fbpx

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Change happens when people come together to make it happen. Activists with experience of poverty have been doing just that, with three UK universities.

Members of the Speaking Truth To Power panel took part in a national event at London School of Economics with academics and practitioners, and then delivered online workshops at the University of Staffordshire and the University of Salford.

Panel member Wayne Green, from Shoreham by Sea in West Sussex, reflects on the two most recent events.

Four people behind a desk, looking at the camera. Two are standing; two sitting.
Wayne, Penny, Steve and Tracy at the London event last winter. Two more events have now taken place at other universities.

Wayne: we're speaking to tomorrow's decision-makers

“Why universities? We felt it was important, as activists seeking to end all forms of poverty and exclusion. It is important for students who could be tomorrow’s decision makers, policy makers and future leaders, to fully understand how and why we do what we do and how to challenge power structures, with a human-centred experience besides the academic rational perspective.

“The work at times I found was slow, and now and then disagreements got in the way. But I was learning to dump much of my professional experience, relearning to be more empathetic and take more of a back seat, and try not to see it all from my perspective.

“It was hard for me. But each time we met I could see that I was changing a little more my perspective. Slowly but surely we started to gel really well as a group. And I now understand why the planning took time.

“Finally, we had built two two-hour programmes. We had full control of the design, agenda, subject matter, and timings, and we chose who best to speak on each topic. It was a really fully human-centred, collaborative and equally balanced process.

“The workshops were with the Universities of Staffordshire and Salford.

“We were there by experience to share – for example, to show what the difference is between experience and academic
knowledge, also to show the value of real experience of poverty, the pain, how to avoid tokenism, how to navigate power dynamics, types of power flows, and the value of listening by those in power.

Wayne: You have so much power

“I felt all the lecturers and departments were highly motivated, and positive in working with us, which gave us much confidence.

“We wanted to highlight to the students that they do have power, and how to be more politically active.

“Often your experience and knowledge is more than the power-holders’ or decision-makers’. We showed real-life examples of how people in poverty can still have a voice and make changes.

“For example, we told how we had attended events at Parliament, and led on campaigns in our local communities, and spoke about our experiences of campaigns at local and national levels. It was important to show them what is often missed or not shown.

“It is important for students to see and learn from real-life activists in poverty, as this sets the agenda. They too can change the world.

“I wanted to say, ‘You have so much power, it’s all around us up for grabs. Look at us, look at what we are doing. Do not be afraid.’ As I noted, poverty is a battle of invisibility, it must be won, we must be seen and heard.

Wayne: what I've learned

“What have I really learned from all of this? I think I have learned to be more humble to the other members.

“Even though I find it hard to show, I do really care about them all in the years we have grown with each other. At the end of the day who am I, but a poor weak man offering my small bit of experience to such large problems. But I do believe change can happen and the younger generations have so much more to offer than I for that change.”

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

We’re listening!

Briefing: New Government data further undermines its cuts to UK’s vital lifelines

The church must be at the heart of the mishmash of local life

Volunteers needed!

Urgent: Ask your church to display this poster on Sunday

The town of 250,000 that revolutionised its food system

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Four people behind a desk, looking at the camera. Two are standing; two sitting.

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

We’re listening!

During 2024, we carried out a survey and some in-depth conversations with some of our partners and supporters. Communications Manager Liam Purcell shares some of what we learned.

We know that, in order to end poverty in the UK, we need to be part of a really wide and powerful movement. To help us link people and groups together and support that movement, we need to listen and learn as much as we can from all the people we work with. So we’ve been finding out what we can from all kinds of people – from loyal supporters who’ve been involved for decades, to churches and donors who have only just got involved. We’d like to thank everyone who shared their thoughts with us.

One of the most important things we wanted to hear about was values – what drives people to get involved in tackling poverty and working for a better world? People spoke of:

  • Faith and Christian values, often with a  specific reference to the example of Jesus.

  • Empathy, compassion and social justice.

  • Real anger and frustration about injustice and inequality.

  • A moral obligation to take action, often because they were aware of their own privileged position.

  • The importance of solidarity and collective action.

Often, we heard that people got involved because Church Action on Poverty’s values align closely with those of their church or project. We know that those shared values are the most powerful motivator to bring us together and challenge injustice.

In our conversations, we explored that idea in more depth – learning about where our work overlaps with other movements seeking peace and justice, and hearing about what makes people feel connected to those wider movements:

  • Signing or sharing petitions.
  • Meeting with other people in person.
  • Being inspired by stories of what other people are doing.
  • Praying with other people.
  • Being part of online communities.

We also heard about people’s churches. We learned that many supporters hold leadership positions in churches, but only a small proportion of churches are actively engaged with Church Action on Poverty – there’s a big opportunity to for us to do more in partnership with local churches. We also found that most of our supporters are in ‘mainline’ traditional churches. Could we find ways to better serve other churches too, for example independent evangelical churches and Black majority churches?

Now we hope we can build on what we’ve learned and the shared values we’ve identified, to work even more effectively in partnership with all of our valued supporters and allies.

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

We’re listening!

The church must be at the heart of the mishmash of local life

What are the challenges and opportunities in your neighbourhood? And where does your church fit in?

Those are two of the questions that people at the Dandelion Community church have been pondering and acting on in recent weeks, as they try to build one another up, and make change happen.

