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Staying Connected

Read our annual review and financial statements for the financial year 2020–21.

Long read: How do we build dignity, agency & power together?

SPARK newsletter autumn 2021

Lent course for 2022: Life on the Breadline

On 20 November, people from around the UK gathered on Zoom to discuss how we can build a more powerful movement to reclaim dignity, agency and power. Watch the recordings from the day here.

The opening session: our Director Niall Cooper introduces our new strategy for building a movement that can reclaim dignity, agency and power. With opening worship led by Urzula Glienecke.

Participants discuss ways of building a movement in their own contexts.

Participants hear about our work to help churches prioritise people on the margins, and discuss how they could apply the ideas in their own churches.

Participants hear how we support people to set up Self-Reliant Groups – and get a taster of the new cookbook created by SRG members.

Participants discuss how our churches can learn from liberation theology’s approach to Bible studies led by people on the margins of society. Thanks to Revd Chris Howson for facilitating this workshop.

Participants gather again to reflect on what they’ve shared, and to attend our 2021 Annual General Meeting. Includes closing worship led by Urzula Glienecke.

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Poems from the Iona Community 2022

SPARK newsletter summer 2023

Church Action on Poverty in Sheffield 2023 AGM

An introduction to Self-Reliant Groups for Churches

How the Pope’s words 10 years ago challenge & changed us

Budget 2023: Speaking Truth To Power reaction

Budget 2023: a precious chance to bridge the rich-poor divide

Books about poverty: some recommendations for World Book Day

Parkas, walking boots, and action for change: Sheffield’s urban poverty pilgrimage

Dreamers Who Do: North East event for Church Action on Poverty Sunday 2024

Church Action on Poverty's logo, beside a headshot of Stef Benstead

Autumn Statement: Stef & Church Action on Poverty’s response

Our local group in Sheffield report on their latest annual Pilgrimage.

Pilgrims about to set off on the 2021 Church Action on Poverty annual Pilgrimage from the Church of Christ, Darnall, Sheffield.

More than 20 members of various churches across Sheffield came together to take part in the annual Sheffield Church Action on Poverty Pilgrimage, which raises awareness and understanding of how poverty is affecting people in different parts of Sheffield.

This year, our local group in Sheffield staged a three-mile circular walk, focusing on Darnall.

People attending the Pilgrimage heard about the challenges to mental, physical and financial wellbeing in Darnall posed by the Covid pandemic and lockdown, the various initiatives trying to overcome those problems, and the challenges they had faced.

They also heard from local councillor Zahira Naz about the particular problems facing families from ethnic minorities in Darnall, who had faced unfair accusations of failing to isolate and self-distance during the pandemic.

Councillor Naz said the reality was that many ethnic minority families had several generations living in the same household.

Vulnerable grandparents shared houses with family members working in occupations, including the health services, where they could be exposed to Covid as well as grandchildren who were still going to school.

To make matters worse, many families traditionally had one breadwinner, and for those working in shops, takeaways, restaurants, taxi firms and a number of other occupations, there was often no financial support.

Councillor Naz spoke of efforts she was involved with to source food, and in particular Asian food, for people in financial difficulty, which expanded into providing activity packs to keep children amused and toiletries when they were in short supply.

She said the one good thing to come out of the experience was the community cohesion it created:

“The community came together – churches, mosques, local organisations – and between us we formed relationships. None of us could have done this by ourselves, but between us with that passion to support people in our communities to make sure nobody went hungry brought us all together.”

Pilgrims heard about the work of the Church of Christ, including its role as a ‘Partner Hub’ for Food Works, the Sheffield-based social enterprise that collects surplus food that would otherwise go to landfill.

The not-for-profit organisation distributes the food it collects in boxes and as cooked meals for the vulnerable, the lonely and care workers who haven’t time to cook and started producing frozen food during the lockdowns.

They also heard about the work of the Living Waters Food Bank and the Church of England and Church Army Attercliffe and Darnall Centre of Mission.

Revd Gina Kalsi and her husband Kinder, a captain in the Church Army, arrived to lead the Mission at the start of the first Covid lockdown.

Tackling food poverty and isolation became one of their major activities as they found a number of socially distanced ways to connect with the community.

When a local bakery offered them its unsold fresh bread and cakes, they began delivering it to local people in need.

