Money Outreach Ministries through Churches

This month's CTE News carries this article by Liz Mann of Credit Action about how churches can support people struggling with debt.

Money is a worry for many at the moment, 1,732 people are made redundant every day, VAT has increased and levels of personal debt remain high (£8,495 per household excluding mortgages). No community, inside or outside the church, is immune and the effects of financial problems can cause fear and shame, stress, ill-health and relationship breakdown.

Regardless of whether we ourselves have money problems, for Christians this is an opportunity both to review and recommit our own finances to God and to also demonstrate the compassionate, all-accepting heart of Jesus to those who find themselves in financial difficulty. Church groups have much to offer. They can bring hope to those trapped in financial despair and can play a powerful role in preventing others from getting into difficulties in the first place by teaching wise stewardship both within the church and in the wider, secular community around them. Responding to money issues doesn’t have to be complicated, even simple interventions can make a big difference.

Help people to get help

Over 200,000 unsolicited calls are made every day to consumers by fee charging debt management and loan companies. However, there are many excellent charities providing free, independent advice. Community Money Advice, Christians Against Poverty and Citizens Advice Bureaux provide face to face advice at centres across the country and the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) and National Debtline both operate national telephone helplines. Your church could display posters for free services or make booklets, such as Credit Action’s ‘moneymanuals’, available to people.

Set up a money outreach ministry

Churches are well placed to provide one-to-one support to individuals with money issues. By doing so, we have the opportunity to follow Jesus’ example in proclaiming “good news to the poor” and “freedom for the prisoners” (Luke 4 18). A number of churches have set up debt advice centres. This is a big commitment but there are two Christian charities, Community Money Advice (CMA) and Christians Against Poverty (CAP), who can help. With Christians Against Poverty, churches partner with CAP and support a CAP Debt Coach who works within the community. Community Money Advice supports churches in setting up their own, independent debt advice centres. The impact of a debt advice ministry can be life-changing for individuals who have been struggling under the burden of debt.

Another option is to set up a budget coaching service. Because budget coaches do not give debt advice, which heavily regulated, this can be a lighter undertaking. Budget coaches are volunteers who help individuals to prepare an accurate, realistic budget. Creating a budget enables people to regain control, shine a light on their finances, highlight areas of waste and lift fear of the unknown. After completing their budget, some individuals may still need specialist debt advice, which the budget coach might support them through, but the first, and therefore, hardest steps have been taken. Credit Action can provide Personal Budget Coach Training.

Develop wise and Godly attitudes to managing money

As well as responding to those in difficulty, we need to focus on prevention and to develop a Godly attitude towards money. Money is a significant factor in our daily lives – we cannot avoid it, so we must learn to use it wisely, to be generous and to prevent it from becoming our master (Matthew 6 24). This is both spiritual, remembering that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6 19), and practical, ensuring that we are good stewards of everything God has put in our care.

There are many great resources available for sermons and small groups available on the subject of managing money and giving (see some of the websites below). It is important that we learn how to manage money effectively. Only 26% of people have a budget that they follow regularly, yet this is the most effective way of keeping control of our finances. You can find budget planners to help you on line.

You might consider running budgeting workshops for your congregations or local community. These can be particularly effective if incorporated into other ministries and courses such as marriage preparation or parenting groups. There are resources and courses that you can use to do this, or book someone to come and run a workshop for you.

Useful links and resources:

Credit Action
Community Money Advice
Christians Against Poverty
Stewardship
Crown Financial Ministries
The Money Revolution
Consumer Credit Counselling Service
National Debtline

Christian Responses to Big Society

Image by Leo Reynolds via Flickr

The following is taken from the December 2010 edition of CTE News.  I have tried to include as many links to organisations and campaigns as I can.

A group of Christians in public life, including ministers and theologians, has launched a new network to oppose government cuts in public spending and welfare provision. They criticise the Coalition's 'Big Society' rhetoric as vacuous and misleading. The Common Wealth initiative says targeting the poorest in society is un-Christian and warns against churches being co-opted into plugging damaging gaps in social provision. The group's founding document - endorsed by a professor of theology, Anglican and Methodist clergy, a Cambridge academic and a religious think-tank, among others - provides a radical theological critique of government policies and the social and economic order they seek to maintain.

Steven Shakespeare, an Anglican priest and lecturer in philosophy at Liverpool Hope University, explained: "This is not the time for the churches to be cosying up to government. That would be a failure of nerve, imagination and faith. We need to be saying loud and clear that we are part of the resistance. We don't accept that the market is God."

The group says: "Christians in Britain today are called to take a stand. Faced with the biggest cuts to public spending for over a generation, it is not enough to retreat into the private ghetto of religious consolation. We are convinced that the actions of the current government are an unjustified attack on the poor. The rhetoric of necessary austerity and virtuous belt-tightening conceals a grim reality: the victimization of people at the margins of society and the corrosion of community. Meanwhile, the false worship of markets continues unchecked and the immorality of the growing gap between rich and poor goes unquestioned. We call on the churches to resist the cuts and stand in solidarity with those targeted," it declares. "We urge them to join the forces fighting back against a distorted ideology... [and] we commit ourselves not to give in to despair, fear and fatalism. Another world is possible, the world announced by Jesus in his teachings, embodied in the love he took to the cross, and alive in the Spirit of his risen strength."

Common Wealth says that churches should not be deceived by claims that the government is sympathetic to Christian ideals. The network describes David Cameron's 'Big Society', in which the state passes the buck to individuals, entrepreneurs, charities, and faith groups, as "a Big Lie". The 'Big Society' masks injustice, suffocating dissent with phoney "we're all in it together" sound bites, Common Wealth says. "It is divide-and-rule dressed up as high-minded community spirit."

