UNLOCK Urban - How you can support the work of Unlock

Ways to keep in touch and support Unlock's work Unlock’s work is about Christian Mission, urgently focussed on bringing the God’s Good News to those who have often been ignored as unimportant, here, on our own doorsteps, in our own UK cities. Traditional urban communities are one of the few places remaining in British culture where there is still a degree of respect for the Christian Faith, but those very communities have not had opportunities to explore that faith for themselves, because church style and language are inappropriate for their culture and just put people off. Unlock works to plug this gap, by providing urban communities with ways of exploring faith that are designed specifically for them, and meet their particular needs. With 30 years of experience and expertise, we train, pay, and resource workers in city locations, we offer our insights and experience to others working in urban mission, we make resources available, free of charge, to anyone who wants to use them in their work of developing discipleship. Unlock is a small organisation, every minute we spend searching for funding is time taken away from resourcing our frontline work with urban churches. we need financial support of all kinds to keep us working effectively. Please choose an area you are interested in... Partnership Churches Friendship Money! Gift Aid Prayer Sponsored Walk 2008 brochure now available A brief history of the walk Current walk details
Partnership Do you belong to an organisation with similar areas of concern to Unlock? Unlock are happy to identify, and work with, other groups concerned with encouraging urban discipleship in the UK. We want to: -
>	Know who our partners are in the field of urban Christian development and education
>	Share resources and expertise
>	Collaborate on research projects
>	Identify areas of common ground
>	Work together as appropriate
Contact Unlock to register as a 'Partner Organisation'. You will receive our annual newsletter and we may approach you from time to time about specific pieces of work, or you may approach us! Churches Would your church consider pledging to give a percentage of it's giving income to Unlock annally for several years, or even for just one year? Regular, pledged giving, from churches, gives us relaiable income which allows us to plan our work for the months and years ahead. Contact the National Office if you think this might be a possibility. We can send you further information about Unlock's work, or possibly arrange to come and do a presentation for your church. To Top
Friendship Do you identify with Unlock's aims and want to support our work? If you register as a Friend you will receive our annual news letter and information about the Sponsored walk. You can then support Unlock in a number of ways. You may want to support Unlock's work by: -
>	Trying out unlock materials or approaches with groups you know
>	Starting a new group to work with Unlock resources
>	Telling other people about Unlock's work
>	Using material from the website to make people aware of Unlock's work
>	Praying
>	Donating money
>	Taking part in our annual sponsored walk
>	Sponsoring a walker
>	Getting a group together to initiate an Unlock 'Corner Shop' for your city. To Top
Money! Unlock's work is funded entirely by voluntary donations and our annual sponsored walk in London. Where the money comes from and where it goes to For the range of work carried out we work on a very limited budget. This is possible because we employ few staff (all of whom are part-time), and rely on trained and supported volunteers to carry out much of the work. At the present time it costs about £50,000 a year to run Unlock. This includes staff salaries, travel, rent, office expenses, and all the extra bits and pieces that seem to mount up. As a national organisation producing materials for the church to use and as a hub for a network of local people our office is a key part of the work being done. Although we have local people working in different cities the support of them involves our Executive Officer in a lot of travel. The money to fund this comes from donations and gifts (about a quarter), fund raising, especially the London Walk (a bit less than a half), and from investment income and various other pieces of income. In April 2000 a change was made to the law concerning giving money to charity. As a result if you pay income tax or capital gains tax you can ask to have the money that you give to charity classed as GIFT AID. If you do this any charity that you give to will be able to claim an extra 28 pence donation from the government for every one pound that you give! If you give a £10 GIFT AID donation to Unlock it will actually be worth £12.80- to us! All that you must make sure is that you actually pay enough tax each year to cover the amount that all charities you give to in this way will claim back in that same financial year. For example if you give £100 to Unlock each year as a gift aid donation then you will need to pay no less that £28 tax in that same financial year - because that is exactly how much Unlock would be able to claim back on your behalf. If you would like to support the work of Unlock, either with an occasional gift or a regular one, please contact the National Office on 0114 276 2035 or alternatively at Unlock, 336A City Road, Sheffield, S2 1GA. or through email office@unlock-urban.org.uk We welcome: -
>	Small regular donations
>	Small one off donations
>	Small donations in response to specific requests
>	Medium sized regular donations
>	Medium sized one off donations
>	Medium sized donations in response to specific requests
>	Large regular donations
>	Large one off donations
>	Large donations in response to specific requests
>	Gift aided donations are especially helpful
>	Approaches from grant awarding trusts whose criteria fit with Unlock's work
In short any kind of financial help you can give us is both welcome and worthwhile. To Top
Gift aid But what is Gift Aid? Simply, for those of you who have not yet heard of 'Gift Aid', it is a system that enables charities to claim an extra 28p from the Inland Revenue for every £1 donated to them by a UK taxpayer. 9 in every 10 donations received by Unlock are NOT made under Gift Aid. If you pay tax then please consider whether you can tick the Gift Aid box on the registration form when you make your donation. Gift Aid will not cost YOU anything! All it means is that we can apply to the Inland Revenue for an extra 28p for every £1 that you give towards our work. To qualify for Gift Aid, you must pay enough tax to cover the amount that will be claimed back by the charity/charities that you give to - so if you give £10 you must have paid £2.80 in tax!
Prayer Unlock is supported by a network of Prayer Partners. They receive a twice yearly prayer letter and pray regularly for Unlock's Council, staff, and all their work. Register as an Unlock Prayer Partner to receive prayer letters. See a list of current prayer needs and answered prayers on the right. Latest Unlock Prayer Letter Devised by Bishop Peter Hall, November 2007 To Top
Sponsored Walk Unlock London Walk brochure for 2008 2008 walk brochure - map side >> 2008 walk brochure - notes side >> 2008 sponsor form >> 2008 quiz sheet >> The majority of Unlock's Funding is raised by an annual sponsored walk held in London each spring. These started in 1983 and have taken place every year since. Each year they raise thousands of pounds for Unlock's work. Anything from 600 to 1,000 walkers take part. The route usually includes urban churches and religious centres, a range of urban landscapes and housing, heritage locations and places of interest, places of rest and refreshment, and a place where walkers can encounter some of Unlock's work. Each year we need four types of people to get involved: -
1	walkers - do the walk and collect sponsorship
2	sponsors - sponsor walkers
3	Unlock promoters - people who will pronote Unlock's work in thier churches and encourage support.
4	church walk leaders - recruit a group of walkers from their own church(es) and liaise with the national office on their behalf.
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Unlock London Walk History