In February, the church hosted a Vision Day. Church leaders were there; so too were the various organisations that use the building through the week; so too were other local groups; and so too were wider partners.

A mug with a Dandelion on it, beside a flyer reading Wythenshawe Against Poverty

Dandelion: A hope-filled, bustling day

It was a hope-filled, upbeat day, bustling with conversation and bubbling with possibilities and ideas. It was a reminder of how much energy and ingenuity there is in communities, and how much power there is in bringing people together.

Revd Kate Gray, minister at Dandelion, says: “Feedback has been that it was a really positive and creative day, because of the opportunities to connect with all sorts of different organisations that might not have met each other before. It felt very creative and constructive.”

She highlights two particular areas of work that have grown from the day:

  1. An exciting collaboration around using green energy to reduce local bills
  2. A women’s leadership programme
A busy church hall with people chatting: some sitting at tables, some standing.

Green energy

“One strand is looking at community-owned renewable energy – a collection of local residents and local groups, including some from Dandelion, are working together on that with a charity partner and a university, and we’ve had the first community workshop.

“We are hoping, particularly with local residents who live immediately around the building, to develop some short and long term responses to poverty by lowering bills. We want Dandelion to become a zero-carbon church and hub, and we have a feasibility study looking at things like ground pumps or a form of hydro-power, and we want solar panels on the roof. 

“That would reduce our bills and respond to climate change in the next few years. There’s lots of interest in that in churches and community groups in Wythenshawe and across the wider area of east, central and south Manchester. We would lower our bills but also produce enough surplus energy so that can go to local households, local schools, or other buildings.”

Women's leadership

“Another piece of work is around women’s leadership, and how women want to organise themselves to respond to poverty through collective action, through families, households, social enterprises etc.

“There’s a stream of work with three women-led organisations at Dandelion developing around that. One of those is called Wythenshawe Central and is now a wider network for people and organisations across Wythenshawe. That’s responding specifically to Wythenshawe town centre redevelopment – what do local people need to be in that development?”

Four people at a table. Two are hugging.

Church's role in the community

Dandelion is in a low-income neighbourhood in Wythenshawe, right beside Manchester Airport, and is eager to play a positive role across a wide range of issues.

Kate says “We are developing a church and community hub with a range of partnerships. There are independent partners who are charities, CICs, local enterprises, and we share some values together. 

“We want to explore more seriously a small governance-based organisation that includes the Dandelion church, includes the URC more widely, and also includes and has clear representation from community organisations that are based in and around Dandelion. We could develop a locally led, locally steered partnership together (with faith and non-faith groups), where we act together and make bids for pieces of work we want to make happen, and that we have identified together.

“Our role as a church here is to be in the mix. Our role is to be part of conversations with a range of other people and – where those conversations don’t yet exist – to look at creating opportunities to host or facilitate or encourage or generate those. Our role is to have a diverse mish-mash of partnerships and also to do that in a way that’s sensitive to all partners and not necessarily church-led.

A view from the back of a busy church hall, with many people sitting and standing and chatting.

“Also, our role is to ensure that Christians who are involved in the life of Wythenshawe are not separate from that. The role of faith is made clear through the practice of faith. In our context that looks like this; in other contexts it might look different. 

“There are a lot of churches with buildings in Wythenshawe and we want to encourage collective action to support the use of public space and to value public space for communities to come together to act together. We can do things like encourage people to access support for their mental health, or other services. Church has a role to play and to be an acknowledgement to God.

“I would say it’s clear to me that the Holy Spirit has made it quite easy for us to do this work, because we are open to change and able to adapt our building, our worship, our language, format and style of being church. If we want to keep everything the same, it’s harder for God to act.”

A jigsaw graphic showing different local issues: eg uneven power relations, dignity, boundaries, community experiences

Dandelion in partnership

The Dandelion Community church is a URC church in Wythenshawe. Church Action on Poverty has partnered with the church for many years, and it was a central partner in the Church on the Margins programme.

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

We’re listening!

Briefing: New Government data further undermines its cuts to UK’s vital lifelines

The church must be at the heart of the mishmash of local life

Volunteers needed!

Urgent: Ask your church to display this poster on Sunday

The town of 250,000 that revolutionised its food system

Say no to these immoral cuts, built on weasel words and spin

Dreams and Realities in our context

How we can radically boost recruitment of working class clergy

SPARK newsletter, winter 2024-25

Meeting the minister

19 new Pantries are reaching thousands of people

78 pics: Pantry members get creative to end poverty

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Four people behind a desk, looking at the camera. Two are standing; two sitting.

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

The town of 250,000 that revolutionised its food system

The town of Reading, in Berkshire, has revolutionised its community food work in the past two years.

Faith Christian Group has opened eight Your Local Pantries with nearby churches, and plans to open two more – with the aim of ensuring everyone in the town has one within walking distance.

Andy Dickens, director of FCG, says it became a charity in the 1990s, focused on providing support for local homeless people. It then began running a home-delivery food bank, and Pantries then felt a natural next step.

An aerial view of Reading, with two group photos overlaid. One shows a group of volunteers in a line; the other shows four people around a table smiling.

Everyone in Reading should be able to walk to a Pantry

He says: “We deliver food parcels to about 170 households each week, to people who have been referred to us in crisis.

