Outreach Archives - King's Arms Church

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.” Luke 6:38

At Re-Track, our social action project, we’re all about bringing good news to life right here in our town! Through different projects, we offer practical help and genuine care to support people as they get back on track and move forward with renewed purpose. You can find out more about us at re-track.org

Love in Every Bag

This Christmas, we were overwhelmed by the generosity and love shown through Re-Track’s ‘Love Christmas’ initiative. Together, we were able to bless our community with 271 gift bags, shared with families, people experiencing homelessness, the elderly and vulnerable women!

This incredible impact wouldn’t have been possible without everyone who so generously donated and thoughtfully filled each bag with beautiful goodies. The care, love and effort poured into every single bag was so evident.

A heartfelt ‘thank you’ as well to our amazing Re-Track volunteers who helped sort, pack and deliver the bags. It was a true privilege to come together as a church family and bless those in need in our town this Christmas season.

Building Community this Christmas

In December, we hosted a wonderful Christmas Family Fun Day at church, led by our amazing King’s Kids team, and it was such a joyful afternoon! We were delighted to welcome some Re-Track families along with local families from F4YP (Fun 4 Young People), creating a space full of laughter, connection and community.

The event was packed with fun activities for the children, bouncy castles and…candy floss! We enjoyed time together and loved connecting with the families.

One of my highlights was seeing a Re-track family who we have supported a lot with emergency food parcels arrive with four of their children. From past conversations with the mum they have felt quite disconnected from friends and family since moving to Bedford. As the event went on, I noticed the family were really connecting with another family from church. They were getting on so well that I assumed they had met before, but I later discovered it was their first time meeting. It was wonderful to see not just our volunteers but church families really welcoming others into the space.

A huge ‘thank you’ to the incredible King’s Kids team and volunteers who gave their time and energy to make this day possible. It was a beautiful reminder of how powerful it is when we come together as a church family to serve and bless our community.

Sometimes Showing Up is Enough

We wouldn’t be able to do all that we do without our faithful Re-Track volunteers, who jump in to help with one-off projects whenever the need arises. Pam is one of our fantastic volunteers, and she recently shared this story with us:

“Another Re-Track volunteer and I were asked to visit a lady to help her de-clutter her home. As soon as we arrived, we saw she had a real need. We immediately wanted to jump in, but our suggestions weren’t helping and her attempts to start decluttering weren’t working either.

After a while, her daughter joined us, and we realised that what she needed most was simply for us to be there, to listen and chat. By the end of our visit, she had managed to get through a large amount of paperwork that she hadn’t been able to face before. She said having us there made all the difference.

It turns out, we didn’t do what we initially thought we were there to do. Instead, we represented Jesus to this precious lady, which had a far greater impact and empowered her to tackle some of the jobs herself!”

If you, or someone you know, is in need of help, please email re-track@kingsarms.org

Looking for Volunteer Opportunities with us?

If you’d love to be part of helping with our one-off community projects, or our ongoing initiative such as ‘Love Christmas’, please fill out this form or email us. You’ll be able to choose how much you’re able to contribute based on your availability and capacity.

Opportunities with our Affiliated Social Action Project: Azalea

Azalea is an amazing, local charity supporting vulnerable women affected by sexual exploitation, abuse, homelessness and addiction. They offer practical support and care, and are currently looking for help and support in the following areas:

– Drivers
– Storage space providers
– Cake bakers
– Hat and glove knitters

If you’re able to help in any way, please email re-track@kingsarms.org

Thank you!

We are so looking forward to serving our town in the year ahead and are excited to see all that God has in store. In the coming months, we’ll be hosting another community litter pick, and before long, Love Easter will be just around the corner! Let’s roll up our sleeves and keep making an impact on our town!

Thank you for helping us share love in practical, generous ways.

Much love,
Charlotte Knapp and the eFocus team

Meet Joy Summers, the author of today’s eFocus! Joy currently works as an ESOL tutor at HopeWorks and has been a part of King’s Arms for 20 years. She’s passionate about travel, literature and wildlife.

Let’s be honest, it’s hard to muster the enthusiasm to keep praying for situations that are far from us or don’t impact our day-to-day. I don’t say this to make us feel bad about ourselves. We are in the company of the disciples in Gethsemane and Moses at the battle of the Amalekites. We need those who will keep us awake in Gethsemane and who will hold up our arms at Rephidim (Exodus 17:12). He knows we are dust but that is a reason for our weakness, not a justification for giving up.