Gina Kalsi says once social distancing eased the time needed for deliveries went from one hour to a full afternoon as people, desperate for human contact, invited them in for a chat. What started as a chat rapidly turned into ad-hoc support sessions as people started asking them for help, including with completing forms.

Dr Jack Czauderna, a driving force behind Darnall Well Being and the Darnall Allotment Project, talks to Pilgrims on the 2021 Church Action on Poverty annual Pilgrimage.

Pilgrims visited the Darnall Allotment Project, an initiative established by Darnall Well Being, a not-for-profit, health organisation working to help the people of Darnall, Tinsley and neighbouring areas stay well.

There they learnt that the allotment’s contribution to wellbeing extended beyond providing somewhere where people could improve their physical and mental health by working in the allotment, growing fruit and vegetables.

It is home to an art project which, among other things, helps people with dementia, it organises visits for schools and activities for children who were being home-schooled as a result of the pandemic and also runs courses ranging from hedge laying and composting to making table decorations for Christmas.

Church Action on Poverty Sheffield Pilgrimage leader David Price helps to prepare the ground at the Darnall Allotment Project for a Red Heart Apple tree to be planted, watched by the allotment's Sarah Emberson and allotment regular 'Cookie'.

The Pilgrims also heard about the work of Impact Living, an organisation that provides supported housing in Darnall for around 25 vulnerable young people who may have mental, physical or financial problems or learning difficulties.

In addition to providing housing, the organisation provides therapy and helps them overcome their problems, where possible, including help with budgeting and ensuring no one goes hungry while repaying their debts.

Impact Living also helps the young people to engage in the community, and recently launched a project with Sheffield United Football Club, which is helping them build their self-esteem and learn about healthy living while learning football skills.

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SPARK newsletter summer 2022

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On the road: recalling the time we took a bus all round Britain

Parkas, walking boots, and action for change: Sheffield’s urban poverty pilgrimage

Dreamers Who Do: North East event for Church Action on Poverty Sunday 2024

Church Action on Poverty's logo, beside a headshot of Stef Benstead

Autumn Statement: Stef & Church Action on Poverty’s response

Our local group in Sheffield invite you to join them for this event as part of Challenge Poverty Week:

Saturday 16 October 2021

Gather: 9:00am, Church of Christ in Darnall, Station Road, S9 4JT for a 9:30am start

Visit: Darnall Well Being, High Hazels Park and Allotments, Attercliffe and Darnall Mission, Galeed House, Darnall Family Centre.

End: Around 3:00pm

Length: 3 miles

Hear about local issues and responses to them as we walk and pray together:

  • The community work of the Church of Christ in Darnall.
  • Darnall Well Being’s drive to eliminate health inequalities and the Allotment Project’s contribution to community cohesion.
  • Attercliffe and Darnall Mission’s bid to engage with young people and families to build a Christian community from scratch.
  • Assistance provided for young, single, vulnerable, homeless people.
  • Galeed House’s drive to help people from different backgrounds and cultures build trust and friendship and learn new skills.

Practicalities

  • The 52 and 52a buses connect Darnall with the city centre, Walkley, Broomhill, Attercliffe and Handworth and some go as far as Worral, Loxley, Wisewood and Woodhouse. Closest bus stops to the Church of Christ are on Staniforth Road.
  • Some trains from Sheffield Station to Lincoln also stop at Darnall.
  • If coming by car, allow extra time for parking. Church of Christ’s car park has insufficient space for pilgrims and the public car park on Station Road is currently closed. Parking on single yellow lines on Station Road is banned and the nearby Prince of Wales Road Car Park has a three-hour limit. You may park on stretches of Darnall Road where parking is permitted on Single Yellow Lines on Saturdays or on side roads.
  • Please bring a mask, as some of the venues may require one to be worn, also wear suitable shoes and bring a waterproof, drinking water and a packed lunch.
  • Please follow stewards’ advice, particularly at road crossings.
  • Walkers take part at their own risk and anyone under 18 must walk with a responsible adult.
  • The event is not suitable for dogs as we enter premises.

Come and be open to be challenged and changed by what you see and hear

For more information or to register to attend, contact Briony Broome on briony.broome@hotmail.co.uk or 07801 532 954.

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Urban Poverty Pilgrimage: Towards a Theological Practice

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Parkas, walking boots, and action for change: Sheffield’s urban poverty pilgrimage

Dreamers Who Do: North East event for Church Action on Poverty Sunday 2024

Church Action on Poverty's logo, beside a headshot of Stef Benstead

Autumn Statement: Stef & Church Action on Poverty’s response

Stef Benstead looks back on her experiences as part of the first Manchester Poverty Truth Commission.

