Christians Against Poverty (CAP) is a Christian charity founded in Bradford, West Yorkshire by John Kirkby in 1996. It is a national organisation specialising in debt counselling for people in financial difficulty, including those in need of bankruptcy or insolvency. It also provides Job Clubs for those seeking employment and Fresh Start Courses for people looking to overcome addictions and dependencies. It works with the local church to support people through their journey of debt and seeks to offer them emotional and spiritual support along the way, through linking them into local church communities where appropriate. Currently 10 people become debt free and 3 people become Christians each day through CAP’s support.
More information about what CAP does can be found on their website by clicking here.
See the inspirational videos of how CAP has changed lives by clicking here
CAP Malvern and Ledbury are now hiring. For full details and application forms, please see the post on our website by clicking here.
Malvern Branch Started 2019!
We are very excited to announce that a Malvern Branch of CAP has started and opened a Debt Centre in April 2019. This is a joint Churches Together in Malvern initiative, lead by St Andrew’s (as CAP insist that there is lead church). On Sunday 20th January 2019 there was a Churches Together in Malvern Unity Service at which Chris Mesley and Denise Ditchburn were commissioned to be the Manager of the Malvern CAP Debt Centre and Debt Coach respectively.
The picture above shows the commissioning taking place, with from left to right:
- Dave Christmas (previously CAP Debt Centre manager in Worcester)
- Chris Mesley (Malvern CAP Debt Centre Manager)
- Dave Bruce (Rector of The Chase Team in Malvern – St Andrew’s, All Saints & St Mary’s)
- Dan Bennett (Chair of Churches Together in Malvern)
- Denise Ditchburn (Malvern CAP Debt Coach)
Two leaflets have been produced to provide more information regarding CAP Malvern and how you can help. These are shown alongside and PDF copies of each can be downloaded by clicking on the relevant image.
The leaflets are:
◊ A guide to CAP Malvern, how it works and ways in which you can help.
◊ A form to complete to say how you are willing to offer to help to CAP Malvern.
The January 2019 update on the progress of Malvern CAP for Churches (including how you can get involved) can be found here as a PDF file: CAP Malvern – Information for Churches Jan 2019
In January 2020 Chris Mesley provided an update on the first year of CAP in Malvern at a service in St Andrew’s. You can watch or listen to this talk by clicking here.
The 2020 Update can be found here CAP Annual Update 2020
ACTS 435
CAP also works closely with a great charity called ACTS 435 which gives individuals the opportuntiy to support anyone in the country with specific needs. ACTS 435 makes this happen through a network of Advocates in numerous churches! All sorts of needs are recorded and you can select one that appeals to you and contribute what you can towards the costs. In most cases these are relatively small amounts. For example here are two live requests as I write: £90 for the fee for a Debt Relief Order, and £125 for a Fridge Freezer. All of your gift is handled by an Advocate at the local church who ensures that it is spent on the requested item.
For many more details and the live donor list please click here.
To see how ACTS 435 works watch the video here.