MISSION PARTNER OF THE MONTH: CHRISTIANS AGAINST POVERTY

Christ Church, together with other Purley churches, has partnered with Christians Against Poverty (CAP) for a number of years. CAP is now 25 years old, established in 1996 by John Kirkby to provide help to those crippled by debt and poverty.

There are basically 3 strands to the local provision of CAP services:

Money Course – led by Purley Baptist Church in partnership with members of Christ Church, this is a course that can be offered online to help with managing money
Life Skills Course – this course is about making the most what you have including how to eat well and how to make resources go further; the nature of this practical course lends itself to face to face contact. This is led by Christ Church.
Debt Centre – the Purley CAP Debt Centre is registered with Old Lodge Lane Baptist Church. After a short closure it is now up and running again in partnership with Purley Baptist church. The debt centre takes on regular clients and supports them through issues with debt, referring on to the central CAP support network based in Bradford as appropriate.

Funds are raised and prayer support offered for CAP in this area through a separate charity called CAP Croydon South. Doug McHardie is one of the trustees alongside representatives from other local churches.
Two of our members coordinate monthly prayer updates for the Croydon area. Recent highlights have included:

Several people giving their lives to Christ
Real life stories of struggles and triumphs; it's an opportunity to pray for financial and spiritual health
New volunteers to help the services in Croydon
CAP has recently launched a new vision - transforming lives, thriving churches and an end to UK poverty

To find out more about the work of Christians Against Poverty including supporting them financially see https://capuk.org/