Bristol Consultation on Church Urban Fund

We would like to invite you to a consultation meeting on Thursday 19th May 2011 at Easton Christian Family Centre, Easton, Bristol 11am to 2pm (with lunch included) to explore the possibility of the development of a Church Urban Fund (CUF) 'hub' in this area. The CUF has been a generous source of initial funding for poverty related initiatives in the past, but is now developing its work through local hubs. We believe that the possibilities a hub may release make it worthwhile exploring its development. We hope that you will share our views and join us for the consultation meeting.


BACKGROUND TO THIS INVITATION


We have spoken with some key individuals across the Bristol area about the tackling of urban poverty by the Christian Church. This has included ministers, those involved in Christian poverty related work and Christians working for the third sector and related statutory authorities. The quality and quantity of individual pieces of work have been really inspiring, as has been the desire to do more of it. What is clear is that the opportunities and challenges offered to us by the political situation require us to think not only about what we are doing, but how we are doing it if we want to make the most of possibilities and, more importantly, to develop poverty related social justice work which makes God manifest to those outside the church.


We add to this the very real financial challenge of the recession and the shortage of money around, both for the third sector in general, Christian project related funding in particular, and the congregations serving poor areas, where the impact on individuals is very real.
We know there are many calls on people’s time. However we hope you will make the commitment to come to this single meeting to move forward with the development of a regional hub.


Please invite others who might be interested, such as lay workers, youth workers, and church members or other Christians involved in Christian social action or non-faith based related work. Although the CUF is an Anglican based organisation, the intention of this hub is to work with all the churches, so please come even if you are not an Anglican!


Please could you RSVP to  to help us with catering arrangements?

 

We look forward to meeting you.

 

Caroline Virgo
Bristol Christian Action Network
Jon Doble
ISR


David Maggs
Diocese of Bath and Wells
Daniel Chapman
Church Urban Fund
bristol christian action netwo isr diocese of bath and wells church urban fund