Read the Poverty Truth Commission's full report here

I was invited to join the Manchester Poverty Truth Commission by Niall Cooper, after he had met me a few times at various Christian conferences on poverty and related issues. It sounded like a great idea that addressed one of the challenges I regularly come up against in my work on disability and the social security system – that those with power don’t listen to those affected by their policies, and end up making bad policies due to wrong beliefs or assumptions about what the issues are and what are the causes, and therefore the solutions, of those issues.

It’s really important that people with lived experience of an issue are an equal part of the policy-making process. Many of the problems with Universal Credit are because the government didn’t listen to people in poverty and on benefits; problems with benefits for sick and disabled people would also have been avoided if sick and disabled people had been listened to.

But it’s also hard for people with lived experience to get involved. It’s not just a lack of time, lack of contacts or lack of knowledge about how to get our voices heard. It’s also that the bureaucratic barriers that have built up and the harm that flawed policies have caused have built a painful wall between policy-makers, such as the local council, and the people affected. When policy-makers do want to start listening and put into practice what they are told, it isn’t enough to simply say that they’re listening. First there needs to be a relationship between the two sides, so that those of us in poverty and with lived experience of the impacts of policy can be reassured that this time the listening is genuine and the outcomes will be real and positive.

This is what Poverty Truth Commissions achieve. The time taken to share personal stories revealed a common humanity which I at least wasn’t expecting. I thought there would be a middle class/poorer people divide. In fact what I heard was business and civic leaders who had grown up in poverty, brought up by single parents on council estates; and grass-roots commissioners who, like me, had grown up middle-class only to fall into poverty later. Commissioners on both sides had experienced recent bereavement or relationship breakdown. These stories of our lives levelled the playing field: we realised that where we had ended up wasn’t representative of who we are as people, and that was as true for the business and civic commissioners as for the grass-roots commissioners.

The biggest impact for me was when one of the business and civic leaders took an idea that I had put forward, which from her perspective was unaffordable and unworkable at that point, and came back a month later with a revamped idea that could be made to work. I’m still working on this idea now and hope it will eventually come to fruition.

The PTCs break down barriers between the people who usually make policy and those who usually merely receive it. It does this by creating relationship between the two sides, teaming us up in a common fight against poverty and inhumanity. It can be a transformational process with ripple effects that continue long after the commission itself has formally finished. All it needs is people willing to listen.


Stef Benstead is a trustee of Church Action on Poverty, a grassroots commissioner in Manchester Poverty Truth Commission, and the author of Second Class Citizens: The treatment of disabled people in austerity Britain.

Mary: tackling poverty via radio, art and a newfound resolve

Poems from the Iona Community 2022

SPARK newsletter summer 2023

Church Action on Poverty in Sheffield 2023 AGM

An introduction to Self-Reliant Groups for Churches

How the Pope’s words 10 years ago challenge & changed us

Budget 2023: Speaking Truth To Power reaction

Budget 2023: a precious chance to bridge the rich-poor divide

Books about poverty: some recommendations for World Book Day

Parkas, walking boots, and action for change: Sheffield’s urban poverty pilgrimage

Dreamers Who Do: North East event for Church Action on Poverty Sunday 2024

Church Action on Poverty's logo, beside a headshot of Stef Benstead

Autumn Statement: Stef & Church Action on Poverty’s response

Click on the right to download the autumn 2021 issue of SPARK, our newsletter for supporters of Church Action on Poverty.

Long read: How do we build dignity, agency & power together?

SPARK newsletter autumn 2021

Lent course for 2022: Life on the Breadline

Our partners at the 'Life on the Breadline' research programme have launched a Lent course for 2022.

The Life on the Breadline Lent course is now available to read, download, and share – ready for Lent 2022 or for use at other times of the year, for example in church home groups.

This Lent course has been developed from the three years of Life on the Breadline research as a result of engaging with Church leaders, Christians, and community groups across the UK.

