“There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and bought the proceeds of what was sold and laid at the apostle’s feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need” Acts 4 34 & 35.

Recently Dan mentioned a wonderful charity called Acts435.org that works to help each of those who have any need. The charity, formed in October 2009, runs much like a bulletin board, where a need is highlighted to charity ‘advocate’, who then posts this need on the board.

This is visible to anyone with an internet connection, and is then fulfilled by various donors around the country who view that request.

The requests are normally made by a 3^rd party for someone who they feel is in need, to a monetary limit of £200 currently and often have many different donors giving a portion of that request until the amount is filled. The request can also be part of a bigger project that requires further donations. For example, the request could be for £180 towards a motorised wheelchair costing a lot more.

The money is then sent by the Acts 435 administrator to the designated bank account of the advocate, who then purchases the goods and delivers it to the person in need. The advocate is normally a member of a church or charity, who aims to meet to the needs of their community. Almost 100% of all requests are met within an average time of 18 days and it had reached the milestone of helping over 20,000 people in 2019.

Mark Tanner became the ‘advocate’ for Christ Church earlier this year and all requests need to go through him. All requests need to be accompanied with a 500 word explanation of how the request will enhance that individual’s life in some way. Requests include food vouchers, fees for Debt Relief Orders (DRO), furniture, bedding, shopping trolleys, anything that will help the individual. The requests are limited to 3 per household, so that the individual does not become dependent upon the charity.

Once the donation is fulfilled, Mark will buy the requested items from the received funds which either he can deliver himself or with the 3^rd party who may be involved. Mark then takes a statement of gratitude from the individual which is then posted onto the bulletin board and the Acts 435 administrator will then notify the donors.

So far, we have had two successful requests that have been fulfilled and would love to do more to help the Christ Church community.

You can also become a donor yourself by visiting www.acts435.org.uk , where you can see the requests that are outstanding and how much has been raised against each one.

This is a great way to fulfil GOD’s command for us to help the needy and the poor and together with CAP, enables Christ Church to reach out into our community and give where we can.