“From that, about two years ago, we started our first Pantry. The vision was the next step up for people to get out of poverty but also with wrap-around services and support.

“Norcot was our first one, and in the subsequent 24 months we’ve gone to eight. 

“The food bank is emergency supplies of food for people in crisis, and the Pantry is the next step up. People pay £5 and get about £25 worth of groceries. There’s dignity, choice and hope there and we encourage churches to see Pantries as part of their mission to the community. 

“The churches collect and get volunteers etc. We have about 80 volunteers giving 240 hours a week of time. This makes the pantries sustainable in the long-term.

“We facilitate and support to ensure each Pantry has wrap-around services, like assistance and advice. We work with Christians Against Poverty who help people out of debt, as well as a furniture charity, Citizens advice and other community groups that do things like cookery courses. We are currently trying to migrate to healthy Pantries, to get more fresh food in. 

“We have eight Pantries because we are a town of about 250,000 people. Most people we work with are lonely or isolated and most do not have transport, so we want people to be able to walk to have this opportunity.

“In estates or low-income communities, the Pantries are all within walking distance. And when we have ten, anyone in Reading should be able to access a Pantry. The ninth will open imminently, and the tenth will probably open in the autumn. We are engaged with the council as well; they love the model.”

A posed head & shoulders photo of Andy Dickens, director of FCG in Reading. A man in a blue shirt and glasses is smiling to the camera.
Andy Dickens, director of FCG in Reading

Reading Pantries build community

Andy says the Pantries have really strengthened community in their neighbourhoods. Last autumn, members at Coley Park Pantry spent several months crocheting a Christmas tree, which was unveiled at a special community event for local residents, Pantry members and church members.

He adds: “At Norcot there is a real community with friends who use the church hall for other activities. There is a great cake baker in that Pantry and they bring in cakes. It’s people getting back to knowing their neighbours. It’s local people helping local people.

“Each Pantry has stories of people who have journeyed with them and joined different craft clubs, parent and toddler groups, other groups, or joined churches.

“Without the Pantry work, they would never have come across each other and joined in with other things. We had one man who came on Friday, and he had not seen anyone since being diagnosed with terminal cancer on the Tuesday. We helped someone with pension benefits to get £10,000 of back payments that been due, as they were on the wrong benefit.

“Someone else said they wouldn’t need to come back, because they had got out of severe debt. It’s little shoots of life and the vision is to support people with subsidised food, healthy lifestyles and support them on a journey of faith.

What Pantries mean for churches in Reading

“When we set up, churches see this as part of their social aid action arm, making a meaningful and intentional difference. There are people finding each other, finding faith, finding connection and finding friendship.

“The churches we are dealing with are getting people across the threshold who would never come on a Sunday morning, and they are meeting new people and new connections.

“It’s a great opportunity for local churches to make a difference to people struggling, and really support people on a journey of faith. Churches see it as part of their mission.”

FCG is also exploring getting more involved in advocacy and helping people do campaigning work.

Andy says: “The charity is thinking through what’s important to us from a Christian perspective. Jesus showed mercy to individuals but more than that he brought God’s justice to society, so we are working deliberately and intentionally with MPs, councillors, national charities to try to get more understanding of what’s happening and formulating our thoughts.

“We want to be able to look back in ten years and see how we have made a difference and raised voices.”

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

We’re listening!

Briefing: New Government data further undermines its cuts to UK’s vital lifelines

The church must be at the heart of the mishmash of local life

Volunteers needed!

Urgent: Ask your church to display this poster on Sunday

The town of 250,000 that revolutionised its food system

Say no to these immoral cuts, built on weasel words and spin

Dreams and Realities in our context

How we can radically boost recruitment of working class clergy

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Four people behind a desk, looking at the camera. Two are standing; two sitting.

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Say no to these immoral cuts, built on weasel words and spin

Labour said they would put disabled people at the heart of everything they do. But instead they have shoved us to the very edges.

The proposed cuts to Britain’s social security system are immoral, are deeply harmful to some of the country’s poorest people, and are based on misleading spin.

Disabled activists who work with and advise Church Action on Poverty say the further dismantling of crucial welfare support threatens to impoverish them, and flies in the face of Government promises and thorough evidence.

Stef Benstead, Sydnie Corley and Mary Passeri are all involved in the Speaking Truth to Power programme and other campaigns, and have joined the growing calls all over the country for the threatened cuts to be cancelled.

Cut-outs of Stef, Mary and Sydnie. Text above says: "Labour said they would put disabled people at the heart of everything they do. But instead they have shoved us to the very edges."

No to cuts: Now honour the promise

In December, Stef, Sydnie, Mary and others met the minister for disability, Sir Stephen Timms MP, who had said that disabled people would be at the heart of the Government’s actions.

Church Action on Poverty is urging Stephen Timms to honour that pledge, and today we are asking supporters to ask their MPs to make similar calls. 

Stef: They're deliberately misleading the public to buy support for cuts

Stef said: “Labour said they would put disabled people at the heart of everything they do, but instead they’ve shoved us to the very edges. They’re using a lot of spin and weasel words, but it is worse than empty rhetoric. It is deliberately misleading the public in order to buy support for immoral, harmful cuts.

“It really is a bogus consultation. The things they aren’t consulting on, and the assumptions made behind the things that they are consulting on, make the results a foregone conclusion. The cuts will happen, and they’re not interested in anything other than pretending to care about the people affected.

