Lent is a time for giving and self-sacrifice. Money raised from the Lent Challenge 2019 will be split evenly between two charities that make a large impact on their communities, both abroad and within the diocese:

- Bishop of Guildfords Communities Fund who offer grants to local charities helping their communities

- Church Missionary Society to support their work to bring hope and change to communities in DR Congo and Tanzania

CMS' mission is to empower churches - and, through them, whole communities - to find creative solutions to social problems such as poverty, conflict and environmental degradation. It accomplishes this through programmes of training aimed at renewed minds leading to transformed communities.

CMS Africa is working across the African continent, including in DR Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda. Its goal is to see 50 million families living in transformed communities by 2050. This may sound highly ambitious, but the movement is already ahead of its 2020 target of impacting 50,000 people. To date, an estimated 59,000 people have been reached, across eight African countries.

CMS Africa empowers the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups within communities. In particular, it recognises the social challenges and injustices often suffered by women, and young people who represent around 20% of the continents population, and yet around 60% of whom are unemployed. Through training for young people CMS Africa helps them to discover their potential, develop it through learning new skills, and deploy themselves in service of their communities through entrepreneurial initiatives.