J+ Voices: Short Report #6
Over the past year Rosie Hopley, who leads our Jubilee+ Voices initiative, has been busy listening to, and documenting the insights and feedback of people with recent lived-experience of poverty.
This task has taken her around the UK, and most recently to Norwich, where a Jubilee+ Voices group was hosted at King's Church, gathering eleven participants from the city, and surrounding areas.
Throughout the day stories emerged of what it's actually like to access church-based social action, as well as a desire to shape mission, ministry and church culture for the better.
Some of the suggestions which grew out of the day together, included:
- The importance of a warm, and sensitive, welcome on Sundays ("not everyone wants to be hugged" though!), without creating any pressure for a person to reveal their whole life story.
- Consider the unemployed in the way your midweek group structure works. Would a gardening or allotment project enable the opportunity to socialise, and engage meaningfully?
- Think about how to involve people in volunteering for projects without cost implications for them. Covering bus fares to get to a food bank session or drop-in social activities is a simple way to remove obstacles for people who want to get involved.
This summer a summary report will be released, looking at similarities and patterns in people's experiences, and drawing out valuable lessons for churches across the UK.
In the meantime the short report attached to this blog post sheds light on some of the challenges and opportunites that our Norwich-based group specifically highlighted.
To find out more about Jubilee+ Voices please email Rosie at: rosie.hopley@jubilee-plus.org
