information for transformational people

Collection:  Church for the Poor

 
How are adults coming to faith in the UK? 
Big themes for churches to explore. 1. Friendship. 2. Digital. 3. Mercy ministry and gospel. 4. Hospitality. 5. The Bible. 6. Prayer and dreams... More details..
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Three phases of revival
Teo Hayashi continually sees hearts awakened and thousands of people give their lives to Christ. He shares from experience growing up in the mission field of Brazil and what he believes are the three phases of true revival.
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5 life lessons from Mother Teresa 
1. Never Quit. She persevered throughout all the adversities that she knew in her life. 2. Embrace the Power of Prayer. She said that if you're too busy to pray, you're too busy. For her, it all began with prayer. ..More
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“You feed them” 
Jesus’s challenge to his disciples. Today, at any one time, Saltbox’s 50 staff and 40+ volunteers are helping almost 500 needy local people with housing, loneliness and debt. Changing the world one life at a time..
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Overcoming generational poverty 
Ruth Beltran was at the end of herself. After leaving an abusive relationship, a single mother of six struggling to make ends meet. She was living in a car with her children. Then she met the Salvation Army and all changed.
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Lessons for pioneer pastors
Benjamin Francis was a rural pastor. English wasn't his native tongue. He was a bivocational farmer-pastor who looked after a small congregation in a small village. Yet in his ministry, he baptised 450 people. Lessons...
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City transformation
One thing we have learned is that when you have purpose plus unity plus communication, you have unlimited potential. We, the Ekklesia and authorities and others, have the same vision - to see our city transformed. God is connecting us.
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'My city is God's city'
Can we see a harvest of people coming to Jesus in our town or city? Being transformed by the life changing gospel of Jesus? Bringing about healing in the city that we love, in the city that He loves? Declaration, prayer, blessing.
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Cooking lessons as youthwork?
'Chopped Jr' consists of physical activity, cooking, measuring, kitchen equipment, reading recipes, budgeting, cooking techniques. It ends with a competition where the chefs make a meal for the judges.
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'We heard God say He was going to connect us to the poor in spirit'
Using the Kickstarter scheme, they created job placements with Christian firms, for 18-24 year olds on universal credit, plus mentoring and a course. Many are now on a faith journey..
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Pureflow - a founder's story
There are over 1M motorcycle drivers in East Africa and less than 20% own their bike. Pureflow's lease-to-own program gives opportunity to own. This creates sustainable income, opportunities to save, and financial independence as well as kingdom growth.
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Trauma as a place of service
There are many in this world who suffer from totally undeserved injustice and trauma. If we, as the body of Christ, look to suffering humanity, we would realise that trauma is perhaps the greatest mission field of the 21stC.
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Developing commercial farmers - creating path to land ownership for the poor
Agros purchases large tracts of land and invites landless families to join a village, where members buy for their land by building agri-businesses and working cooperatively.
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Turning small groups into missional communities 
"Over 10 years, we've discovered a vocabulary for mission, importance of each group ministering to city, doing things that build relationship with people beyond the walls of church, the priority of mission."
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Global economic inequality: what matters most is not who you are, but where you are 
A person’s knowledge, skills, and how hard they work all matter for whether they are poor or not but together far less than being born into a large, productive economy.
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Making music, changing lives: Youth orchestras help at-risk kids 
“There’s benefits to music involvement; recovering from traumatic experiences, fostering positive experiences with learning and developing interpersonal skills - so essential to life."
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Healing Grove Health Center
"Every time I've had a call from God, I've been like, "Yeah, let's go." And then God says, "Whoa, slow down." This time something really unique happened. We are like, "I don't know." And God's like, "GO NOW! GO, GO, GO!""
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Poverty Cure
We are called to a loving and generous concern for the poor. We often ask what causes poverty. But the real question is; how do people create prosperity for themselves, their family, and their community?
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Community life - a trade-off between inclusion and exclusivity 
Well-meaning communities erect barriers against families and households who wish to live in a community with thick social ties but who are unable to afford the price of admission.
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Have foodbanks politicised kindness?
A great initiative but the relationship between the donor and receiver is broken-a loss to community life. Such acts of kindness are institutionalised, more transactional and politicised. What can we do to improve this?
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The Underground - 2
The Underground now has over 200 microchurches across the city, each with its own distinct ministry - no two the same. What a group of people can do who conceive church in an entirely different way - from the vantage point of mission.
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The Underground - 1
A true story of a 10-year experiment that unpacks the possibilities of a church structured and streamlined for mission. Over the last ten years the church has been validating its ideas with sustained and growing results.
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Repositioning church as a mission agency
Having experienced a movement that produced over 200,000 new disciples and 22,000 different microchurches - ordinary people who were making new disciples in new contexts, then, "Okay, why not here why not us?".
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Speaking of poverty, differently 
Poverty is really not a failure of the individual. We should see it instead as a failure of society. A society that fails to recognize the competence of people in poverty. A society that relies on a unhealthy conception of merit.
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CrossPurpose
"How do we help our neighbours escape poverty?". CrossPurpose has a mission to abolish economic, relational, and spiritual poverty through career and community development. 473 neighbours so far graduated and escaped poverty...
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Money Can't Fix Everything - a relational approach to poverty
Poverty is best understood as a symptom of relational dysfunction, especially in families, rather than a purely financial condition. A relational approach requires that we recognise 3 principles..
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The beatitudes for today
Blessed are the.... How does the most famous sermon in history still apply? The Beatitudes Project film features change-makers from all over world. Hosted by Stu Garrard of Delirious?, the result is a disruptive and surprising journey.
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Is Britain a fair country?
Wealth inequality has been rising rapidly in Britain for the past 30 years. Is the public aware of the extent of this growth in inequality? Do we think we live in a fairer society than is the reality?
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Ministry amongst Britain’s poorest 
A conversation about some of the unique pressures of ministry to hard places. "How we do evangelism is completely different - it's new and it's good and it's real, real life."
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Eight principles for faithful preaching among people experiencing poverty
How do I communicate or preach in a housing scheme/estate? Do I have to change things to preach into a non-literate culture? Do I have to dumb things down? Do I have to shorten my sermons? How does someone prepare a sermon?
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Estates evangelism
In February 2019, the Bishop of Burnley, Philip North, spoke on a motion to have a church community on every significant social housing estate in the nation.
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Transforming Poverty - small group course
Six sessions for churches and house groups using the film 'I, Daniel Blake' to engage with God’s heart for poverty in your community.
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Roving listening
Spending time with the neighbours in community, not to gauge their needs but to understand the talents. Hundreds of people now pass under the church's roof each week.
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Preaching to middle-class can hurt the poor
A good deal of the sermon applications are aimed at the middle class and this can be especially damaging for Christians who come from lower-income situations. Some nuggets.
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Hidden in plain sight
How one church found abundance in a community of material poverty. Viewing people - not programmes, finances, etc - as their most valuable resource moved church members beyond their own walls and out into the streets, where they discovered..
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The Church and estates
If we’re serious about the renewal of Christian life in our nation we need to do what Jesus did. It’s in the edges amongst the marginalised that renewal will come.
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Empathy not Sympathy  
Empathy binds us together. Sympathy divides us and turns us into consumers.
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For the last, for the least, for the lost
A church began to attract people who through illness, poverty and disability were on the margins of society. The church grew and changed through this new life.
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A ministry of loitering 
Jesus was hanging around healing pools, busy street intersections, and wells and revealed to those around him their sacred worth.
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Empty-handed ministers - 2
Are You a Good Neighbour? is an online course designed to help you apply the principles of helping without hurting in everyday life—and take the first steps toward building personal relationships with people in poverty.
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Empty-handed ministers - 1 
In stripping your team of their basic resources, Jesus is forcing you to rely completely on the local resources of those you visit due to your posture of dependence.
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Anglican church-based social action 
Responding to social issues and building community. Report on Church in Action 2017: A National Survey of Church Based Social Action.
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Supporting those serving on the margins 
A report exploring how churches can support and equip their members whose work or ministry with those ‘on the margins’ takes place primarily outside of church walls.
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Emergency Use Only: Update 2017  
Foodbank use update - what more had been learned, what initiatives were working locally, what policies had been changed and what still needs to be done.
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The Church and the World
Christians around the world today find themselves in very different contexts than they did 40 years ago - need to think differently about the people among whom they live and work.
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The banquet 
There was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, ‘Come on in; the food’s on the table.’
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Always with us?  
Dr Liz Theoharis issues a strong theological call for ending systemic poverty in her book,  'Always with Us? What Jesus Really Said about the Poor'.
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How the rich differ from the poor - 2 
The poor earn less, not out of incompetency, but because they must allocate mental capacity to problems that are more pressing to them than to the rich.
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How the rich differ from the poor - 1
How does the division between the wealthy and the poor affect the social aspects of our society? Are the wealthy truly invested in the poor and do they care?
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7 steps to become a church of and for the poor 
In his talk at New Wine, Philip North, Bishop of Burnley, suggests the answer to Church decline is a straightforward one. It’s because we have forgotten the poor.
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A Church for the Poor 
A new book presents a vision for and practicalities of becoming a church where people from all sections of society can find a home and play a part.
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Church for the poor - William Booth 
William Booth 1829-1912, revivalist, champion of social reform and friend of the poor and downtrodden, speaking on the importance of practical Christian action.
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'Jesus is close to the poor and dwells among the broken hearted and down trodden' 
Christians moved into Holbeck - the most deprived area in Leeds 9 years ago. Their experience..
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The poverty premium 
Research into eight types of poverty premium that households experience to varying degrees at an average of £490pa.
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Justice for the Poor Bible study 
Poor families waited to come in for food. "Lord, we know that you will be coming through this line today, so help us to treat you well."
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Faith in Dark Places 
The gospel may not only be good news to the poor but it may be good news from the poor. Through them God often chooses to show his creative love for the world.
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Something exponential is possible when we release what we have been given to steward 
The story about how the church in Chicago came to be giving 200 cars away a year.
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Leading a church to minister with people experiencing poverty
Interviews with a church leader on changes in practice, identifying ministries, governance, partnership, money.
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The rich history of gospel work among the poorest
Some people may wonder if the gospel really will work in places that are deprived by our world standards. History and scripture tell us otherwise.
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Church for the poor - strategies to engage people experiencing poverty
Churches in the survey were asked what strategies, if any, they using to reach people experiencing poverty. There were large differences in areas of least and most deprivation.
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Church of the poor - the barrier of middle class church
As part of the Church of Poor survey, we asked ‘What do you feel most hinders you becoming a church for (and of) the poor?’. What themes emerged?
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Church for the poor - 'poor focused' activities
Could there be some insights into being ‘a church for the poor’ by looking at the social action activities of churches in least deprived areas versus those in most deprived?
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Mission and ministry in deprived areas
The Diocese of Bristol provides ministry that serves and reaches out to some of the most deprived areas of the country in both Bristol and Swindon. Here are some insights about church on the Penhill and Pinehurst estates in Swindon.
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Hidden rules among classes
Hidden rules are the unspoken cues and habits of a group. If you are in a group, you understand these hidden rules and the danger is you take these for granted that they for everyone.
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The inner strength of troubled neighbourhoods
"This work is all about helping people to recognize that they are capable of great things, and helping them accomplish them. People can make a difference."
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Church growth in east London: a grassroots view 
This report with research from 13 local church leaders illustrates the challenges and opportunities of church growth in mainly deprived communities across east London.
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Bridges Out of Poverty
A resource to help you be a church for the poor? Middle class understandings of those who work with people in poverty are often ill-suited for connecting with and helping people build up resources and rise out of poverty.
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What does it mean to be a poor church, for the poor? 
Church Action on Poverty published a report in June 2016 with contributions from thinkers and leaders of many denominations on Pope Francis' call “I want a Church that is poor and for the poor”.
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Church of the poor: A fierce heart for people in poverty 
John Wesley had a fierce heart for people in poverty and said some things which are deeply challenging to us, to our politics and our Church today. He said that “one great reason why the rich have so little sympathy for the poor is
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Church of the poor: Turning the world upside-down 
A church for the poor. Not just a food bank for the poor, debt advice for the poor, campaigning for the poor, an ESOL class, a financial literacy session, a cooking group, a gardening club for the poor… A church for the poor
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A Church for the poor? Letting go of power
Inspired by Pope Francis’ vision of “a poor church, for the poor”, Church Action on Poverty is exploring how churches can do more to stand in solidarity with people in poverty. Reflections of many prominent Christians will shortly be published
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'Every effective renewal movement has started with the poor'
In March 2016, the Bishop of Burnley spoke about urban estates at a conference. Some very thought provoking excerpts: "Our task as the Church is the transformation of a nation
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