CHURCHES

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR

At Rough Edges, we aim to live out Jesus' command to love your neighbour and honour Christ in all we do. We believe all people are loved by God and should be treated with kindness and love, in the same way that Christ showed his love for us.

We really value our partnerships with local churches, and are very thankful for the many Christians who support Rough Edges financially, in prayer and with practical help.

'If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.' 1 John 3:17-18

how churches can support rough edges

have one of our staff members visit church services
include prayer points in weekly emails (once a month or two)
pray in church services
provide meals once a month
members (and ministers!) participate in Roughtober, our 'sleep rough' fundraising event
fundraise through community events or functions, like election bbqs
members volunteer at our Christmas party
make a regular financial contribution

how CHRISTIANS CAN support rough edges

pray for us (and sign up to receive regular prayer updates)
volunteer
fundraise - there are so many ways you can fundraise: run a marathon or choose another challenge, ask friends for donations instead of gifts for your birthday, or sleep rough
donate

CONTACT NAOMI TO FIND OUT MORE

How your church can be involved with Rough Edges

Church visit
To introduce us as a partner organisation we can visit your church services and share about who we are and what we do.

Pray
Each month we send a newsletter which contains a link to our prayer points. St Mark’s includes these in their newsletter, and uses them to pray for Rough Edges and Banksia Women on alternate months as one of their mission partners. Another option is for a small group to adopt us as prayer partners and commit to praying for us.

Hold a fundraising event

Churches have raised money for us in many creative ways including election bbqs,

We hold a sleep out event each year called Roughtober, on the last Friday night of October each year where participants ask people to sponsor them to sleep on the ground around St John's Darlinghurst. We have quite a few ministers from our partner churches join us each year, and youth groups have also run their own sleepover and fundraised as part of it. Or you can invite people from your churchYou can form a fundraising team and Church members would also be welcome to participate.

Another option, is to hold a women’s event to raise money for Banksia Women and awareness of domestic abuse. We have just held an event at St Mark’s where one woman shared a testimony which included her experience of domestic violence and our program manager and I shared about what we do and the biblical basis for why we do it.

Volunteer
Rough Edges and Banksia Women are both dependent on volunteers to operate, and we would love to have more Christians volunteering.

Rough Edges is run by a team of volunteers who look after dinner service Monday – Thursday.
Banksia Women’s main need is for women who could volunteer during the day on Wednesdays or Fridays.
Both are on a fortnightly basis.

There are also opportunities to volunteer on a once-off basis, like at our Christmas Party and other special events, which would be perfect for church members to come together to serve.