Not surprisingly, I want to encourage you to pray for places beyond where you are likely to go or know. My ideas are not exclusive to praying cross-culturally but as you read on, please leave a space in your heart for the places most people aren’t spending much time for in prayer.

Here are a number of practical ways in which we can stay awake and prop up our arms in prayer:

1. PRAY FOR A WILLING HEART

Pray for a willing heart and to avoid compassion fatigue. He is our Father who loves to give good gifts and if we lack anything we can ask for it. There is no shame in telling God that you want to pray more but struggle because of disinterest. Think about that song, “break my heart for what breaks Yours” (Hosanna, Hillsong UNITED) and ask Him to lay someone or somewhere on your heart so that you can pray from love not duty.

His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Prayer is a discipline and takes hard work but if you are bashing out prayers about something without having a heart connection it may be that God wants to give you a yoke that will be a delight to carry. You can’t carry the whole world but you can find what God wants you to care about and be faithful to that while always leaving room for new things to spark in your spirit.

2. SET YOURSELF SHORT-TERM GOALS

Set yourself multiple short-term prayer commitments. There will always be life-long prayers for situations that touch our heart deeply but to avoid becoming overly focused on just the immediate and near, why not set yourself some short-term prayer goals? They can broaden your horizons for a season without you feeling that you are failing when you move on to other areas in your prayer life.

They can also be catalysts for discovering new passions that enrich your life. Why not spin a globe and pray for the country your finger lands on for the next month? Or, commit to pray once a week, for a month, for people in prison around the globe? You will have opened the door to God broadening your compassion and intercession.

3. CHANGE THINGS UP, TRY SOMETHING NEW

It’s the new year so why not resolve to pray when you meet up with your believing friends at the end of a catch up? Come to the prayer meetings. Be brave and pray out loud in your life groups. Ask someone at the end of a church service if you can pray with them briefly.

Small efforts can have big effects. You may discover some courage you didn’t think you had. New practices can remind your heart of its purpose.

If you have kids at home why not create three jars for prayer labelled ‘country’, ‘demographic’ and one containing scripture verses. It will take some prep but each dinner time you can pull out three slips of paper and find yourself praying psalms and scriptures over the women of Afghanistan, the children of Brazil, the police officers of Algeria or the elderly in Estonia.

4. IMAGINE YOURSELF IN THEIR SHOES

When I was much younger, I remember asking my Dad why he wanted to listen to the news so regularly when none of it was good news. I’ll never forget his response: “So I know how to pray.”

You can use also use the news and conduct the following thought experiment: What on the news moves you? How can you turn it into prayer? Take a few moments to mentally sit in the place of those in the middle of that news item. What are their emotions? What action would you want to take in their situation? What would your anger / fear / sense of injustice in that situation make you ask God for? Can you do that on their behalf?

A two-minute reflection as you imagine yourself experiencing that headline can invite the Holy Spirit to stir something in your heart for those in conflicts that are not your own.

5. BECOME A DETECTIVE IN YOUR COMMUNITY

Look around. Remember those eye-spy books you had as a kid? Next time you’re in town take notice of how many different languages you can see or hear and thank God that Bedford has become a home for so many. When you pass a shop with Arabic script, pray that they would meet believers who will share truth with them. When you see an Indian restaurant, ask God to send more workers into His harvest field in the Asian sub-continent.

What a privilege and responsibility we have since God has brought the world to our doorstep.

6. BE PROACTIVE, GET INFORMED

Find people in the church who are working in areas you don’t know much about and ask for their prayer points. Sign up for a newsletter of someone who works overseas. Send Paula in Mexico an email asking how you can pray for her this week. Learn what Catalyst is doing in the nations. Download the Joshua Project app to be given short daily prayer points for places in the world that may be new to you.

7. FIND CREATIVE WAYS TO PRAY

I love having something visible and tangible to prompt me to pray. Get creative and do what it takes to remind you to pray for people and places beyond your regular list. Fill a notebook with places, people and issues written in the centre of each page then circle it each time you pray. Link your prayers for a new topic with a daily activity as an aide-memoir such as remembering those involved in trafficking on your drive to work, praying for the unreached in the Muslim world when you brush your teeth and asking God to speed Bible translation when you do the dishes.

