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A report from our 30 April online discussions on what it means to be church on the margins during the pandemic.

Reflection by Stef Benstead

What groups of people are on the margins? [people who lack the resources to change their situation]

  • People with disabilities (currently difficult to access care)
  • Travellers
  • Migrants
  • People suffering domestic abuse
  • Children experiencing abuse
  • People in care centres (cut off from society)
  • People in food poverty
  • LGBT+
  • Homeless (new homeless in London – hospitality workers)
  • Single parents
  • People who are isolated/alone
  • People with no access to technology
  • Trans people
  • People who have had difficult experiences of church
  • People who are ‘othered’ – people who are talked about, not to.
  • Black and minority ethnic people (disproportionately affected by the virus)
  • Women
  • Digital exclusion
  • Addicts
  • Prisoners/ex-offenders
  • Destitute asylum seekers
  • Sex workers (especially in current crisis)
  • Individuals and families on zero-hours contracts, on the breadline

What causes marginalisation?

  • Social and economic systems exclude people, e.g. education. … the structures of our society create margins.
  • We need to aware that people may be labelled as marginalised and don’t want to be labelled as such.
  • The church has gone online but disabled communities have been ‘doing and being’ church online for years, having been excluded from ‘mainstream’ church.
  • How does the church marginalise? Is the church at the centre?
  • We can learn from the methods of the Poverty Truth Commission. Church leaders can learn from a PTC – hear the experiences of people in poverty.
  • Maybe the church needs a (Poverty) Truth Commission – the meeting of leaders and church members to share experiences and talk honestly about church. An opportunity for people to be heard.
  • The church is not marginalised. …. The priest is ‘in charge’.
  • For some the economic gap has drastically narrowed. People have suddenly found themselves in difficult situations.
  • Some people are unwilling to engage with technology and so are cut off from online activity and community.
  • Some people have to comply with systems to get what they need (e.g. PIP), others (richer and powerful) do not have to comply.
  • Jesus crossed borders, challenged what was socially acceptable. 

How could you move to live, work, be alongside people on the margins?

  • ‘We need to go to people on the margins, not wait for them to come to us.’
  • We need to adopt relational approaches, befriend people where they are (not expect them to come to church).
  • Meet in informal settings, e.g. pubs and cafes.
  • Meet online, where many marginalised communities already gather.
  • Listen to people who are angry and hurt.
  • Admitting our mistakes when we get it wrong (as a church).
  • Connecting with LGBT+.
  • Bring people together for a shared meal (e.g. people from low-income and more affluent communities).
  • Some (Anglican) churches are struggling with ‘resources churches’ taking over in their local area, lots of funding allocated to resource churches.
  • Work with local people who have good local knowledge and skills (e.g. Sikh shopkeeper who knows the neighbourhood very well, helping with food provision).
  • Some church leaders/hierarchy are currently advising clergy not to deliver food, etc. other people in the community are just getting on with it.
Research and Information Officer

SPARK newsletter winter 2021–22

6 ways we can build dignity, agency & power amid the cost of living crisis

Hope story: tenacity and change in Salford

12 stories of hope for 2022 – and immediate actions you can take

How Thrive took control of the agenda in 2021

Annual review 2020–21

2021 conference: watch the recordings

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

What happened when Manchester sat down to talk about poverty…

A group of 12 people, in two rows, outside a log cabin

Addressing poverty with lived experience: the APLE Collective

Fair fares in the North East, thanks to students!

Mary Passeri stands smiling in front of some of her paintings

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

A report from our 16 April online discussions on what it means to be church on the margins during the pandemic.

Reflection by Urzula Glienecke

What are the things we can learn from the lockdown situation?

  • We don’t need our church buildings, we can be more creative, meet in different places.
  • Democratised worship, not hierarchical
  • Relational church
  • We are currently dependent on zoom, the church is dislocated from the neighbourhood
  • The violence of capitalism denies what it is to be human – huge divides between rich and poor, white privilege (be cautious about heroic words that come from out privilege)
  • The virus has exposed how bad the situation was before
  • People with disabilities and others were already experiencing social isolation
  • Having to identify people in need of help (not already known/in contact)
  • The presence of the church/delivering food shows presence and love
  • Our economy was not working for all – how can this be addressed post covid?
  • Universal income
  • If we were consultants to the Bishop – what would we be saying?
  • Need a clear strategy, not multiple campaigns, not duplicating work
  • We are currently very reliant on food banks
  • Kairos moment – crisis and opportunity at same time
  • This has forced us to do things differently, we can imagine something different but we have to make it happen
  • Action comes out of prophetic imagination
  • Kindness makes a huge difference
  • Value placed on people’s lives, vulnerable and people with disabilities asked to sign DNRs.
  • We can learn from countries that are doing things well, e.g. New Zealand, Finland
  • Food security is closely tied to legal (and illegal) immigrant workers. We need to value them.

What would be the one thing which you would improve/change in your local community after the lockdown?

