COVENANT PARTNERSThe Church is based in the district of Setubal, Portugal which is an area with a high proportion of "street people". These people, many of whom are young and single mothers, are homeless as a result of problems including drug addiction and physical and emotional abuse and have been very much marginalised because of their difficulties. In response to this the Vision of Pastor Afonso, his wife and Christian Centre Cross and Restoration was to set up Social Centre Good Samaritan to carry out the task of assisting these homeless people and drug addicts to return to normal life.
The aims of Christian Centre Cross and Restoration, Social Centre Good Samaritan include not only addressing the physical needs these people have for food, shelter and clothing, but also to provide counselling and training in ordinary every day living skills to enable their reintegration into mainstream society. The ultimate aim is for as many of these people as possible to come to know Jesus Christ as the only Saviour of humanity and to give their lives to Him, although SCGS is committed to giving support to all regardless of nationality, creed or religion.
SCGS currently have two centres providing accommodation for some of these people where they receive guidelines as to how to take care of themselves including personal hygiene, how to manage a home, how to prepare nutritious meals, moral and spiritual counselling etc. Victims of physical and emotional abuse are also given appropriate support, psychological counselling and legal advice.
Although the project has been running successfully for over seven years it is only recently that Government and Local Authority agencies have recognised the value of the work being done by SCGS. As a result of this recognition SCGS has been asked by the Commission of Child Protection to assist in street work by organising children's activities, promoting school attendance by providing motivation and providing classes in a number of manual skills such as sewing, tapestry, gardening and pottery. As the facilities are enlarged SCGS will receive children under the direction of the CCP who are considered to be "at risk". At the request of SCGS the City Hall has agreed to provide tools and equipment to enable the young people in the centres to play a positive role in the city by assisting with gardening, grass cutting, and helping keep the streets clean.
In order to further expand these projects into another area with similar problems, Bela Vista, SGCS needs help including suitable property for a headquarters in the area, a mobile kitchen and more vans for the distribution of food. For those who would like to read about the project in more detail a copy of Pastor Afonso's "Resume of SCGS Activity" can be downloaded by clicking here. Please note this is a large file (approximately 4 Mb) and may take some time to download. The document is in Microsoft Word format and is downloaded as a self-extracting zipfile. To open the file double-click the downloaded folder "Resume.zip", then double-click the Word Document "Resume.doc" and it will open in MS Word. If you have problems opening the file, please use WinZip. If you do not have a copy of WinZip on your machine please click here to download the program. CHRISTCHURCH YOUTH TEAM VISIT SETUBAL. 2006Inspired by the words and actions of the Setubal church, and the vision of Paul Stenhouse, (youth leader), CCM's, (Christ church Matchborough), youth team flew to Portugal to experience and engage with life there......... For more information click here. Christian Centre Cross and Restoration can be contacted by e-mail at: cccr@cix.pt Social Centre Good Samaritan can be contacted by e-mail at: csbs1@hotmail.com
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