Office Move

We are increasingly aware that our tenure at Partnership House, 157 Waterloo Rd is coming to an end. The plans remain uncertain, although we are hoping that there will be further clarification over the summer as our landlord CMS's plans are confirmed; we could still be asked to leave by December 2006 at the earliest, or November 2007 at the latest. We believe that the most likely date is Easter 2007. Plans are continuing to develop, and you will read below of the Capital Appeal, which we have launched, to enable us to purchase a property to meet our current and longer-term office needs.

Capital Appeal

CMF's capital appeal to raise £2 million for the purchase of a property in London was launched with a meeting at 157 Waterloo Road, London on 24 May. The vision and strategy were later shared with the CMF General Committee on 10 June. We have the first £200,000 already as a grant from the Healthserve fund from the sale of MMA's property in Camden Road in 2004.

Our strategy will follow the recommendations of professional fundraisers Craigmyle to: use volunteers, approach major donors first, employ spread payments and gift aid and to do a mass-mailing to the fellowship only when over half of our target total is reached. We will be launching the appeal on the website with further information and a brochure and video shortly and over 100 members of CMF will be involved in approaching friends and colleagues.

We are aiming at raising the next £1,350,000 over the next two to three months through lump sum gifts, monthly pledges over four years and no interest loans. Please do pray for the progress of the appeal and consider prayerfully how you could individually respond when the time comes. The bottom line is that, with gift aid, just 360 people giving £80 a month for four years would raise the remaining £1,800,000.

Organisation Review

It has become clear to us recently that while the growth of CMF's ministry has been fantastic over the last six years – both staffing and finances have more than doubled (10 to 25 staff; £500,000 to £1,200,000), our internal systems, and structures are creaking. In order to prepare ourselves for the office move in 2007, we have therefore instigated a thorough Organisational Review, drawing in both staff and CMF Officers (the volunteer Trustees of the Fellowship), to identify areas of success and failure, and to put in place a structure that will enable the Fellowship to continue to grow and develop, if that is appropriate. Please pray for the senior team and for Mee-Yan Judge, a 5th generation Chinese Christian, who is also a gifted exponent of Organisational Development, and who is helping us as we seek to plan for all that is to come.