We are very grateful to all those who support Unlock through our London walk. Your contributions make our work possible.

As well as raising over half of the money that we need to fund our work each year, our sponsored walk is intended to raise the awareness of Christians from often more affluent areas of the UK to the potential (and problems) of urban churches.

The walk's circular route visits several church checkpoints, representing a variety of denominations. Members of each church community are encouraged to be available to welcome walkers and a factsheet is provided.

We hope that as a result of each walk, practical links will be forged between urban and suburban churches.

2007 walk.

Over 700 people supported Unlock's work by taking part in the (24th) Unlock London Walk, which took place on Saturday the 21st of April 2007 in Bermondsey and the Isle of Dogs.

a group of smiling unlock walkers standing at a pedestrian crossing

This is one of 80 photographs of the 24th Unlock London walk, taken by Yorke Rodda.

The 24th walk was a return visit to the route of the 1st Unlock London walk, in Bermondsey and the Isle of Dogs.

2007 walk brochure page 1 >>

2007 walk brochure page 2 >>

2007 sponsor form >>

2007 quiz sheet >>

The 24th London Walk was in memory of Basil Cracknell, the originator of the Unlock London Walk who died in March 2006.

Basil Cracknell

Basil Cracknell - February 1925 –March 2006

Basil Cracknell >>

The 2006 Unlock London Walk

'From the Old Things to the New'

took place on Saturday April 29th 2006

people walking along a london street with cherry blossom

London Sponsored Walk No. 23
Saturday April 29th 2006 - Unlock Walkers in Charlton

Here you can download more details about previous Unlock London walks:

2006 walk details >>

Walk 23, 2006, From the Old Things to the New >>

Walk 22, 2005, Barriers and Bridges >>

Map of the 2005 route >>

More about the areas along the 2005 walk >>

Unlock walk 2005 breaking down barriers and building bridges >>

A tale of three walks (a brief history) >>

A4 poster >>

A4 poster No. 2 - who, what, when, where, how, why>>

Send for more maps and further info. about Unlock >>

A4 poster (black & white) >>

Tribute to Basil Cracknell

Click here for a free PDF viewer >>
This will take you to the Adobe website. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Unlock, by various names, has been around for over 30 years trying to help (mainly) urban Christians to understand and share their faith appropriately. Our life experience matters; our stories; our joys and sorrows. The Bible has plenty to say - more than we'll ever know - about our lives if we know how to read it and apply it... if we know how to UNLOCK it!

Support Stories

Great Dunmow

Late in 2005 we were approached by the Church at Great Dunmow in Essex, and invited to attend their monthly Sunday afternoon meeting, to talk about Unlock's work, and the walk. Two of our Council members went along and were made welcome, and given a generous donation for Unlock's work on the spot. Following that we were very encouraged and inspired when Great Dunmow Church brought one of the largest contingents to the 2006 Walk in London and raised £1054.50 in sponsorship.

St Lawrence, Heanor has pledged 1%of its income for 2006 & 2007 to Unlock.

Dagnall Street Baptist Church in St Albans have supported the work of Unlock by taking part in the London walks. They have now decided to support us through their 2008 gift day.

Can your church do better than this?

Let us know what your church, or group, is doing to support Unlock and we will post your story here.

Staff are available to come and speak to local churches and groups about Unlock's work. Contact the National Office.

Missionary Giving Flyer

A brief document about Unlock's work designed to encourage missionary giving from churches.

Current Prayer needs:-

For Unlock to find and appoint the right new senior administartor ofr the National office.
Unlock Sheffield & Unlock Liverpool; establishing local networks through which to work and small groups and local leaders to work with.
Improved walk income in 2008.
The walk planning team, and National Office staff as they beging the planning of the 2009 walk.
More churches supporting Unlock in 2008.
Improved grant income in 2008.
Specifically we need £4,000 to upgrade our IT systems and allow us to access a conditional grant of £1000.
Better promtional resources.
Consistently reliable IT systems!
Successful local project negotaitions in Birmingham, leading to another new Unlock local project.
Improved take up of Unlock events in Hull.
Fiona Smith and the Unlock Hull Team.
Seve Millwood and the Unlock Sheffield Team.
Sonya Doragh and the Unlock Liverpool Team.
Explorations into publishing Unlock Training manual.
Identifying the right locations to develop the next Unlock local projects.
More people discovering and using Unlock approaches and resources.
Planning for the Unlock National gathering in October 2008.
Those working to establish the Unlock project in Birmingham.