The Lakes Vineyard Church

Public benefits

The direct benefits which flow from our purposes to our beneficiaries: Purposes 1 and 2: We recognise there are public as well as personal benefits associated with religious practice and that the fostering of spirituality through Christianity itself provides an inherent benefit to society (through for example the potential for general moral

improvement in society). The public benefits from an increased awareness and understanding of religious beliefs and practices, missionary and outreach work, religious communication and ecumenical and interfaith activity. Those who attend our activities derive benefit from the public worship and teaching provided – being encouraged in their spiritual development. The community at large benefits through the behaviour of those in attendance – as they live a lifestyle in line with the teachings of the Christian faith. The volunteers involved (made up of people from the local community) will benefit through their active participation in a wide range of roles – they are able to connect in community with other like-minded people and share a sense of having helped others. We promote family stability and wellbeing, and increased ability to contribute positively to society for those attending. Purpose 3: We provide support and guidance to those activities of our members that seek to promote, in Enniskillen and the surrounding areas, good health through work as a local food bank as well as direct provision to new mothers with needed essentials. The church runs activities promoting good financial management to alleviate financial hardship and poverty which then further signposts individuals to receive actual support as well as opportunities to participate in prayer to relieve sickness. Purpose 4: We carry out acts of social concern to benefit persons in Enniskillen and the surrounding area in the advancement of equality and diversity and the promotion of religious and racial harmony. Providing improved community relations, intercultural cohesion, and an increase in understanding of cross cultural and multi-religious views creating a common ground and sense of belonging through provision of bi-weekly meetings in the local community. The benefit of such support and guidance is to enable those members to be better able to serve in the local community. Harm/Unintended beneficiaries: We would highlight that access to all our activities are free of charge and open to everyone. We have assessed our purposes and our activities and believe there is no harm arising from them. There is a potential harm of creating a cycle of dependency in relieving financial hardship directly through gifts. However this does not outweigh the public benefit as we also provide additional services for long term life skills to educate through situations. We employ staff as a necessary function of satisfying our purposes/carrying out our activities and apart from these employees there are no other unintended beneficiaries. Evidence of direct benefits: We seek to ensure our activities are making a difference by asking for regular feedback from participants. We utilise a range of different methods – starting with verbal conversations and anecdotal observation (of the change in people’s lives) running right through to more formalised written evaluation forms. We monitor and record a significant quantity of statistics relating to (for example) the number of people who attend our primary activities. Beneficiaries: All activities discussed above are open to the public without discrimination and aimed mainly within Enniskillen and the greater surrounding area though some elements listed above have worldwide activities. All acts are completely voluntary. Activities are monitored for growth in participation and have opportunities for feedback from members.

What your organisation does

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