8. TRY TAXI EVANGELISM!

Become a ‘taxi anthropologist’ and ask God for opportunities to meet people outside of your normal routine – you may be surprised at the paths you cross! Notice the flag or prayer beads in the taxi you’re in and show an interest. If you hear another language being spoken, it’s natural to pass a comment, most people won’t be offended by you asking with a smile what language they are speaking and if they will teach you how to say ‘have a nice day’.

Ramadan starts in February and your Muslim taxi driver, neighbour or shop worker will not be offended if you ask how you can pray for them during their holy month.

We have just celebrated the greatest cross-cultural mission event in history: Christmas. When Immortal became mortal, Perfect became sin and the Worshipped became despised. To what end, but that we might become like Him: having a future glory and a present humility.

Go and use your prayer as service to the Lord and remember that you are sowing into a kingdom that will last for eternity.

Much love,
Joy Summers

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden
to work it and take care of it.” Genesis 2:15

Caring for Our Planet, Loving Our Town

Two Saturdays ago, we braved the blustery autumn winds for another community litter-pick, this time joined by the wonderful King’s Kids Team who brought extra fun and creativity for the children. It was a joyful time of serving side-by-side, building relationships and loving where we live — who knew picking up rubbish could be so much fun?!

These litter picks are more than just practically caring for our environment, they’re moments of connection with our community. We are often stopped by curious onlookers who ask us what we’re doing, giving us the perfect opportunity to share about our faith and to demonstrate God’s love through this simple act of service.

Small Projects, Big Impact:
Impacting Lives with our New Initiative

Over the past year, we’ve been quietly but consistently making a big difference in our community. Through conversations with Bedford Borough Council, we discovered that many people in genuine need couldn’t access support due to strict eligibility criteria such as single parents, the elderly, and those with health issues who are often falling through the cracks. This is where Re-Track stepped in!

Through our small, one-off projects we are able to offer practical, hands-on help for those unable to get assistance elsewhere. Our amazing group of volunteers take part in all sorts of tasks — from gardening and cleaning, to helping with house moves or picking up shopping.

When we met a single parent last month, she was feeling completely overwhelmed by life, and her house had become difficult to manage. A couple of our volunteers stepped in to deep clean her space, and after their help, her home felt safer and more comfortable again and our client felt a renewed sense of confidence and hope to take control of her situation.

Moments like this remind us just how powerful these small acts of kindness are.

Love Christmas is Back!

We’re so excited to be partaking in this iniative again this year, spreading a little light and love by gifting bags of goodies to those in our town who need it most.

Thanks to your amazing support, 353 bags of Christmas goodies were given out last year! Love Christmas is always such a fun and meaningful way for us to come together as a church and spread joy, hope and encouragement where it’s needed most. Every bag serves a small but powerful reminder: “Someone cares, and you matter to God”.

Looking for Volunteer Opportunities with us?

We would love your help again with our Love Christmas initiative! Could you commit to filling one (or more) bags this year? We’ll be sharing more details soon, and you can find out more at re-track.org/lovechristmas

We are always in need of more volunteers to help with our one-off community projects. Please fill out this form if you’d like to be kept up-to-date with upcoming projects. You’ll be able to choose how much you’re able to contribute based on your availability and capacity.

If you, or someone you know, is in need of help, please email re-track@kingsarms.org

Opportunities and Updates from our Affiliated Social Action Projects…

Friday Night Meal (FNM) reaches out to those who are homeless or vulnerably housed in Bedford. Over the years, they’ve built a real sense of community, which their guests deeply value. Alongside serving a warm meal, the team shares the good news of Jesus and recently celebrated the baptism of one of their guests! In November, they’re planning a fun quiz night, and in December they’ll host one of the highlights of the year: their Christmas meal and goody bag giveaway. Find out more here

We also partner with the charity Azalea, a ministry supporting women working on the streets of Bedford. Volunteers regularly go out to build relationships, offer friendship, prayer and practical help, showing God’s love in challenging circumstances.

Both teams are doing incredible work and are seeking more volunteers to help meet growing community needs. They’re wonderful groups to be part of!