“Anyone can launch a consultation and say that it will be ‘close’. But to launch a consultation when you’ve already stated that there is no consultation on the ‘four-point’ criterion, and you’ve already decided how much money it will save, is not an honest consultation.”

Sydnie: We know the DWP does not score people correctly

Sydnie highlighted that in recent years, hundreds of thousands of people who were initially refused PIP were wrongly rejected, and had the refusal overturned at appeal, showing that the Government has a terrible track record at assessing people’s health and disability.

She says: “The DWP does not understand people’s conditions. Their ‘professionals’ are not qualified in many disabilities or in who can receive what payment, and what jobs people are capable of. The waiting list for PIP is too long.

“Too many people have to appeal where they were originally awarded hardly any points, then achieve the proper high amount in each category via the appeal. This waiting time is even longer and one that is degrading and not accessible to all, and this whole process is too much of a strain on people’s physical and mental health.

“How on earth are they going to reassess everyone, with what cost, as there are not enough staff as it is. We know the DWP does not score people correctly. They are unqualified for this job and under too much strain to cope.

“How on earth are they going to reassess everyone, with what cost, as there are not enough staff as it is. We know the DWP do not score people correctly. They are unqualified for this job and under too much strain to cope.

Mary: These cuts apply pressure not to live any more

Mary said she was terrified that the changes were coming in at the same time as the assisted dying legislation. She said: “The benefits system should be there as a safety net. I totally agree it should not be an alternative way of living, But it needs to be a stronger net, with fewer tears to fall through!”

“Now this is happening and the assisted dying laws are coming in as well. You can foresee a system where they will say they’ll give me benefits for another five years, and that’s it – and then in the context of assisted dying, see what pressure that puts on people not to live any more!”

Speaking Truth to Power panelists meet with minister Stephen Timms
Mary (back left), Sydnie (remotely) and Stef (middle left) were part of a group that met Stephen Timms (far right) in December. Now they're urging him to be true to his word.

Stef dissects the Government's spin on cuts

Stef said much of the Government’s statement this week was hollow spin. 

She says: “You can be as harsh a government as you like and still pretend to the masses that you are nice, really, because you support the ‘greatest needs’ – just not the ‘also great but we’ve decided we can’t afford them’ needs.”

“The fact is that all the evidence shows that people assessed as unfit for work – whether required to prepare for work or not – are demonstrably not fit for work. Consequently any cuts to support for these people means that Labour is not protecting those who cannot work. And they are spinning this by claiming that we are people who are of non-genuine need.

“For example, I don’t receive the Daily Living component of PIP. Whilst I think this is wrong (I can only shower once a week and have to pay an assistant to cook for me, as well as doing my cleaning, tidying, washing up, and laundry which aren’t assessed by PIP), it means that I don’t qualify for the Health Element of Universal Credit under Labour’s proposed system.

“Yet, I’ve been unable to work since 2011. Various attempts to work have led to suicidal depression as I struggle with the demands of working not even eight hours a week.”

She also said the Government’s claim that the work capability assessment was binary was untrue, as it already has three possible outcomes: fit for work; unfit for work but fit to prepare for work; unfit either to work or prepare for work. And she criticised the suggestion that the number of PIP awards was not sustainable.

“How does that work? Is Liz Kendall saying that I am not sustainable? Too many people have long-term needs so the problem is that we’re unsustainable for each other? Taking PIP away from people who depend on it does not help people who depend upon it. It does not make PIP more sustainable long-term for them; rather, their lives have been made less sustainable.”

The system should not push people into poverty

Sydnie said: “We should be able to entrust our Government to ensure there is a system that is fair, prosperous, and sustainable, which is looking forward and grows with the modern world, that has empathy and deeper understanding of how to support everyone who is living here.

“We should all have a future, to feel worth and again, to not feel a burden on society, and to not be judged unfairly for this. Everyone has some right to self actualisation, to have dignity, to be heard and listened to, and also have a legal right to not be pushed into poverty, to have a good standard of living environmentally and mentally.

“People who live in Britain have fought for human rights, equal rights, racism, gender rights, equality, a fair social system, disabled rights and far far more. Is money more important than people’s lives and living experience? The Government has control and yet deems us as nothing more than a waste of money, draining the public’s purse.”

Sydnie said most jobs did not reflect the flexibility that disabled people would inevitably need. 

“How on earth can the Government create jobs that are flexible, inclusive, and offering reasonable adjustment – such as time off at short notice with no repercussions, full support and at minimum wage and above?

“Will the Government make working places hire staff at their cost, where their insurance has to be increased, with new risk assessments, buying specialist equipment, having another member of staff to stand by at any time to replace their shift?

“And the other measures won’t make people better: covering child care costs won’t cure people; reducing benefits won’t cure people; voluntary work won’t cure people; adding more support with CVs, interviews or short basic courses won’t cure people – and most people know how to do these things. Disabled people are not uneducated as the Government seems to believe. 

“Can’t the Government comprehend that some people are simply unable to work, but need to have the same rights as everyone, and to stop cuts to supportive programs, outreach centres, social workers, and accessibility to all.”

Mary: They understand us but they're doing it anyway!

Mary says: “Will job training or loss of money take away my son’s autism? Will it cure his health issues? Will it cure cerebral palsy and learning disabilities? It will not change any of that!

