Compassion & Community Engagement
At St Silas we strive to let God’s love for us shape the way we serve and love others
This looks different in the different areas of life in the church. For example, we have run support groups seeking to foster positive mental health, and invited local people to join us for courses on marriage enrichment and parenting. For more information on these, please contact the church office. Below you will find some of the areas that we are passionate about.
We are a Fair Trade church, and through the initiatives and service of our ‘fair trade champion’, Tracy Mitchell, we encourage our church family to be concerned that the producers of what we consume are treated fairly.
We have a longstanding relationship with Tearfund, the Evangelical Alliance relief fund, which serves with wisdom and experience all over the world to tackle poverty through sustainable development.
We have been supporters of the Glasgow City Mission for many years. As well as through financial contributions and ongoing prayer, a number of our church family also volunteer at the Mission.
Mission Partners
We care about reaching the world with the good news of Jesus, and and so we support many people in many countries who are working to make him known. Here are some of our partners that we support in their work:
Some of our mission partners are:
Robin Silson & family
Church planting, Winchburgh, Scotland
Hello, we are the Silson family. After spending 3 amazing years as members of St Silas we moved to in Winchburgh in West Lothian to plant a church in September 2021. Winchburgh is an old mining village but is rapidly expanding with lots of new developments. There are a lot of people who need to hear the good news of Jesus. We trust in Psalm 127:1 ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, the labourers labour in vain’. This is our prayer as we rely on God to bring people to faith and build his house. We have a small core team who love the local community. We seek to build relationships, introducing people to Jesus along the way.
Karen Campbell
Wheel Trust Glasgow
The Wheel Trust is a Scripture Union Associate Trust whose vision is to enable the 2,500 plus young people of secondary school age in the West End of Glasgow who mostly have little or no connection to the local churches to be educated about the Christian faith, with the opportunity to explore and experience the claims of Jesus for themselves. Kathryn was appointed as Youth Ministry Team Coordinator in 2006 and Karen joined in 2013. They have been developing the ministry by working with the support of existing church based youth workers, partner churches and their pool of volunteer workers, in school, church and community settings, seeking opportunities to meet the social, moral, emotional, physical, intellectual & spiritual needs of young people and children in Glasgow’s West End.
Derek Campbell
Glasgow City Mission
Hello, I’m Derek and I work for Glasgow City Mission, a homeless charity in Glasgow. It has been running for around 200 years and seeks to reach out to marginalised people in the city. My main role is to connect with vulnerable men, supporting and advocating for them on issues related to housing, mental health, addiction, asylum and more. Often we deal with people who have suffered from deep trauma and our desire is to build relationships, offer practical support and ultimately encourage and challenge them to really think about Jesus, who He is, what He has done & the hope He offers. I’m married to Ishbel and we have three children, Innes, Martha & Anna. Thank you for praying for us!
Darren Jackson
Navigators, UK
I have been working with the Navigators in Glasgow since 2010 after leaving Structural Engineering. I currently lead the work in Glasgow, where we primarily work with students to equip them in being and making disciples with a focus of doing this among their non-Christian friends. We hope to raise a generation of men and women who have a vision for Christ, life and people in all walks of life. I also volunteer a day a week as a counsellor after retraining in this over the past 4 years.
Rebecca Davies
Friends International, Glasgow
Every year, there are about 20,000 international students in Glasgow alone — with about 25% coming from countries where Christian persecution is high and the gospel is hardly known. Many are more open during their time abroad than they will ever be back home. Our vision at Friends International is to see these international students reached with and transformed by the gospel, so that they can follow Jesus too and take the good news as missionaries to their own families, friends and nations. I’ve been part of the St Silas church family since September 2017, when I moved to Glasgow — and the UK — to work with Friends International (first as Apprentice, now as centre team leader). Being originally from Germany, it’s not just my mission work that’s a cross-cultural experience! I got married to Alex, who is now a physics teacher in a Glasgow school, in 2019. I love a good ceilidh, a walk in the countryside, or a movie night in.
Yvonne Mildred
Ghana
I’ve been part of St Silas since coming to Glasgow to do a Masters in Development Economics in 1988. I’ve volunteered with SIM as a missionary since around the same time. My work, at the request of Pastors of churches in West Africa, is to help West African Christian Business people manage their businesses well, be they micro or larger. Then as local wealth and employment increases, their churches, through theirs and their employees giving, can financially support the missionaries God is calling out of West Africa. Huge challenge! I concentrate on encouraging biblical values in business relationships; and on good financial management. I raise awareness about God being a missionary God and his West African missionaries’ needs of encouragement, love, prayer and financial help. And I try to be a close follower of Jesus, myself. It all seems very impossible, but God is able.
Susie Reid
New Destiny Brazil
I’ve been part of St Silas since 1993 when I returned home to take up my first Maths teaching post. I have had a variety of jobs in a variety of settings – never quite finding my niche but gathering a toolbox of skills which are enormously helpful now. New Destiny is based in a converted farm – we offer the space and beauty of the countryside, activities and encouragement to underprivileged children. We have two strands to our work: weekend camps for kids from the city slums and ‘Transformers’ – our work with the local kids from a nearby favela. My role is varied – and will increase when my grasp of Portuguese increases! I am housekeeper, cleaner, bed maker, kombi driver, first aider, joint leader of the 2 girls’ Transformer groups and camp film producer. We have recently started up a prayer room/church in the local favela every Friday night. Our aim is to help kids to realise that God has a purpose for their lives and that there is hope for themselves, their families and their drink and drug imprisoned communities.
Andy & Rachel Symons
Zambia
We are the Symons family and we live just outside Kitwe, in Zambia. Andy has been a full time teacher at Proclamation Institute Zambia (PIZ) since September 2019. Many people go to some sort of church in Zambia, but many are led by so-called ‘Men of God’, who are the direct connection between the people and God. These ‘Men of God’ divine the spiritual problems in people’s lives by direct revelation and go on to decree protection and blessing. Many Zambians say they trust Jesus, but in reality Jesus is a ticket to heaven but the ‘Man of God’ is the real power in their lives. The result is that many who go to church don’t know the gospel of grace or how that works out in their lives because the Bible is not preached faithfully. At PIZ we aim to teach Bible handling skills so that people can be equipped to teach and preach from the Bible. Why? So that God’s voice is clearly heard by Zambians, and their lives are flooded by Jesus and his wonderful and victorious work on the cross, which changes everything now and forever.
Josh Williams
Ukraine
Scripture Union
Tajikistan
Along with their children they are involved in the rapidly growing Scripture People (SU) in Tajikistan. U is an essential member of the staff team, thanks in part to the generosity of St. Silas. Together they run: after school games & craft club for older school pupils; afternoon club for young mothers and babies; Bible study evenings for young volunteers. D has a very popular motor bike club attracting many young lads and there’s also a football club. During the summer months, when the heat can be well over 40°, many of the young volunteers help with the building of summer home where they work very hard but also enjoy lots of fun, laughter, good friendships and fellowship learning about their Lord. Praise the Lord for new opportunities and pray for wisdom and protection.