If you’d like to support either of these projects or learn more, please email re-track@kingsarms.org

Let’s keep showing up, reflecting Jesus’ love in all we do and making Bedford brighter — one small act at a time! We’re excited to see what this season holds and to celebrate the lives changed in our community as we continue to follow God’s call to love our town.

Thank you for helping us share love in practical, generous ways.

Much love,
Charlotte Knapp and the eFocus team

A few weeks ago, I returned from an incredible time serving churches across East Africa at their apostolic conference and, as I’ve been processing and reflecting, I want to share some lessons these remarkable leaders taught me:

1. God is Working in the Most Unexpected Places

Imagine sitting in a room, hearing report after report of God’s movement across East Africa. Salvations and healings weren’t just occasional testimonies — they were pouring in from every nation represented. Churches are being planted by the hundreds (including in some nations I can’t name for security reasons). The Gospel is even reaching pygmy communities who had never heard of Jesus before.

It’s humbling to realise that while we sometimes wonder if God can change the seemingly Gospel-resistant people around us, He’s doing extraordinary things in some of the toughest places on earth.

2. Lack of Resources is No Excuse for Disobedience

This hit me hard. In some regions, every single worker is a volunteer. No salaries. No support structures. Yet, these leaders are faithfully planting churches and reaching the lost with whatever they have.

It made me question how often I’ve allowed “lack of resources” to become my excuse for not stepping out in faith.

3. The Gospel Challenges Every Culture

We often talk about our cultural battles in the West, but my eyes were opened to very different challenges these churches face:

FGM (Female G Mutilation) – a heartbreaking reality where young girls are brutally harmed in the name of cultural “purity”
Polygamy – imagine the complexity of discipling community leaders who have three or four wives when they come to faith

What struck me most was this truth: while every culture tempts us to compromise, God’s Word provides wisdom and grace for standing firm — no matter how difficult the situation.

4. Courage Grows Best in Team

The stories of persecution were sobering. They shared about imprisonments and street beatings. One leader shared how most of his pastors have machete scars on their faces and bodies where they have been chased by tribesman driving them out of their villages.

But, here’s what amazed me: they weren’t facing it alone. These teams stood together, drawing strength from each other in ways that reminded me of the early church in Acts.

It made me want to stir up some fresh courage buddies for the mission that I’m on.

5. The Future Belongs to Entrepreneurial Ministry

So many leaders I met were also entrepreneurs by necessity. They’re running fruit tree farms, pig businesses, and taxi services — not just to survive, but to support their church and the local community.

It confirmed my conviction that “tent-making” is going to be the future of church leadership if we want to raise enough leaders to reach our nations.

6. The Power of Praying Together

There’s something profound about praying in the same room with people you’ve only prayed for from a distance. It reminded me that we truly are one family in Christ, regardless of our nationalities or circumstances.

I’ve added several leaders to my prayer calendar so that I can continue to stand with them.

As I continue to process these lessons, I’m asking myself (and now you):

Which of these lessons challenges you the most?
How might God be calling you to step out in faith, even with limited resources?
What would it look like for you to stand firm in your cultural context?

Much love,
Simon Holley and the eFocus team

Wherever we are in life, we are building communities of some sort, be it family, a church life group or a whole congregation. In my role leading our new 3pm Blunham location, I’ve had the opportunity to learn quite a bit about building community and I’ve boiled down to these top five things I’ve been learning:

1. SMALL TALK, BIG TALK

Building community, small or large, requires people to connect and form relationships by talking to one another. To this end, we should always be asking ourselves, how am I making it easy to talk to each other in this community?

We have to make space for small talk: the weather or the football. We also have to make space for big talk, or else our community becomes just a social club. For us at Blunham, we love catching up over a coffee after services and prayer meetings, and we also love building time into our meetings to talk about the bigger things in life.

Small talk by itself won’t grow a community. Big talk only can become intense. In your community, are you building in time for both?

2. BUILDING COMMUNITY TAKES TIME

There is no replacement for time spent in one another’s company. There is no shortcut for this.

To truly know one another, we need time in each other’s company and time to develop trust to be vulnerable. Have you ever tried being vulnerable with someone you’ve only just met? Me neither. These things take time.

Communication is more about listening than talking, and so in your community, are you taking the time to listen well?