The course has six sessions which can be followed individually or in a group. Each session follows the same format which is planned to take an hour – combining prayer, a short video, a Bible passage, guided reflections, discussion questions, and take-away actions:

  1. Christian responses to poverty
  2. ‘Love thy neighbour’ – poverty and inequality
  3. Race, ethnicity, austerity and faith
  4. Deficits and assets
  5. Housing (in)justice
  6. Poverty and structural inequality

Please do share the course with others in your churches and communities, and on social media with #BreadlineResearch

This blog first appeared on the ‘Life on the Breadline’ website.

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Parkas, walking boots, and action for change: Sheffield’s urban poverty pilgrimage

Dreamers Who Do: North East event for Church Action on Poverty Sunday 2024

Church Action on Poverty's logo, beside a headshot of Stef Benstead

Autumn Statement: Stef & Church Action on Poverty’s response

Making food, making friends

Church Action on Poverty is delighted to sell copies of Our Cookery Book, an inspirational cookbook compiled by members of the Self-Reliant Groups (SRGs) we support in the North West.

SRG members share favourite recipes, together with stories about what cooking and sharing the food has meant to them in their lives.

All proceeds support Self-Reliant Groups to continue their work.

Long read: How do we build dignity, agency & power together?

SPARK newsletter autumn 2021

Lent course for 2022: Life on the Breadline

At the beginning of October, the Government plans to cut Universal Credit by £20 a week, reducing the already precarious incomes of families across the UK. Church Action on Poverty and Christians Against Poverty invite church leaders to sign our joint open letter to the Prime Minister, standing together to highlight our concerns about the impact the cut would have on people in our churches and communities.

Dear Prime Minister,

We stand together as church leaders from across the UK to urge you to think again about cutting Universal Credit payments by £20 a week from the start of October.

If the Government persists with this cut, it would be the single biggest overnight reduction in the basic rate of social security since the welfare state was established in the 1940s. Millions of low-income households will be swept further into poverty as a result.

As Christians, we are compelled by the gospel imperative to prioritise the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable.

As church leaders, we must speak up, because of the impact this will have on our poorest neighbours and church members.

We urge the Government to choose to build a just and compassionate social security system that our whole society can have confidence in.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, poorer people in communities all over the country were suffering because the lifelines they needed from our social security system and vital neighbourhood services were not strong enough. Analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has shown that the cut will particularly hit the north of England, the West Midlands, Wales and Northern Ireland. Rather than levelling up the UK, this will compound existing inequalities.

The loss of £1,040 a year will be devastating for many families at a time when energy bills and other household costs are increasing. Instead we can make sure our social security system brings stability, and opens up options and opportunities for people whose income is too low or insecure to make ends meet.

The cut has already been opposed by community groups up and down the country, charities, six former Conservative Work and Pensions Secretaries, and many MPs from all parties. This is an opportunity for the Government to send a message that it listens, and recognises the pressure faced by those on the breadline.

Universal Credit has been a vital lifeline throughout the pandemic. For the sake of millions of families, it must be retained at its current level, and we therefore reiterate the calls for the planned £20 a week cut to be withdrawn.

If you are a church leader, please add your name by following the link below. If you are not a church leader yourself, please ask the leader(s) in your church to sign.

This is a joint initiative between Church Action on Poverty and the debt advice charity Christians Against Poverty.

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Our partner APLE is looking for new trustees

Nottingham’s first Your Local Pantry opens

SPARK newsletter autumn 2023

Urban Poverty Pilgrimage: Towards a Theological Practice

MPs praise the Pantry approach – but they must do so much more

Parkas, walking boots, and action for change: Sheffield’s urban poverty pilgrimage

Dreamers Who Do: North East event for Church Action on Poverty Sunday 2024

Church Action on Poverty's logo, beside a headshot of Stef Benstead

Autumn Statement: Stef & Church Action on Poverty’s response

Jayne and Shaun have worked with Church Action on Poverty on Poverty Truth Commissions, Self-Reliant Groups, and creative workshops. Watch their story below.

Find out more about the projects Jayne and Shaun have been part of below:

Dreamers Who Do: North East event for Church Action on Poverty Sunday 2024

Autumn Statement: Stef & Church Action on Poverty’s response

Act On Poverty – a Lent programme about tackling UK and global poverty

How 11 people spoke truth to power in Sussex

Parkas, walking boots, and action for change: Sheffield’s urban poverty pilgrimage

Dreamers Who Do: North East event for Church Action on Poverty Sunday 2024

Church Action on Poverty's logo, beside a headshot of Stef Benstead

Autumn Statement: Stef & Church Action on Poverty’s response