.  In Bradford, alumni gathered to hear some powerful stories of ministry from Jon Swales and Alice Brencher, pastors at Lighthouse West Yorkshire, and climate activists with Christian Climate Action. Furaha Mussanzi, ??a community activist and refugee rights campaigner living in Bradford, also shared some of her personal story and where she’s seen God breaking through in her work at the Millside Centre.  In Edinburgh, Just Love graduates gathered at Portobello beach to enjoy a bonfire and BBQ, and share stories of hope and lament in their pursuit of justice. A few people even braved the Scottish sea for a dip!  We’ll be sure to update you about some of the regional projects that have already been established as a result of these events!

Give to Support Just Love

As people who have already partnered with us in our mission to raise a generation committed to Jesus and justice, we wanted to share this video with you from Anna Vernon, Director of Groups and Funding, to give an update on Just Love's finances. This summer we find ourselves in a really uncomfortable financial position and, in order to remain stable financially, we need to raise an extra £55,000 in one off donations. Anna shares in this video more information about our financial situation and why we really need your support at this particular moment.

We would massively appreciate it if you took the time to have a listen to this financial update from Anna.

We are so grateful for all of the ways you have given so generously to support Just Love - we couldn't do this work without you. But, we believe that this is only the beginning. And at this crucial moment in the life of Just Love, we would love you to consider whether you can help us to continue this work. Please could you consider giving a one off gift to Just Love?

Donate

We are also aware that we have asked you to give financially many times over the last year and again, we want to acknowledge that. This is not how we want it to be! If you have any questions at all about our financial situation, please reach out to Anna Vernon and she would be delighted to chat to you.

The Just Love 10th Birthday Relay - Fundraising Challenge

One great way to support Just Love's fundraising efforts this summer is by getting involved in The Just Love 10th Birthday Relay. As we shared in our last email, this may be our most ambitious fundraising challenge yet. This summer, the Just Love movement has taken part in a giant cycling relay, with teams aiming to cycle the distance between every Just Love group, covering over 1,500 miles in total. We’ll be continuing the adventure throughout August, and if the idea of a cycling challenge in support of our work sounds appealing to you, we would love to invite you to join in!

Learn More

The relay has been designed to visit each of our 23 Just Love student groups - from Falmouth to Aberdeen. We’re going to cover this distance by dividing the journey into achievable ‘legs’ that teams of cyclists will complete together. Some are just the distance between two Just Love groups, but some need a stop on the way.

The Relay Route - stopping off at each of our 23 Just Love groups ??

We believe that the work of all these teams, completing different legs across the UK, will be hugely impactful in encouraging giving from new audiences that don’t know about our mission yet. That's why we've set up a Just Giving page with the goal to raise a total of £25,000. Each leg will have a 'mini' Just Giving page that teams will use to raise money for completing their part of the journey. To learn more about the Just Love 10th Birthday Relay, see the relay legs taking place in your region, and sign up to take part, check out the event webpage here. We want to gather as many people as possible to go on this adventure to sow into the next ten years of Just Love, so if you know anyone who may be interested in taking part, please do share the website with them.

Upcoming Relay Legs: Saturday the 12th of August Northallerton-Durham-Newcastle: Sign up here. Milton Keynes-Cambridge: Sign up here. Tuesday the 15th of August Oxford-Milton Keynes: Sign up here.

Another World Is Possible - National Gathering 2023

In our past few emails, we’ve shared with you about Just Love’s 10th Birthday Gathering, ‘Another World is Possible’. But we would love to remind you about this event, and let you know that we’re offering discounted group tickets - so do come along with friends or family (find out more details here)! Every year, we host a Just Love National Gathering, focused primarily on the Just Love Alumni Network. These are always a highlight of the year, but this year we're extending the invite to everyone who has ever been involved in Just Love. The event will take place at St Dionis, London, on Friday the 10th - Saturday the 11th November. We'll combine all sorts of things in the two days - telling the very best stories of Just Love's first 10 years, lots of time in worship and prayer, and a range of fantastic speakers and artists from across the Just Love movement. It's a space to look back and celebrate, as well as to come together and look to the road ahead. Everyone who is involved or supports the Just Love movement is invited to come along and join us!  For more info, and to purchase a ticket, check out this webpage.

Thank you, as always, for praying with us. This month:

Please pray for Just Love Autumn Training (JLAT), which is just around the corner! We’ve got students coming from across the country to Sheffield to recieve excellent training on theology, leadership, and how to have an impact on justice issues. JLAT has been hugely transformational for students in the past and we’re praying that will be the case again this year! Take a look at this video from Roseanna, our Head of Training, to hear specific ways in which you can be praying for JLAT in the lead up to and during the event.

Join the JLAT Prayer WhatsApp group through the button below.

Join the Prayer Group

Please pray for Just Love committees as they start planning for next term. As well as a time for rest, the summer is a time when many of our Just Love committees will begin planning for the next academic year. We like to think of this as a time for big vision, as our students spend time dreaming about the future of their Just Love group and thinking about where they would like their groups to grow and develop in the coming year. Join us in praying for our groups as they begin this process - that they will be inspired with fresh vision and ideas for their groups.    Please pray for all of the funding work mentioned in this email. Please pray for lots of students, graduates and friends of Just Love to sign up and take part in the Relay fundraiser. Please pray for successful grant applications, and new people catching our vision and setting up regular giving. Most of all, pray that, amidst the necessary emphasis on funding work within our team, we are able to continue to offer support of the highest quality to our students and graduates. Love,  Joe and the Just Love Team    Posted: August 2023