The Common Wealth statement recognizes that, on the ground, churches and ministers are faced with difficult choices about working within the current system to get necessary resources to the most vulnerable. But it says that pragmatic decisions "should always be guided - and often limited - by a fundamental critique of the present order" based on a vision of a different society "revealed in the Church's sacraments and other symbols of transformation." Simon Barrow, co-director of the religion and society think-tank Ekklesia, said: "The idea that there is no alternative to cuts that hit the poorest is being seen by Christians as economically false, morally wrong and spiritually bankrupt."

Regional representatives from the West Midlands Region Churches Forum met on 2 November to consider the implications of the October Government Spending Review and the Big Society agenda for Christian mission in the region. They acknowledged two responses to the recent Government initiatives:

1. to develop a prophetic critique of the Big Society and the current economic climate
2. to recognise the opportunities for Christian mission afforded by the Government’s focus on local communities.

Whilst acknowledging the need to develop a prophetic critique, the Forum concentrated reflection on the opportunities for Christian mission offered by the renewed emphasis on the concept of empowering local communities. Their discussion was not an uncritical endorsement of ‘Big Society’ policy, but rather a recognition that the concept of empowering local communities has for many decades informed Christian action. One representative felt that a Christian perspective should be more about ‘reclaiming’ community than ‘growing’ it as described within the Big Society.

There was a general consensus about a need to guard against responding to ‘Big Society’ as the latest fad from ‘above’, especially in relation to any injustices that require people of faith to speak out. It was considered important that we ensure there are people taking responsibility to seek out those who fall through the social support net. This highlighted the importance of organisations such as Church Action on Poverty.

Minority Ethnic Christian Affairs (MECA) hosted the inaugural meeting of the ‘Big Society Forum’ on Thursday 9 December at the London offices of Churches Together in England. The Forum was attended by representatives of Black-led Churches and Minority Ethnic communities in England. Guest speaker was Mr Rudi Page, CEO, of international development agency RAFFA and member of the Cinnamon Network, a group of executives from Christian organisations involved in community services development and delivery. The Cinnamon Network recently carried out research that showed that Churches are delivering an estimated 72 million hours of volunteering for social initiatives at over £250 millions of direct funding per annum.

MECA Executive Secretary, Bishop Dr Joe Aldred said, ‘Faith communities in general and Black-led churches and Minority Ethnic Christian communities in particular do ‘Big Society’ as a way of life. Social responsibility has long been a core Christian virtue. And it is vitally important that as the government encourages local communities to take on more responsibility that minority communities are able to critique the new proposals and collaborate where possible, but always in the interest of the poor, disadvantaged, marginalised and what the bible calls ‘the least of these’”.

The Big Society Forum will meet three times during 2011 in order to raise awareness and promote understanding about the government’s flagship Big Society programme with a particular remit to encourage approaches that reduce inequalities in public and community services. Senior political, civic and religious leaders will be invited to hear from a diverse range of independent and national Black-led Churches and Minority Ethnic Christian communities.

Rudi Page, said "The Big Society Forum has been invited to contribute to a Community Leadership & Empowerment survey that will highlight and measure the impact of Black-Led Churches which through social action are inspiring peaceful, caring and enterprising neighbourhoods".

The CTBI website features further responses from Church leaders, including the Methodist President of Conference.

Related articles

• Christian Coalition for Urban Mission (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Oikocredit presents Social Performance Report 2009

Image via Wikipedia

The following article appears in the last issue of CTE News.  Oikocredit is one of the ecumenical organisations featured on the Methodist Church website.

Oikocredit has released its first Social Performance report, detailing its commitment to making a positive difference in the lives of the poor through access to financial services. The report shows the progression and results of Oikocredit’s many years evaluating social performance. The first printed copies were presented to representatives of Oikocredit’s Project Partners and Support Associations at their Annual General Meeting in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.



For the past 35 years, Oikocredit's primary goal has been to provide credit to organisations which may otherwise not have access to finance. This often means supporting less established, more rural organisations, which have an outstanding social focus. Many are small organisations which support women, target rural communities and are environmentally aware. ”We can’t assume that reaching the poor and initiating positive change are automatically achieved through access to finance,” said Oikocredit managing director Tor G. Gull. “To achieve those social goals, the intent must be clearly defined and measured like financial performance is defined and measured. A combined social and financial perspective is vital for effective management in this sector.” Oikocredit monitors information on partners' outreach, products and services, as well as attention given to gender, the community and the environment. These social indicators provide a comprehensive overview, which reflects Oikocredit’s commitment to supporting grassroots economies. "Oikocredit's target groups, mission and goals are all weighted towards social impact," said Oikocredit director Social Performance and Financial Analysis Ben Simmes. "So it is essential for our clients, investors and staff that we measure how financial support translates into real life. We hope reporting in this detailed way contributes to industry-wide improvements in transparency, accountability and to products and services for the poor.”


Oikocredit manages over €425 million in development financing to almost 800 project partners, in 70 countries. Of these partners, over 500 are microfinance institutions, reaching more than 17 million clients, of whom 85% are women and 53% live in rural areas. It is paramount all partners share Oikocredit's outlook on poverty reduction and fair financing. Oikocredit is implementing an ESG (environmental, social, governance) scorecard that analyses an organisation’s operations and looks at transparency of costs, client satisfaction and evaluation of a client’s ability to repay the loan. Oikocredit was also among the first signatories of the Client Protection Principles – a Smart Campaign initiative protecting microfinance clients against unfair lending practices.


Oikocredit is a worldwide financial institution that promotes global justice by empowering disadvantaged people with credit. Since 1975 Oikocredit has offered loans, guarantees and investment capital to microfinance institutions, cooperatives, fair trade and other businesses. Today, Oikocredit operates in more than 70 countries.

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