Dear John

We would like to wish you a happy and holy Christmas, from everyone at Church Action on Poverty. Thank you for working with us this year to loosen the grip of poverty in the UK.

A new decade

As a new decade opens out before us, it’s natural to spend some time reflecting.  We’ve been asking some partners and supporters what they would like to change in the 2020s, and how we might get there. Indeed, you might want to consider that yourself.

One of the most moving responses was from a food bank volunteer in Sheffield, who had been approached by a six-year-old boy in town one day. She couldn’t quite place him at first, but the boy recognised her, threw his arms around her, and said: “You do know me,  Miss – you give my mummy food so I can have my tea.” Her hope for the 2020s was simple: “I don’t want that young man, when he is 16 or 17, having to come to a food bank for food.”

Our work must always be grounded in the lived reality of poverty as experienced by people who struggle to make ends meet on a daily basis. Their wisdom continues to shape our work. But as Christians, we must always be driven by a vision of a better future, and shine a light on the path that gets us there. Social justice campaigning can take years to achieve results, but when change happens it can have a huge impact on hundreds of thousands of people on low incomes.

Time will tell what new challenges and opportunities arise in the 2020s, but let’s ask where we want to be when this decade ends. Do we want to be reassessing the same challenges? Or do we want to be reflecting on a decade in which we collectively removed the need for food banks, ended in-work poverty, and designed a welfare system that enables everyone to achieve their potential? Do we want to be able to say that we are part of a genuine ‘Church at the Margins’ that truly recognises the gifts of all people, expresses solidarity with those struggling to make ends meet and seeks to work with others to transform the unjust structures of society?  And do we want that young boy in Sheffield to be playing a full part in society, free from the threat of hunger?

Please join us this Christmas in celebrating our achievements, and in planning for the challenges ahead:

Best wishes

Niall Cooper
Director, Church Action on Poverty