Current Mission Focus

Lighthouse

Lighthouse is a much-loved charity which many members of our church have benefited from over the years. Lighthouse is our chosen charity focus from April to June and our own Ben Sharp (Chair of Trustees: Lighthouse Central) will be speaking to us on Sunday 18th May at both the 9.00am and 11.00am services. He has also provided the following article to remind us of the amazing Christian holiday programmes that Lighthouse runs each year in our local communities.

Mission Support Group

Shining a Light in our Communities

What’s not to like about a community coming together to support and invest in children and young people?

Nothing! That is certainly what everyone at Lighthouses around the UK think. Each Lighthouse offers a unique experience to kids who, over one week, attend the best holiday club of their lives.

Lighthouse is primarily for primary school aged children, who come along for one week during the summer holidays and have a fantastic time. They get to play, do craft activities, sing and dance, learn in a fun way, get messy, make new friends and generally have an amazing week.

Parents? They love Lighthouse too! As well as being a week of summer holiday childcare, they know their children are having a great time in a safe environment, as well as receiving life-affirming, moral teaching. Plus it is free to send a child: no family should miss out for financial reasons.

Then there are the volunteer helpers, who are enriched by giving their time. Whether the secondary-school aged Lamplighters who may have grown up through Lighthouse or the adult volunteers who perhaps attended a Lighthouse as a child.

What of the impact of a Lighthouse in the community it serves? One Lighthouse is based at a school in a relatively deprived urban area. The school loves hosting Lighthouse because of the lift it gives the community each summer plus the transformation the school’s teenage volunteers experience, when they are empowered to look after the younger children and be role models to them.

I was blown away by the ease with which Lighthouse managed 460 kids over 5 days. All children thoroughly entertained, included & cared for. (Trasna, mum & helper)

Starting as one event in Great Missenden over 35 years ago, Lighthouse has grown from its Buckinghamshire base to run at 15 sites around the UK. In 2024, 3,000 children attended a Lighthouse supported by 1,200 volunteers of all ages. And the Lighthouse family is growing back to its pre-Covid numbers, when over 5,000 children were participating each summer.

Each Lighthouse is unashamedly Christian, amazingly popular and locally proven. They start when a group of churches recognise Lighthouse provides the perfect opportunity for churches and communities to come together around children. God has worked consistently through Lighthouse over many years and seen the lives of thousands of children, young people and adults changed.

Many children who started at Lighthouse have gone on to become leaders and trustees in the Lighthouse movement and many have gone on to become leaders in their wider communities, with some launching new charitable initiatives.

Year after year the Lighthouses find themselves significantly oversubscribed as parents scramble to enrol their children. To grow and expand the available spaces, more Lighthouses have been established but many more are still needed.

Lighthouse Central was created in 2016 to support the growth of the Lighthouse family. It focuses on bringing the Lighthouse experience to many more locations and also supports those already established by ensuring consistency in safeguarding, delivery, teaching and quality.

Lighthouse Central has bold plans for the future. The team is passionate about seeing children and young people from all walks of life and with any ability encounter God. Their vision is to plant at least one Lighthouse in every region of the UK by 2035, allowing over 10,000 children and young people to attend a Lighthouse each year.

My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth […] we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord. Psalms 78:1, 4 NIVUK

Psalm 78 reminds us that God told us not to keep stories of our faith to ourselves but to pass them along to the next generation. Similarly, in Matthew 19 Jesus reached out to part of society considered to be insignificant when he said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”

Every Lighthouse is entirely reliant on the generosity and goodwill of their local community and the congregation at St Michael & All Angels Church has kindly given time, talents and money in recent years. But the limited number of volunteers at every Lighthouse limits how many children can attend - one local Lighthouse had 199 child attendees in 2024… but 121 were turned away, mostly due to a shortage of helpers.

Lighthouse needs YOUR continued help to support its great work with children and young people at the heart of communities such as High Wycombe and to gear its nationwide growth.

Locally, you could share your skills or time. Your local Lighthouse would love to hear from you, whether you could offer helping hands, organising skills, craft materials or ideas, baking or more.

You could pray for your local Lighthouse and the nationwide Lighthouse family. God does wonderful things through prayer so please pray for Lighthouse and join a local prayer event before and during Lighthouse week.

You could support Lighthouse fundraising events throughout the year. If you learn of something going on, please attend or get involved.

And to support Lighthouse Central’s work to grow Lighthouse nationwide, the Friends of Lighthouse have formed. They are individuals, couples and families who have committed to a regular donation to support initiatives such as planting new Lighthouses and expanding Additional Needs support, which is Lighthouse’s current fundraising focus.

Perhaps you would consider donating a regular gift, which would really help Lighthouse plan for the future in confidence?

Any regular gift that you could give would be used to establish new Lighthouses and help support existing ones. Please would you help Lighthouse realise our vision and make a lasting impact in communities across the UK?

My children love Lighthouse and I mean love it. The team are fantastic and truly put their heart and soul into everything. An amazing week. (Anita, mum)

Lighthouse is unashamedly Christian, and it remains amazingly popular, is very much locally proven and continues to take church into the community, making a substantial impact. What’s not to like?!

For more information about Lighthouse, to make a much needed donation or to find out more, please email: ben.sharp@lighthousecentral.org

Ben Sharp

Chair of Trustees, Lighthouse Central