“I would love to work, to be back doing research work and group work, but how can I when some days I cannot even remember the names of people I am with? If I was employed, the employer would also need to employ someone else too, to cover when I was too ill to work. Small businesses can’t afford to employ people who can’t work regularly, and big businesses are not going to.

“I feel totally and utterly let down, because when the Conservatives were putting forward cuts and the UN was saying what they were doing was unlawful and should be stopped, Labour were jumping all over them trying to say it was all wrong. 

“Now they’re in power, not only have they ignored that, but they are being worse! People say the Government needs to talk to people to understand, but that’s not enough – they have talked to people, they do understand, they’re speaking to people – but they’re doing this anyway! It’s all window dressing.”

“I already get less Universal Credit than my rent, so it’s essential I get PIP, or I would not have anything to eat! I get the standard rate of Universal Credit, as I’m unable to work. At the moment I’m not expected to work, or look for work. My son Adriano is on the special higher rate, and he’s not expected to work.

“I will be in their target group, because it’s people with severe aches and pains they will target. Most of the jobs available in York are coffee shop jobs – how could I work in a coffee shop, having to be on my feet and flexible. I can have good days, but last time I did something exertive, when I went to London for a meeting, I was in bed for nearly a week!

“For me, you can probably get four good hours out of me, but in that time I’d need to get washed and dressed, eat and get to where I would need to be. That could take three hours already… who’s going to give me a job for an hour?!”

“And are we saying people’s only reason for being is to go to work, because then when some people finish work, we’re in so much pain and cannot look after our family or do anything in life. Are they really saying that’s okay? As a disabled person, don’t I deserve a work-life balance like anyone else?

“I know it’s hard to arrange a really fair system, but punishing people who cannot work will not make them work. And for people who would like to work but are disabled, support needs to go to employers to enable that. Telling people to work when no employer would touch them is not going to help.

“After we met Stephen Timms, we were at least tentatively hopeful that there may be some real exchange. The Government’s actions would quash that hope. 

“Why can’t we have a Government that is prepared to give real protections and quality of life to disabled people? If the Government could bring themselves to stop scapegoating and instead invest in bettering the situation for disabled people, then perhaps there would be less pressure on social and health services.

“This investment could begin with education. Children with disabilities have been facing cuts to essential services that would allow them to benefit from an education thus refusing them any real aspiration and ambition.”

Stef, Sydnie and Mary are members of the Speaking Truth to Power programme coordinated by Church Action on Poverty.

Stef is also the author of Second Class Citizens: The Treatment of Disabled People in Austerity Britain

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

We’re listening!

Briefing: New Government data further undermines its cuts to UK’s vital lifelines

The church must be at the heart of the mishmash of local life

Volunteers needed!

Urgent: Ask your church to display this poster on Sunday

The town of 250,000 that revolutionised its food system

Say no to these immoral cuts, built on weasel words and spin

Dreams and Realities in our context

How we can radically boost recruitment of working class clergy

SPARK newsletter, winter 2024-25

Meeting the minister

19 new Pantries are reaching thousands of people

78 pics: Pantry members get creative to end poverty

Dreams & Realities: reflections on an amazing tour

“The PTC is one of the best things that’s ever happened to us”

Annual review 2023-24

Sheffield MP speaks at Pilgrimage event about tackling poverty

Doing food together: An invitation to all churches

PM responds to the Let’s End Poverty letters

SPARK autumn 2024

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Four people behind a desk, looking at the camera. Two are standing; two sitting.

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Dreams and Realities in our context

Revd Amanda Mallen reflects on the impact Church Action on Poverty Sunday made in her community.

During the week following Church Action on Poverty Sunday on 2 March 2025, I held three informal worship workshops.

The aim was to help people engage with poverty in many of its forms and the impact it has on individuals and communities and the wider impact overall.

I used the Dreams and Realities artwork (above) to open up the subject and share the lived experience of those featured in the pictures. Telling their stories was a special and thought-provoking time for me personally. I also shared some of my own lived experience of growing up and living in poverty and how that impacted the choices I have made. Some of these choices have been big life-changing decisions yet I found that for me the small everyday choices are more impactful and often more hurtful to make.

Doing this alongside scripture reading and prayers, and by singing a couple of songs that speak into the aims of the sessions, gave it a real sense of importance. Looking after and standing up for the poor is a biblical imperative as I see it.

In two out of three of the sessions (in churches where the flexible layout allowed it) I asked the participants to create their own Dreams and Realities work. Some chose to draw,  some chose written words, and I wanted them to be able to think and communicate in a way that was comfortable and accessible to them. None of us are artists, and so the participation and willingness to share of the participants was really important.

We also had open discussion during the service about what poverty looked like, and I shared some local statistics. I had also done collective worship sessions (assemblies) in three primary schools the week before and was encouraged to hear that the children didn’t know that where they lived was such a high area of deprivation.

We ended the service with prayers and I felt like those who participated had a better understanding of what we are trying to achieve. I would have liked more participants but it didn’t seem to be publicised well enough this time, so I plan to lead a quiet day a bit later in the year in our local park (weather permitting) which is based around the Dreams and Realities theme. Hopefully with more time and more participants the message will be further embedded, and the stigma and embarrassment of poverty will be lifted so that more people can stand up and stare their stories. Supporting each other in this way and enabling people to voice their concerns and opinions will hopefully lead into action, and an end to poverty for all.