3. THE HARVEST IS PLENTIFUL

The rewards of building community are huge. One of my favourite weeks as a Sunday location was in March when we met as a community to have lunch. The overwhelming majority of the community came along and we had a great time of connection over some delicious home-cooked food. They had wanted to be part of it. This would never have been possible without having put the time in first.

4. BUILDING SOMETIMES MEANS BUILDING (FLATPACK)

One of my favourite moments in building the community at Blunham was the afternoon we literally spent doing some building! We had a delivery of flat-packed sofas and chairs to help refurbish the rear hall in the building. I made an appeal for helpers and was amazed at the number of people who showed up with their expertise, tools and time. What spurred us on was the fact that we were all working towards an endpoint we valued.

We wanted to see the room transformed, and what I learnt was that having a sense of common purpose bound us together.

5. ADVENTURE WITH PEOPLE YOU TRUST

Building a community of any sort is an adventure in itself, a step into the unknown. The future of your community might face unexpected challenges. The only way to approach this healthily is to go on this adventure with people you trust, people who you know will stand by you and fight for the community.

I have been so grateful for the community at Blunham who have been so trustworthy and dependable in all we have ventured in together, willing to help out in so many ways. I know that we can see through anything that comes our way.

Let’s continue building healthy, strong community around us as we become all that God has called us to be.

Much love,
John Wright and the eFocus team

If you’d like to see how building our Blunham community is progressing, or even considering joining us for a season as we seek to build and grow, we would love to have you! We meet on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month at 3pm.

Find out more at kingsarms.org/blunham

A couple of years ago my husband and I really felt God telling us to dig our roots deep into Bedford. Whether that meant we would be here for a short or long time, it didn’t matter. We knew God was telling us to serve and pray for our town, church and the region He had placed us in. I now have the privilege of leading our Re-Track outreach project which is all about helping people get their lives back on track. (Learn more about Re-Track here)

In this eFocus, we will be delving into some ways that we can love and serve our town and region that God has placed us in, making a difference in your neighbourhood:

1) Get Informed

We discovered that in Bedford, loneliness, littered streets and poverty are among the persistent issues the town is dealing with.

Every town and city will have different needs so it’s important to learn what the specific needs in your town are. Through Re-Track we are in ongoing contact with Bedford council and the Mayor to find out what the areas of greatest needs are and work towards blessing and helping in those areas where possible.

To learn more about the area/town/city you live in, you can research the following things:

Who lives in your area? What benefits and challenges do they face?
What ethnicities and social classes live and work in your neighbourhoods?
What specific challenges is your town council coming across?

2) Pray Specifically

“…Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Jeremiah 29:7

There is an importance and call for us to pray for the region God has placed us in as we can see from this verse. Prayer is so powerful and the most effective way to see God’s kingdom on earth!

Once we’ve discovered our town’s challenges, we can then pray specifically into those areas. Pray for God to lead you in prayer and show you His heart and vision for your town.

A practical way you could pray is by prayer walking around your streets and town. This can be helpful to stay focused and specific in our prayers, and to be immersed in the community we’re praying for.

3) Use your Passions and Giftings

Each one of us has unique desires and passions, with different God-given assignments to do good works. So, for many of us serving our town will look different.

Maybe you have a heart to see the lonely placed into family or the poor being looked after and provided for, or for the youth and young people of Bedford?

What is God placing in your heart to see changed in your town? What can you do practically to make a difference in that area?

4) Take Action

There are many practical ways we can take action, such as…

Loving our neighbours. There’s often so much need right on our door steps. Keep your eyes peeled on those who live locally to you. Maybe you will notice an elderly neighbour’s garden that has been left untended to that you can offer a helping hand with, for example.

Volunteering with a local charity or church outreach projects. There are so many local projects that are making a difference to the challenges our towns are facing. Recently, King’s Arms Project were recruiting volunteers to run their Winter Night Shelter supporting the homeless. Re-Track runs lots of events throughout the year that you can get involved with such as litter-picking, handing out LoveChristmas boxes, delivering Emergency Food Parcels, and more.

Starting something new. You may come across a need that you feel passionate about but there isn’t already anything in place to help. Could God be calling you to make a difference in this way?

God has placed us where we are for a reason. We are called to be a light shining on a hill and to bring light and good news to our town.

How can you dig your roots deep into where you live?

Much love,

Charlotte Knapp and eFocus team