Campaigns.
When we say campaigns, we mean where we raise funds for a cause that is outside the company, kind of like a regular company might do as an act of social benefit. This means funds kept separate from the company income, regardless of whether it fits into our official registered goals or not. Part of the reason is that we aim to encourage generosity with our e-commerce customers, giving the option to increase rewards by donating to a good cause as part of their shop, but we recognize that many such customers may not completely share our particular values. It also works for campaigns where we want to partner with other organisations on a cause.
Such campaigns will always be based around supporting people in vulnerable situations, tackling issues such as homelessness, addiction, domestic and sexual violence, human trafficking, refugees, and people in situations of general humanitarian crisis or disaster.
Our current campaign or campaigns
Our current campaign is one that does fit our official legal goals, but is also a huge humanitarian issue. Covid 19, plus a plague of locusts hitting at the same time, ahs hit the Christians of Pakistan really hard - and their situation was already bordering on desperate even before the current crisis. Families are starving, and their situation is only set to get worse, as, unlike the West, Pakistan's Covid crisis is expected to peak in the future still. Unlike in other situations of disaster or terrorist attack, they get little support from outside in this current crisis, because, of course, Covid 19 is global. It's getting to the point where despairing Christian fathers, unable to provide for their children, are committing suicide, or attempting to. Melody of the Mind has started this campaign after Pakistani Christians in several locations reached out to us with desperate and heart breaking stories, such as the father of three who so despaired that he poisoned his oldest son (4 years old) and himself, leaving a widow and two tiny babies in an even worse situation. Click on the link below to go to the campaign website to learn more.
Our Causes
Our general goal is to help advance the Christian faith, but specifically in certain areas. Business profits will go to these areas, although you can help by donating too.
This area concerns the area of intellect - unsurprisingly given that one of the directors is a theologian by training. Our activities will include the production and / or procurement and sale of high quality products that inform and educate about aspects of the Christian faith, as well as putting on events that do the same.
Possible other options to advance this cause is with a separate, apologetics based website, and / or an Online Theological School.
We also have a related secondary goal, which is the support of research in relevant areas. If the business generates sufficient funds, we will look to finance research in selected areas.
This area concerns advancing creativity in a Christian context. Our activities will include putting on events, such as concerts and displays, creating products that use or celebrate creativity and the like. We also have one particular area of focus that has it's own section - encouraging creative collaboration.
One particular area relating to creativity is the encouragement of collaboration by Christian creatives both cross-cultural and cross-discipline. We have some ideas on how to support that, watch this space while we plan on mixing it up in a special way....
One particular area relating to creativity is the encouragement of collaboration by Christian creatives both cross-cultural and cross-discipline. We have some ideas on how to support that, watch this space while we plan on mixing it up in a special way....
Our final area is to help vulnerable Christians (we have particular ties to the Christians of Pakistan), especially those who are persecuted because they have converted from another religion, and those who have suffered forms of pastoral abuse from church leaders.
Projects
These are particular projects we are working on or potentially planning for, and for which people may want to give specific support. They may also be needs or wants for our operations. In some cases, they will relate to one of our causes; in other cases, they are for something that will help us across causes, and maybe also our commercial activities too. We have divided them into 'Front Burner' and 'Back Burner'. The former are cases we are actively working on at the minute, the latter are aspirations or things that have had to put off for a reason (including lack of resources). Projects can move between the two - a large donation for a project could easily move a large aspirational project from back to front!
Front Burner Projects
Explainer videos are popular and a good fit with our educational goals, as well as being potentially useful for advertising other stuff we do. Normally, we would have to pay for someone else to do each video, so you can see how buying relevant software and using that would be cheaper overall. It also has the benefit that we ourselves could use it as a commercial service. We have our eye on one in particular....
Back burner projects
This one does closely tie in with a specific goal. We've put this here because, although we have our eye on a particular platform that looks like it has room for integration with lots of tools, we are aware that in some disciplines certain tools for collaboration might be desirable that aren't cheap and could do with subsidising if possible.
Back burner projects
Back burner projects
With some of our resources and activities, we want to reach out beyond the English-speaking world. In particular, we want to help in making resources readily available in our resource-rich Western world more available elsewhere. In doing so, we can give a money making opportunity for those who are helping us to save the lives of Christians in Pakistan. The idea is that people - you, maybe? - can sponsor translations, and by this means we pay them to do the translating, helping them as they help their typically less educated brothers and sisters to survive.
Developing an apologetics based site, specifically tied to the region I live in (but of course, accessible worldwide). As an alternative, or addition, a news website relating to Christianity and culture and creativity.
This is an idea we've been contemplating for a while. We did have some initial talks with some other folks about combining it with some plans they had for special spiritual and educational tours of the UK for Asian Christians, but it will work on it's own also. And then Covid 19 came..... The goal would not be academic qualifications but producing a solid grounding in the understanding of the bible and early church history and doctrine. Ideally, the plan would be to develop English versions first, but then to develop translations, most likely starting with the languages of the Indian sub-continent.
Spiritual history tours of the North East. We know an excellent qualified tour guide we could work with, and at least one group thinking about doing something similar.
We have an excellent musical composition software, but an older version. An upgrade would be nice, but not essential at the minute....
An idea for a documentary relating to 'Suhuf Ibrahim', a concept in Islamic belief, roughly translating as 'The Book of Abraham'. It will explore whether the document or anything like it ever existed, possible candidates, and reveal a surprising yet not so surprising place where it might be found.
Archived projects and campaigns.
Nothing here yet, but the plan is, as projects are done, campaigns finished, we leave a record here. Watch this space..... or not, as you wish!