Revd Amanda Mallen is a vicar in Walsall and a member of Church Action on Poverty’s Council of Management.

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

We’re listening!

How we can radically boost recruitment of working class clergy

Our communities are awash with talent - but Churches need to offer new routes to ministry.

Father Alex Frost calls for bold thinking from national leaders.

Father Alex Frost in church
I have never received a standing ovation before and nor did I expect one at my recent trip to London for the Church of England General Synod.
 
But that is what happened after my February address to the gathering of Archbishops, Bishops, Clergy and Laity on the subject of working class vocations and people training for ministry.
 
I’d like to think it wasn’t just light relief because I was wedged in between the difficult debate about safeguarding on one side, and the ultra dry debate about church processes on the other. But maybe that I struck a chord about how and who we recruit for lay and ordained ministry.

Communities are awash with talent

The crux of my address and Private Members Motion was to challenge the Church of England and all Churches in the UK that perhaps a ‘one size fits all’ approach to learning is not always in the interest of the church or the individual selected to train for ministry.
 
My key argument came from a place of experience and the fact I left school at 15 years old and had no qualifications. Although I went on to have fabulous career in retail management with Argos, the fact that my academic portfolio was as empty as some of our struggling churches became a huge stumbling block to my pathway to ordination.
 
And so at Synod I presented my call for a radical change to how churches go about things, and argued that there was a rich harvest of talent and skills from people in our working class communities that – as yet – had been seriously under represented. 

I asked them to do more to recognise the skills and potential of Christians in an urban setting. After all, these places are awash with entrepreneurs and down-to-earth hard-working people.

I'd love to see clergy apprenticeships

But why do our churches need a working-class cleric or pastor? Is this just another attempt to increase our diversity levels, looking a little more favourable with the secular world?
 

Well that could be a fair critique, but I do truly believe that more working class ministers would be a much needed injection of talent and enthusiasm that offers something different to the academic degree model that exists in many church institutions of all denominations. 

And just in case anyone was thinking, “hang on a minute I’m working class and I’ve got a degree, what on earth is Fr Alex going on about?” I’d just like to add that of course many working class people are academic and they do have degrees, and that is wonderful.

 
Ultimately I would love to see all churches offer a number of work-streams for ministerial training. Of course keeping the academic pathway for classroom based learning, but also opening up the opportunities and possibilities of an apprenticeship type model. Offering context-based learning, hands on endeavour, where the experience from the ‘real world’ is soaked up and nurtured to create culturally aware people fit for church ministry.

An encouragement to all working class Christians

When I stood at the platform I was unsure how this idea would be received, as after all The Church of England isn’t particularly regarded as a instrument of change. Anything but, if the truth be-known. However you can imagine my delight when people stood to their feet in approval and passed my motion with 100% support.
 
The proof now will be in the pudding and I eagerly look forward to discovering what the ministry division comes up with. But in the meantime I do sincerely hope that if nothing else it has encouraged working class Christians who doubt their ability to serve their church, to confidently remind them that, YES YOU CAN!!

Father Alex Frost is Vicar of St Matthew Church in Burnley; is a member of General Synod; host of The God Cast; and author of Our Daily Bread: from Argos to the Altar.

Church On The Margins work

Since 2020, Church Action on Poverty has been researching how the UK’s denominations allocate their resources, and listening to people and churches in communities on the margins.

Churches, at their best, are thriving hubs at the heart of their communities – open and inclusive to all believers and everyone else. Churches at their best connect with and support the local area through local collaborations, shared spaces and resources, and genuine community. 

But we found that low-income communities are being disproportionately affected by church closures, and this has ramifications for Christians and entire neighbourhoods. If national church leaders reinvest instead of retreating, then we know churches can help whole communities to thrive and build better futures.

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

We’re listening!

Briefing: New Government data further undermines its cuts to UK’s vital lifelines

The church must be at the heart of the mishmash of local life

Volunteers needed!

Urgent: Ask your church to display this poster on Sunday

The town of 250,000 that revolutionised its food system

Say no to these immoral cuts, built on weasel words and spin

Dreams and Realities in our context

How we can radically boost recruitment of working class clergy

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Four people behind a desk, looking at the camera. Two are standing; two sitting.

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

19 new Pantries are reaching thousands of people

Thousands of people across the UK are enjoying a merrier Christmas this year, thanks to the opening of Pantries in their neighbourhoods.

The Your Local Pantry network has welcomed 19 new partners throughout 2024, across all four nations of the UK.

Already, the new Pantries are supporting 3,770 people in 1,400 households. The new openings take the number of Your Local Pantries to 125, and the whole network now reaches more than 130,000 people in more than 47,000 households. 

A large posed groupshot in a hall. Some people are in blue 'Your Local Pantry' aprons and there is a balloon arch behind them.
The opening of the Your Local Pantry in Hurlford, Ayrshire

Strong, hope-filled communities

Pantries typically save people £21 a week, and also strengthen community bonds, improve health and nurture new friendships.

Rachel Brown, Your Local Pantry development coordinator, said:

“Pantries are wonderful places, supporting people to come together to improve their own situations but also the whole neighbourhood. It’s been great to welcome so many new partners throughout 2024, from churches, to charities, to councils.

