Vision and Funding

Funding/Adverts     How we Work     Christian Unity

International Partners    From the US? Host us!

Inspiration

         When I was about 14, one afternoon I went into the Art department at my School. I think I needed to collect some exam results or something, I can’t quite remember. I saw an old friend, a guy who I had known for years. We used to be best friends, and we had had a lot of youthful fun in the past. We were both artistic, and had previously been quite competitive in this area. However, whereas I did not developed my skills, my friend certainly had done. I greeted him. On the table infront of my friend sat the most striking sculptured image I have ever seen. He was working on some sort of head or skull, which had its hands glued to the sides of its head. The mouth was gaping wide, in a terrible scream.The fingers were thrust into the empty eye sockets in absolute pain and anguish, as if desperately clawing for some sort of self numbing relief. All the figure had to hold on to was its own pain.

         The figure was very well designed and moulded; I was really struck. Knowing the sculptor, I understood a little of his background and life experiences. He was not a Christian, and had suffered rejection and abuse from his parents. At that point in his life, it was obvious to me that he was suffering from some sort of depression. God offers hope to anyone like this. He is ever loving, ever ready to forgive us, and ever able to help us overcome our problems and bad feelings, and know peace in our lives. As Christians, we should communicate the Gospel - the reality of the love of God for people, to those who need to hear this truth. Whether someone is suffering in a specific way (for example, from depression) or not, we know that all of us our sinners, and that we all need forgiveness and salvation through Christ.

         If you are suffering at this time, God can help you. He can bring you comfort, and also some sense of meaning to your life. He can even bring some sort of purpose out of your suffering, even though this is often impossible to see during the low time. There are many people suffering in this world, and there is a lot of pain. People suffer mentally, emotionally and physically. Whether you are a Christian or not at this point, I hope and pray that you find the site helpful in finding meaning and hope in your life. Also, if you are not having problems at this time, I hope you may be able to help and encourage others through the ideas, articles and resources in the site.

Walking-Wounded

         Why are we called “Walking-wounded”? Well, life is a kind of a fight - a struggle. We can get hurt at the start, part-way through, or near the end. Or, more likely, we get hurt most of the way through. There are struggles, temptations, failures, disappointments and betrayals. Do we give up? I certainly don’t. As a Christian I always have hope in Jesus, because I know I am saved, and that God is there to listen to and answer my prayers. I might get wounded, sometimes it has seemed almost mortally so, but I have been able to carry on. Jesus is a wonderful counsellor and healer. As the writer says in Isaiah 53:4, he restores us from the wounds of a sinful and pain-filled world, through his suffering. We should be very grateful for that. Even if our sufferings at times continue, he is there. He does intervene and he never leaves. And he does act in power and bring healing to people’s hearts and bodies. I ‘ve seen this in others, and known it in my own life.

          When you are down and you pray, it is an amazing feeling when God answers you. Perhaps you can sense him communicate to you in some way - he “speaks”, and you know he is with you and is sharing your sufferings. You know things will be OK in the end, and you thank him so much for the small mercies - the things you can hold onto and enjoy. A real sense of hope and even joy can come, because you know that God is with you - and that you are saved. So, Walking-wounded. Hurt, but not mortally so, despite the pain. Down, but not out.

How the site works

         The site contains information and links, as well as our own articles and reflections. We also want to encourage visitors to write their own articles (short, long, academic or not) and testimonies. You can send anything to us by e-mail. Just see the appropriate section of the site for instructions, or the “Contact Us” page. It is very important that you use the correct code in the subject line - e.g. “Depression article”, when sending an e-mail. There is no guarantee that we will include every submitted piece in the site, so please bear this in mind when you are spending your time writing, and don’t be offended if we do not include your submission! You can include your name with a piece if you want, or mark it anonymous. Please click here to go to the Legal Disclaimer Page, which explains our rules about copyright, our editing of submitted writing and the use of names with written pieces.

A United Christian Theme

         We believe that Jesus was and is divine, that he rose from the dead and that he is the only way that people can be saved from the consequences of their sin. Only by him can they know true life through relationship with God. We hope that the site will act to unify many Christians in serving God in this world. We also hope that if visitors come across something that they don’t agree with in the site’s content, that they will not be so offended as to ignore the rest of the content of the site, much of which they proabably would be happy with.

          There are lots of view points on different Christian convictions and practises, but what is surely most important is core vales. These are that; we need to share the Gospel with people who have not heard it, and we need to show the Gospel to people through practical action if they are in physical or other need. We also need to support one another in the Church of God - to love one another, both within our different Church groupings and outside them. Let’s accept and encourage one another, and show honour to God. He has commanded us to love one another in his Word (Luke 10:27), so let’s obey him.

         If you like the site and you think it might help someone, please tell them. Just give them the Web address (www.walking-wounded.net). Also, why not put the address up on a notice board - at Church, or anywhere. However, please make sure you have permission to do so. Please advertise us, so that as many people as possible can benefit from the site. Also if you have your own site or represent one, specifically Christian or not, and want to link to us - please do; it will help our cause. We will also strongly consider linking to you if you e-mail us your details.

International Partners

         We are based in the UK, and so some of our content and particularly the contact information for helpful organisations, will be limited to relate to the UK. For this reason, we would like to encourage some visitors to perhaps produce a country-localised site which follows a similar theme to us, so that any issues that might be specific to their specific country are dealt with, and so that web links and charity contact information for help in their own country is provided for. For example, people obviously need Christian counselling organisations that are located in their own countries, so that they can find someone to help them in their local area.

         It may be that a localised site is very small, or even just one page with various links and information. We would also consider accepting e-mail’s with lists of information, so that you can still help if you are not able to or do not want to produce your own mini-site.

Funding, Ad Policy, Charity Status

Future Developments of the Site

        We hope it will be the case that in the future the site will take on charity status. This would involve one or more people working full time on the project, improving the site and its scope, and updating and adding to it daily. We would like to ask that those visitors to the site who would be prepared to give to fund full time work on the site would e-mail us, so that we can get an idea about whether charity status is feasible. Please click here to do this.

         For one person to work full time on the site, we estimate that the annual cost for the site’s upkeep would be £18,000. This includes wages and site upkeep and upgrade costs; for example upgrading our server support so we can cope with increased traffic. We hope to set up a very translucent donation system, making sure that donations are registered on the site (not by name of donor, but by amount), and also with a third party such as an accountant or special agency. This would ensure that there can be full confidence that all donated money is accounted for.

         We would really like the site to develop in some specific ways in the future. We do not just want to carry the reviews and testimonies of visitors, we also want to allow visitors to contact one another, perhaps using message boards to support and learn form one another. Unfortunately it is not possible to provide and maintain a high quality and regularly updated site without funding.

From the US? Host Us!

          At the moment, Walking-Wounded.Net is located in the UK. We would be very excited if a Church from the US would invite one of our members to come and stay with them for an extended placement. The main advantage of being located in the US would be that we would be able to understand any specific needs and information in the US as far as the site is concerned. We could include in the site information about US-specific organisations and places of help. If anyone from a church in the US thinks that they may want to be involved with the site in this way, please e-mail us here, and put “US Link” in the subject line. We could then discuss practical issues, and if the match would seem right.