Connecting people to change lives is the strap line of the Vine Trust. I smile when I see it, as part of our advertising, because there is a hidden code in that line which only the initiated understand.
People say to me: so why the Vine? Some Americans have even thought we are a vintage wine preservation society. Before you think it too outrageous bear in mind that there are famous Bogle Vineyards in Southern California.
I have to tell them that I set up the Vine Trust in order to receive the profits from a little shop I opened with others in my parish in the mid 80s. Its aim was to help make a difference in the poorest parts of the world. We needed a name for the shop, I thought Branches, thinking maybe in the future we'll have more than one shop?
Now if you take Branches from a name then you are left with the Vine aren't you? Did Jesus not say I am the Vine and you are the Branches? The implication is to trust the vine.
Little did I think those twenty five years ago that one day the Vine Trust would be working in South America bringing health and healing to over 100,000 thousand people in Amazonia through our ships and clinic and be caring for over 200 children in five homes with an annual turn over of 1.3 million. Let me tell you every penny is a prisoner. It is our aim to make sure that we can maximise every gift.
Much of the success of our work is due to Willie McPherson our Executive Director. Willie and I used to work in the same town in adjacent parishes. We struck up a unique friendship that is often missing among ministers today. Indeed it was a three way friendship because Jim Marshall in Craigmailen the UF Church had also been nobbled by me to come on to the Board and before long Willie was also a Director At that we were making small one off grants to projects in different parts of the world. We'd give away around £10,000 per annum.
I knew, of course, that Willie had a passion for work in Peru, simply because when he went off to visit I'd cover for him in his parish work. We started to support the work of SU Peru in a small way. We quite liked this arrangement because we were building up personal relationships with the staff in Peru and we felt that our donations were being used to the maximum.
I think it was in 1998 or 1999 that we started to consider the idea of sending a boat to the Amazon as an income generating business. It took a while to make the whole thing happen, indeed that in itself is another story of God's provision through the generosity of His people. Eventually the Trust agreed to sponsor the idea of a ship as a ferry boat on the Amazon.
After an amazing voyage in 2002 the boat arrived in the Amazon, but instead of becoming a passenger vessel it ended up being turned into a small floating medical clinic. In 2006 we were able to repeat the exercise and send a second vessel as a sister ship to Amazon Hope 1. Today the Trust finances 17 medical and marine staff to take free health care to some of the poorest tribal people in the Amazonia.
We are also concerned about the growing number of street children, or abandoned children to be found in Peru and the surrounding countries. Having built five homes to date we have two more in the pipeline and opportunities to continue to expand this work into other South American countries.
All of this is what I call the new missionary movement. Our passion is to connect people to the Vine to change lives. What is so wonderful about all this is that many people find themselves connecting with us because of our humanitarian appeal. They offer themselves to serve the poor using their medical skills or in building homes for the abandoned boys. We don't ask them to sign a confession of faith instead we ask them to share in our compassion. I think that is how Jesus would have us act. For too long as evangelical Christians we have put barriers up towards people of little faith or no faith or even of other faiths. I believe the Holy Spirit is at work in the world, often not because of the church but despite the church. The truth is we need to learn to fish in a new way. If we are authentic in our life styles then others will see Christ in our actions and these actions will cause many to meet Jesus.
It is while such people journey with us that they discover the deeper meaning of the Vine. The strange thing is that such a discovery rather than causing them alarm more often than not causes them to discover their faith awakening in a new context as they serve the needs of the poor. I chuckle once more as more and more people trust the Vine rather than the Vine Trust. If you think you can give two weeks of your life to the Vine get in touch at www.vinetrust.org who knows who you might meet.
Albert Bogle
Chairman Vine Trust
www.iTalker.org.uk
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