“Charity is never going to be the long-term answer to food insecurity. We need the Government to commit to take bolder action to end the ongoing cost of living scandal, and to end poverty. But at the same time, people need strong, compassionate, hope-filled communities and that’s what Pantries are.”

Places Of Hope

Earlier this year, new research for the Places of Hope report showed that the UK’s Your Local Pantries have saved members £10.5 million in the past two years.

One of the new openings is Stepping Stones Pantry in Northern Ireland, which staff said had had a really positive first few months.

In a recent member survey, one member said it provided “a great selection and amazing value for money”.

Another said: “I attend when I need a bit of help; would be lost without it.”

Other new openings have included new partnerships with Barnardo’s in Ayrshire, and the Salvation Army in Welling.

The 19 new Pantries...

This year’s new Pantries have opened in:

England

  • Croydon, Newham, and Welling (both in Greater London)
  • Reading (two)
  • New Romney and Deal (both in Kent)
  • Warrington (two)
  • Banstead in Surrey
  • Purfleet in Essex
  • Birmingham
  • St Helen’s
  • Portsmouth
  • Rochdale

Northern Ireland

  • Bangor
  • Armagh

Scotland

  • Hurlford in Ayrshire

Wales

  • Pontllanfraith in Blackwood

Is your church ready to open a Pantry?

The Your Local Pantry network has saved members £10.5 million in the past two years, but the benefits go far deeper – research has shown that:

  • 83% of members say it has been good for their mental health
  • 74% feel more connected to their community
  • 66% have made new friends
  • 63% now eat more fruit and veg

Pantries are also increasingly about social transformation, with many members in 2024 becoming involved in local democracy, social campaigns and art projects.

The Bishop of Leeds recently visited one of his nearest Your Local Pantries, and urged all churches to consider opening a Pantry.

Anyone interested in opening a Your Local Pantry should email info@yourlocalpantry.co.uk

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

We’re listening!

Briefing: New Government data further undermines its cuts to UK’s vital lifelines

The church must be at the heart of the mishmash of local life

Volunteers needed!

Urgent: Ask your church to display this poster on Sunday

The town of 250,000 that revolutionised its food system

Say no to these immoral cuts, built on weasel words and spin

Dreams and Realities in our context

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Four people behind a desk, looking at the camera. Two are standing; two sitting.

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Dreams & Realities: reflections on an amazing tour

12 venues, hundreds of visitors, wonderful feedback, and now a spin-off… it’s fair to say the Dreams & Realities tour has been a success!

“It has been amazing experience,” says the artist, Stephen Martin. 

“I’ve met some really interesting people, and I’ve been moved by people’s stories of their experiences living and dealing with poverty and daily hardship. People’s responses to my portraits have been positive and enthusiastic.”

Stephen hods a wooden picture frame, containing a portrait of a woman (Liudmyla)

A nationwide tour

Stephen painted portraits of himself and nine other people living in hardship in Sheffield. Each portrait showed the person’s reality, plus the dreams they would pursue if they were not held back by poverty.

All the people are connected to choirs at St Mary’s Church in Sheffield, and the project was coordinated by Yo Tozer-Loft, community choirmaster, with support from Church Action on Poverty. 

The paintings were unveiled at St Mary’s last March, then toured the country, reaching:

  • Newcastle
  • Stoke
  • York
  • Camden
  • Leeds
  • Halifax
  • Manchester
  • Barking & Dagenham
  • Portsmouth
  • Retford
  • the Greenbelt Festival 

A deeply moving exhibition

Stephen says: “I had a strange sensation each time I visited and saw the paintings again – it has been like meeting old friends again! And there have been some really positive reactions. 

“The events at Camden and Halifax especially were amazing, because there were other people also sharing stories of hardship. They talked about their own situations and issues; it has been so moving. In Halifax, I’m now working on a follow-up, doing five paintings with people there.”

Yo: I feel blessed to have played a part

Yo says that when she had the idea for the project, she wanted to:

  • raise money to keep her community choir going
  • highlight the shocking realities of everyday poverty in the UK before the election
  • dignify the singers who live on the frontline of poverty by asking them to have their portraits painted (as the rich do) and by depicting their dream as well as their reality
  • take up the kind offer of Stephen to paint the portraits.

By Summer 2023, she was already approaching and interviewing singers, then she heard Gordon Brown speak about the new #letsendpoverty movement at the 2023 Greenbelt Festival. 

Yo says: “God was at work! (I had already unexpectedly bumped into Michelle who I wanted to invite to the project but had lost touch with – Greenbelt was the last place I expected to find her!)

“The #letsendpoverty worker Pete did a really fabulous and energetic job  throughout the year finding venues for the exhibition across England and organising an opening event at each place.

“The events were a great forum for meeting and debate amongst people who suffer the effects of poverty plus community leaders and choirs.

“I was really pleased with the uptake and response to the touring exhibition as communities came together for political, informative, solution seeking and sometimes frustrated debate. How can we end poverty in the UK? End the 2 child benefit cap? Bring back fully funded surestart? Introduce Universal Basic Income? We certainly need to communicate with our MPs…

“My late mum, Iris, would be so frustrated to see her own story still being lived- her pathway to education and opportunity blocked by poverty. It meant a lot to me to see the exhibition in Dagenham where she grew up. She achieved so much but still spoke about those lost opportunities in her old age.

