After many years of partnering with churches to build inclusive communities we’re changing how we work to achieve greater impact for people with disabilities. We’re now looking to partner with churches located near our services; we intend to support those in our residential homes and in our education establishments in new ways.
Significant barriers still exist which prevent full participation of people with disabilities, including the exploration of faith and spirituality. We‘re excited about new partnerships with churches and other community groups which will help us to overcome these barriers for the people we support. We believe the time has come for us to prioritise this work and we feel called to do so. Our Christian values remain at the heart of all we do, but the expression is taking a different shape.
There will be two strands to our new Community Engagement framework:
Our Community Engagement team has offered resources, training and support to build connected communities across the UK. We are hugely grateful for the partnerships we have formed over many years and value the relationships we’ve built with so many.
Recent years have seen us working in dementia, disability, community development, mental health and wellbeing. Aspects of these will continue through our partners listed below:
If you have read our blogs, downloaded resources, attended training days, tried out some of our activities, listened to a talk, come to our stand at an event, thank you! Keep going! Keep building strong communities and churches where everyone can feel at home. And where you can, please support us. In the meantime our hope and prayer for you is from Isaiah 58 (The Message version):
“You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.”