Christians Against Poverty

As we've seen today, life in the Spirit is about freedom, not burden.

Christians Against Poverty is a wonderful charity that works with individuals and families that are really struggling, and I highly recommend them.

Come back to thinking about giving when you're back on your feet and feel able to respond to God's grace cheerfully.

I'd particularly like to encourage young people to consider starting their giving journey as soon as possible.

We don't talk about this a lot, but we have a whole group of people that help people get out of debt.

and it's called Christians Against Poverty and we work with an organisation of just helping people through the journey and you know sometimes God writes a check but sometimes we have to work our way out you know I always like the one you know where he just says here here's some money but sometimes he says no I'm going to teach you about money and I'm going to work you you through and But in the process of that, it feels like we're waiting.

Where are you, Lord? Some of you, why am I not married yet? I can't get pregnant.

Jesus, where are you in this? I need to change my job.

In a previous church, there was a lady, we'll call her Sarah, who woke up one day and in the middle of the night had a dream from Jesus.

A dream that she needed to invite a lady, let's call her Emma, who had recently got in touch with Christians Against Poverty.

She didn't know Emma very well and she thought she's probably the least likely person to want to do Alpha.

She only really turned to Christians against poverty because when she tried some secular organisations for financial help, they were pretty poor.

But she was very sceptical of Christianity because she thought they were pretty weird.

And she wasn't really just kind of that person.

The ban combined with the rapid license revocations has left tens of thousands of care workers already in the UK either tied to their employers or stranded in debt and scrambling to find a new employer to sponsor them, all the while prone to potentially even greater exploitation.

Yes, I've heard about this because actually the idea for this episode stemmed from my mum, who is a volunteer debt coach with the charity Christians Against Poverty.

And my mum says she is increasingly coming across people who are on these care work visas, who through no fault of their own are being left penniless.

So why does this happen? Why are so many foreign care workers in crippling debt?

There's another person in the group who goes and does some volunteering at the prison.

There's another person in the group who's involved in a Christians Against Poverty programme.

And they're all in the one house church, but they're all just... serving in really beautiful ways so I think while some of them have a kind of a homogenous focus others there are just people are all doing their bit and they're all supporting one another in the different kaupapa that they're involved with

is there anything as we speak today that is pounding on your heart that you're thinking this is what I'd like to do next or this is something that God might yet have for us