You can still give

Our seed fund is still open to giving, ready to be invested into rebuilding broken communities.

God has always wanted to ensure that the poor and needy were protected and provided for – both those who worshipped him and those who did not - he was intentional in making special laws benefitting them in the Old Testament and has made his heart known through the prophets, proverbs and through the life and ministry of Jesus, the apostles and early church.

• Here is a selection of biblical references that demonstrate God's heart for the poor and what he expects from us his people.

• Take a look at our resources page to access our new series of ‘How To’ guides and dive into a great book or two, listen to or watch some inspiring talks or find out about projects you could start in your church via links to the Jubilee+ and Cinnamon Network websites and other websites that we think will be helpful to you.

How's it going:

• Review your current community engagement activities. You can use the questions here and see if any prompt you to look differently at what you are doing or how you are doing it. Have you considered recently how accessible your church appears to non attenders - for example: are your community engagement activities easy to locate on your website? How engaged are you with others in the community who also want to see lives transformed? Do you intentionally plan opportunities for people to be able to hear about and meet with Jesus once they have got to know you and had some of their needs met?

Are our activities maintaining people in poverty or empowering people to get on pathways out of poverty? Short term aid is needed in crisis situations and some activities are right to focus on this, but we do need to ask how we can help people to move forward for the long term, so that for as many as possible there is a reducing need for them to access crisis support in the future. We're grappling with this one across the churches in Great Yarmouth at the moment.

If you want to follow up any of this or have any queries, please do get in touch via email: Julia@pathwaysfrompoverty.org.uk

Here to help:

The Pathways from Poverty team are here to help you. By working together as a family of churches, we can help each other to build glorious expressions of God's Kingdom that change lives and impact communities.

 Recommended to attend / catch up on:

• The Jubilee+ Annual conference - Churches that Change Communities The link below will take you to the Jubilee+ site which is well worth a visit. The recordings from their latest conference, which took place in Bristol in November 2019 are available and well worth listening to.

• In 2017 Relational Mission hosted the conference in Cambridge and Mike's message on Empowerment is also well worth listening to.

• Jubilee+ next annual conference is taking place in Manchester on 7th November 2020. Get the date in your diary now so you don't miss out.

• During the Coronavirus lockdown Jubilee+ have been running a series of Zoom calls, which are well worth signing up to. They have also created a number of short accessible videos, covering a wide range of topics from mental health, to supporting older people and homelessness.

• Their website has a wealth of information and useful contacts, so well worth keeping an eye on.

Some Background reading:

• Have a read of the Pathways from Poverty Development Report. You can view it here. This lays out a plan to help churches in the Relational Mission family to move forward with their work in the local community. It includes wisdom and data from church leaders across UK and Europe and is a very valuable resource.

 Head to our resources page for loads more helpful stuff, including our new series of ‘How to’ Guides, covering topics relating to starting and reviewing community projects, grant funding and income streams, managing funding and demonstrating you impact: