CSR News

Information on events, campaigns and resources to our churches in their mission and ministry

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

Luke 4:18-19 (New International Version)

New reports

The lies we tell ourselves: ending comfortable myths about poverty
A report issued by the Joint Public Issues Team and written by the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church, the Church of Scotland and the United Reformed Church. It "lays bare six myths about the poor which enable the majority to live with the comfortable assumption that both poverty and wealth are deserved".
Guide to Welfare Reforms 2010 – 2017
Since coming to power in 2010, the coalition government has undertaken a radical reform of our welfare system; introducing measures designed to cut overall welfare expenditure and to change the way particular benefits are structured and administered. Church Urban Fund and the Church of England have co-authored a short guide to the most significant changes made over recent years, many of which will come into effect in April 2013.

Cheshire Living Well, Dying Well (LWDW) Programme - FREE Community Talks

Even though death is a normal part of life, just like birth or marriage, many of us struggle with the ‘D’ word. However, experience tells us that if we can find the courage to talk about our future plans and our wishes for the end of our lives there are real benefits for us and our families. To support this aim, St Luke’s Public Health Team is offering to deliver informal and friendly Living Well Dying Well talks to community groups. The presentation is FREE of charge and tailored to meet your needs.

The presentation lasts about an hour and will help you and your members to:

Think about issues around death and dying in a positive way
Look at why it’s good for you and your loved ones to talk and make plans
Increase your knowledge about ways to record your wishes
Motivate you to seize the day and make the most of living now

If you require more information before booking, or would be interested in attending a FREE ‘taster’ session please call or email a member of the public health team, who will be happy to help you. Contact Ceri Edwards - email publichealth@stlukes-hospice.co.uk or tel: 01606 551 246 Ext 2215.

Enough food for everyone IF …

In today's age of plenty there is no reason why anyone should go without.

IF is a coalition of organisations, including Tearfund, that see 2013 as a crucial year to ask world leaders to fix the world’s broken food system and to remove the ‘ifs’ that make it so fragile and ineffective. Speaking as the Lead Bishop on rural issues, the Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Revd Anthony Priddis, said: "Today, the world produces enough food to feed all seven billion of its inhabitants, but nearly one billion still go without. As a Church we are called upon both to feed the hungry and to expose and eradicate the causes of debilitating hunger. This year’s IF campaign provides us all with an opportunity to cast a spotlight on our broken food system and to press governments, companies and citizens to take the necessary steps to reduce the millions currently going hungry.”

Tearfund are asking you, “as part of IF, to take some simple actions throughout the year so that we can all speak out against the injustice of hunger and be the voice of those whose voice is not being heard. No one need be hungry or malnourished. Are you and your church up for it?”

More information and how to take part

Funding - Latest news (25 Mar 2013)

The latest news and information on funding opportunities.

Working with Families- Video Resource for Churches

CSR are pleased to launch a new video resource, available through our website, which aims to inspire Churches seeking to develop work with families in their local community.

Credit Crunch Cookery is the first in a series of short videos which will be released by CSR in the coming months. It shows how All Saints’ Church, Runcorn have successfully established cookery classes for those on a limited budget. The classes run as part of the Open Doors Project at the church.

For further information about Credit Crunch Cookery contact the project organiser, Marion Hayes. Marion is happy to talk to anyone who would like to know more and welcomes visitors to the project.

Tips for establishing a successful project:

Work from your strengths.Marion Hayes said: “When planning a project whole or an activity within a project we have always found that playing to our strengths works best. We ask three questions. What are we good at? What are we enthusiastic about? What does our community need? Enthusiastic workers, delivering something they are good at and knowing that it is needed in the local community, is a winning combination when writing a funding bid to secure the finance and then delivering a success project. “
Identify who is going to take the lead in co-ordinating the project.
Carry out a thorough risk assessment and check what equipment is needed.
Work out a budget for new equipment and ongoing costs.
When working with food, practice good hygiene and food safety. Check whether you need to send team members on a food hygiene course and that kitchen facilities are up to standard.
Make sure that your proposed project is covered by your church’s insurance policy.

This a really proactive way that churches are helping people to manage on a restricted budget.

Every year a Poverty and Homelessness Action Week (26 January – 3 February 2013) takes place to raise awareness about the impact of difficult economic conditions. If you would like to take part and access the free resources go to the Poverty and Homelessness Action Week website

Resources...

Switch on to the new national energy saving audit
Church members are being encouraged by Shrinking the Footprint, the CofE's national environmental campaign, to start monitoring their building's energy useage, using http://www.shrinkingthefootprint.smeasure.comsMeasure.

4 good reasons to measure church energy
1) A better understanding of your building efficiency
2) Compare your energy useage with others
3) Share your commitment with the local authority
4) Save money

The free, easy to use toolkit enables all church buildings - historic and modern - to understand and reduce energy use and costs along with cutting their carbon footprint. You can access the free online energy monitoring tool, tips for saving money and reducing your carbon footprint, and to support and advice in energy monitoring and reduction.
How deprived is your parish?
The Church Urban Fund have created an online poverty search tool - for the first time, you can search for poverty data for Anglican parishes and see how they compare with the most and least deprived parishes in the diocese and in England as a whole. They also had a high volume of media interest in their research, based on the poverty statistics, which looks at the significant north-south poverty divide in England. Read their Poverty in Numbers report to find out where the top and bottom 10 most deprived parishes are in England.
Serve: an alliance of Christian organisations
Serve is an alliance of Christian organisations committed to passionately supporting churches in England as they transform their communities - sharing resources, encouraging good ideas, celebrating successes to government and the media and using the stories of churches to inspire others to action. "Serve exists to see evangelism, mission and discipleship collide in local churches everywhere, meeting the needs of the whole person. We don't just want churches to be renowned for being compassionate - but for being utterly brilliant at turning that compassion into action. We hope that Serve will help churches to connect with Christian organisations and become beacons of professionalism and best practice wherever they exist." David Westlake, Director, Serve.
Resourcing Christian Community Action
A Church of England initiative, bringing together as a catalyst current best practice in providing Christian care in local communities with the resources and knowledge needed to multiply those good works across the country over the coming years. This is a site designed for action...
1 in 4: Mental health and your church - A resource for church communities
Many aspects of church and parish life help create the conditions for good mental health and parishes can also offer valuable support to those with an existing mental health problem and to their carers. This document is a response to those who feel uncertain about how best to help and have requested further support and information in order to feel equipped and resourced to deal with the issues and challenges. Download document
Christian Ecology Link: May 2013 Prayer guide for the Care of Creation
Asylym Seekers - A directory, created by Liverpool Cathedral, with the aim of equipping churches who want to help asylum seekers by signposting organisations that offer practical help, advice and expertise. More info.
Traditional buildings: adapting for a low-carbon future - Churches and church halls are often subject to highly inefficient energy use – with consequences that are both financial and ethical. Churches can normally implement a range of high-return, simple measures very quickly and cheaply. Click here for practical advice and useful links.
Cheshire Community Foundation - Recently set up 'to strengthen and enrich Cheshire communities by inspiring, managing and directing local philanthropy so that it has the most impact in areas of greatest need'. www.cheshirecommunityfoundation.org.uk/

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