Links

The Church in the benefice is connected to other organisations locally and right across the world.

	The Church of England is the denomination of the worldwide Christian Church to which the churches of the benefice belong. It came into being as part of the Protestant Reformation, not purely (despite what many people claim) as a result of King Henry VIII’s desire for divorce.		Government is facilitated by local authorities (councils) acting in smaller geographical areas like counties.  In the Church of England, the equivalent geographical region to a county is called a Diocese, centred on a Cathedral City where the Bishop has his administration.  We are in St Albans Diocese.
	A deanery is the church governance equivalent of a civic district (like East Herts) which has its own council to represent the people.  Our parishes are in the Hertford and Ware Deanery.		The Fairtrade Foundation exists to promote fairer trade deals for Third World countries.  The foundation campaigns against injustice in trade rules and practice, and promotes sales of fairly traded goods.  Goods bearing the Fairtrade mark are guaranteed to be fairly traded.
	CMS is an evangelistic mission working to see a world transformed by the love of Jesus.  Hunsdon church have a link with a mission partner, Ruth Huelser, who runs a medical centre in Tabora, Tanzania.  More details of that link are available at the Rectory.		Traidcraft is a major contributor to the Fairtrade Foundation and its work around the world.  It uses a wide network of global contacts to buy and sell goods providing the producers with access to new markets and a fair deal.  Quality merchandise is available to order from the Rectory.
	Saffron Walden Bible Focus aims to encourage and strengthen Christians in their faith through Bible teaching and providing a forum for fellowship with other believers from the region.		Harlow Food Bank works in partnership with churches, businesses, supermarkets, schools and front-line professional care agencies.  Tinned and dried food is donated by the public, “banked” in a warehouse and then given to people in crisis.
	The churches are all intimately connected with the village communities they serve.  This link will take you to the Hunsdon Village website.  Church based events and information can be found on this web-site.		The churches are all intimately connected with the village communities they serve.  This link will take you to the Widford Village website.  Church based events and information can be found on this web-site.
Wareside	The churches are all intimately connected with the village communities they serve.  This link will take you to the Wareside Village website.  Church based events and information can be found on this web-site.		This is the Church of England Primary School in the benefice.  It is a “Voluntary Controlled” school, and there are two “Foundation” governors on the Governing Body to ensure there is Church representation at management level.  The Rector frequently leads “Collective Worship” in the school.
	The Friends of Widford Church care deeply about the beautiful and historic church building of St John the Baptist, Widford.  Their funds provide special assistance towards major projects and regular maintenance of the fabric itself, contributing greatly to the life of the church.		The Friends of Wareside Church care deeply about the striking and extraordinary church building of Holy Trinity, Wareside.  Their funds provide special assistance towards major projects and regular maintenance of the fabric itself, contributing greatly to the life of the church.
	The St Albans Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship (DEF) seeks to unite evangelicals within the Diocese.  It arranges occasional meetings, provides a means for evangelicals to consult together and is a constituent part of the national representative bodies of the evangelicals within the Church of England.		The A21 Campaign is dedicated to abolishing injustice in the 21st century. The shocking truth is that there are more slaves now than ever before. The young people from the AWE Community have supported this campaign.

The links below are for organisations with which the churches have less formal connections.  Nonetheless, we believe you might find them useful.

	We live in a world of choice, and make choices every day. One choice we all have to face is about the way we live our lives.  Not only is this an important choice, but it is also simple: fundamentally, there are only Two Ways To Live.  This site helps us to choose.		The Good Book Company are specialist providers of Christian Books and Bible Study Resources.  Their policy is always to distribute literature which proceeds from a responsible understanding of the Bible. Always worth a look for yourself or a for gift for someone else!  We stock some of their publications in our online bookshop.
	TEARFund is an international aid agency whose foundation is the Evangelical Alliance.  It is therefore strongly Christian in its approach to suffering.  Thus it attempts to bring lasting physical relief recognising that our greatest need is for healing of our relationship with God.		This organisation exists to inform Western Christians of the difficulties being faced by Christians in other parts of the world.  We might like to imagine that violent persecution is a thing of the past.  The stories uncovered by The Barnabas Fund educate us otherwise.
	Oak Hill College is the Theological Training College where the current Rector, previous Rector and former assistant minister all studied theology and pastoral studies.  It provides “Biblical Training for Contemporary Ministry” and is a great resource for the church.		This is a really useful site, created to enable you to find the information you most need without getting lost in cyberspace.  There are good links here for people who call themselves Christians and those who are curious.
	All Nations Christian College is situated within 5 miles of our benefice in the adjacent parish of Stanstead Abbotts.  The college’s stated purpose is to train and equip men and women for effective participation in God’s mission to His multi-cultural world.		Operation Christmas Child is a project organised by the relief organisation Samaritan’s Purse. People are invited to fill a shoebox with a selection of gifts for children.  These boxes are then shipped to needy children in countries like Albania in time for a happy Christmas.
	The Children’s Society is a leading national charity, driven by the belief that every child deserves a good childhood.  The Society bravely focuses its attention on those children with the greatest need.  The popular Christmas-time Christingle service supports this work.		Some of our church members own canal boats and, through them, we have made contact with Canal Ministries whose members serve not only the UK boating community with the gospel of Jesus but also reach out to landlubbers with the same lifechanging message.