“Highlights of the exhibition were the media coverage, the Newcastle, Camden and Portsmouth openings with great speakers, music and crowds, not to mention seeing the paintings back at Greenbelt where the project was ‘blessed’ the previous year!

“I feel blessed myself to have played a part in this project, raising the profile of friends and family still suffering poverty in the UK. As the fifth richest world nation, we can do better!

“Seeing the exhibition and the debate go so far and wide has been like watching my baby grow up, leave home and do something really special and far beyond me!

“Huge thanks to everyone at Church Action on Poverty for all their hard work, especially Pete Duberly, igniting the #letsendpoverty movement with his energy around the paintings and the issue. 

“Stephen Martin excelled himself as a painter, working really generously with me on finessing the likenesses and compositions. The biggest thanks for all goes to the generous singers who gave their faces and their stories, dreams and realities to the project.”

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

We’re listening!

Briefing: New Government data further undermines its cuts to UK’s vital lifelines

The church must be at the heart of the mishmash of local life

Volunteers needed!

Urgent: Ask your church to display this poster on Sunday

The town of 250,000 that revolutionised its food system

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Four people behind a desk, looking at the camera. Two are standing; two sitting.

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

78 pics: Pantry members get creative to end poverty

From mosaics to murals, pots to paintings, Pantry members have been creating stunning art pieces this year

The Let's End Poverty text logo, on a collage of four images of people doing craft or art.

Dozens of people around the UK have been taking part in creative arts projects, alongside the Let’s End Poverty campaign.

Earlier this year, grants were provided to ten Your Local Pantries, to enable them to organise projects that would bring members together and amplify their voice.

Several of the projects have now been completed. The variety and creativity have been spectacular! We’ve seen crochet and cards; pots and portraits, mosaics, murals and more. 

Check out the photos below, via the Your Local Pantry facebook page:

Let's End Poverty art projects

Creations have included:

  • Members designed a mural for the shutters of Greenhouse Pantry in Edinburgh
  • In Reading, members crocheted a woollen Christmas tree, which was then fitted to a wooden frame and illuminated outside the Pantry.
  • In Birmingham, members have been learning pottery, and creating their own pots and vases decorated with their personal stories.
  • Members in Macclesfield have been working on a mosaic, and eight accompanying pieces of art.
  • In Kingston, London, members produced personal portraits exploring life’s challenges and their hopes, and also made Christmas cards.
  • In Kilcooley in Northern Ireland, members took part in community workshops and came up with the idea of a mural of bears, representing the strength and resilience of the community.   

What members said

“When I first joined, I felt excited and curious to learn something new, and I loved the warm, welcoming atmosphere of the sessions. I feel that these workshops have truly helped me express myself through art and given me a space to connect with others who share the same interest. It’s made me feel like I have a clearer voice and presence.”

……

“It felt creative and it was lovely to get out of the house for a couple of hours without worrying how I would afford it…. I jumped at the chance to socialise and not be just “mum” for a night. I feel that more hobbies should be available to all on low incomes. It gives you something to look forward to when things are getting on top.”

……

“The soul searching was a surprise, I wasn’t prepared for the emotional work. But in the end it was an amazing experience. It was out of my comfort zone, but I loved it.”

……

“My pot represents a mandala pattern: some nature and trees, and my house. I want to have every part of my culture, my village and my city on the pot.”

……

“I am so proud of our cards. I can’t believe I have designed a card that will be sold!”

……

“It was an opportunity for introspection and thinking about our pasts and future – sometimes uncomfortable but best not left totally unscrutinised… I’ve never been so proud of something I’ve created before.”

……

“I’m proud and delighted to be able to help facilitate the group. It gives great pleasure to use creativity to build confidence and hope in humanity. ‘Altrusim’ (a key point summed up so well by one of our young members) of the whole team, means we can appreciate the smooth running of the Pantry each week. The mosaic helps foster appreciation for not only the wealth of food and daily items so needed but that we are all together and dependent on one another for support. I’m grateful for the opportunity to do something creative in such a meaningful way. Thankyou!”

……

“I shop regularly at the Pantry. It’s an absolute lifeline to me. Being part of the mural project was such a rewarding experience. The idea of using bears to symbolise the weight of the cost-of-living crisis and the fact it’s a family of bears really got me, cause they’re strong and resilient, just like us trying to get by.

“Every time I see the mural, it brightens my day and reminds me of the strength of the community. It was lovely to watch the kids helping to paint – it was adorable seeing their little creative contributions come to life. It gave the project such a family vibe, which is exactly what this place feels like: a Pantry family.” 

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?

Church Action On Poverty North East 2025 AGM

The activists Speaking Truth to Power in York

We’re listening!

Briefing: New Government data further undermines its cuts to UK’s vital lifelines

The church must be at the heart of the mishmash of local life

Volunteers needed!

Urgent: Ask your church to display this poster on Sunday

The town of 250,000 that revolutionised its food system

Say no to these immoral cuts, built on weasel words and spin

Dreams and Realities in our context

How we can radically boost recruitment of working class clergy

Sharing Power to Shape Mission

Four people behind a desk, looking at the camera. Two are standing; two sitting.

Activists work to shape policies of the future

Are churches losing faith in low-income communities?