  • Work for Universal basic income
  • Work for the church to be more integrated in the community/build relationships
  • Storefront churches turning into missional housing, Christians living intentionally on the block, pushing back against gentrification
  • Challenge institutional church re. finances, where, what, how it spends its money
  • Digital provision and training for people currently excluded
  • Economic activity with ecological focus
  • Inspiration from people involved in prophetic action (Romero, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, Sojourner Truth)
  • People’s own relationship to (and awareness of) their own power
  • People designing their own communities/structures (eg older people and people in poverty)
  • The churches are ‘closed’, but still ongoing. We are the church.
  • We need to change our attitudes towards immigrants (many of our key workers, nurses, delivery drivers, food harvesters).
  • The church needs to become ‘the voice of the national consciousness’ (reflecting voices of change, equality, fairness).
Research and Information Officer

Speaking Truth to Power in Pantries

Catholic Social Teaching and human dignity

How to unlock poverty for families like Carlie’s

3 ways church leaders can truly transform poverty discussions

SPARK newsletter autumn 2022

A new partnership to support communities

A group of 12 people, in two rows, outside a log cabin

Addressing poverty with lived experience: the APLE Collective

Fair fares in the North East, thanks to students!

Mary Passeri stands smiling in front of some of her paintings

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

A report from our 23 April online discussions on what it means to be church on the margins during the pandemic.

Who is my neighbour – a walkable parish
(reflection by Chris Lawrence in New York)

How are people staying connected/helping (low-tech)?              

  • Notes through doors, phone calls, WhatsApp groups where possible.
  • Church leaflets/services/prayers through letterboxes
  • URC church sending out letters (?)
  • Toy, book and food boxes on streets
  • Communities that had existing networks are managing to keep in touch with people, communities/churches that did not have contact details for people are struggling to reach people.
  • Making masks and scrubs
  • Pastoral ministry from home
  • Safe contact, e.g. distanced conversations
  • Shopping for people
  • Street art, banners, chalk on pavements

Isolation – trigger for mental health problems

What will you do differently after this?

  • Street party
  • Affordable rent
  • Eat and pray together (rule of life)
  • Make the church a community hub
  • Do church differently
  • The church building does not matter, we need to be engaged in the community / change how we do church. … Being with people, being present where people are, was how Jesus worked.
  • Responding to priorities will, in turn, re-shape the church.
  • Were our ways of doing church before completely wrong?
  • We need to do church differently, and plan for this now.
  • Economics – the situation is going to be difficult after this.
  • Racial justice – BME more affected by COVID 19
  • Grassmarket church – developing friendship pantry.
  • Would communities notice if the church left? Are churches integrated into communities?
  • Will fractured communities be more whole after this?
Research and Information Officer

Speaking Truth to Power in Pantries

Catholic Social Teaching and human dignity

How to unlock poverty for families like Carlie’s

3 ways church leaders can truly transform poverty discussions

SPARK newsletter autumn 2022

A new partnership to support communities

A group of 12 people, in two rows, outside a log cabin

Addressing poverty with lived experience: the APLE Collective

Fair fares in the North East, thanks to students!

Mary Passeri stands smiling in front of some of her paintings

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

These reflections on what it means to be a church on the margins were shared to open our weekly online discussions.

Being a Church on the Margins in a time of Coronavirus (2 April 2020)

Carmel Murphy Elliott, Urban Life, Manchester (with an introduction to the series from Niall Cooper)

Suffering and Solidarity (9 April, Maundy Thursday)

Deirdre Brower Latz, Nazarene Theological College, Manchester

Prophetic Imagination (16 April 2020)

Urzula Glienecke, Greyfriars, Edinburgh

Who is my neighbour? The walkable parish (23 April 2020)

Chris Lawrence, InnerCHANGE, East Harlem, New York City

Where are the margins? (30 April 2020)

Stef Benstead, Manchester

Listen up to level up: why we must rebuild together

Growing crops & community amid the pandemic

“All it needs is people willing to listen”

1,000+ church leaders say: Don’t cut Universal Credit

SPARK newsletter autumn 2021

Lent course for 2022: Life on the Breadline

Our Cookery Book

Keep the Lifeline – sign our open letter to the Prime Minister

Seeking food justice in York

Jayne and Shaun’s story: creativity, self-reliance and truth

A group of 12 people, in two rows, outside a log cabin

Addressing poverty with lived experience: the APLE Collective

Fair fares in the North East, thanks to students!

Mary Passeri stands smiling in front of some of her paintings

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

Our Empowerment Programme Officer Ben Pearson wrote this poem as part of one of our weekly creative workshops.

Yellow sticker you label me,
Poor.
Late night,
Hungry.
I search aisles,
For the battered, bruised, left behind.
Trolleys overflowing,
They look at me.
Battered, bruised, left behind,
They label me.


During the pandemic, Matt Sowerby is Church Action on Poverty’s poet in digital residence. He is running weekly online workshops to help our partners and supporters respond creatively to the virus and lockdown.

Food Power Empowerment Programme Officer

Speaking Truth to Power in Pantries

Catholic Social Teaching and human dignity

How to unlock poverty for families like Carlie’s

3 ways church leaders can truly transform poverty discussions

SPARK newsletter autumn 2022

A new partnership to support communities

A group of 12 people, in two rows, outside a log cabin

Addressing poverty with lived experience: the APLE Collective

Fair fares in the North East, thanks to students!

Mary Passeri stands smiling in front of some of her paintings

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

Our Empowerment Programme Officer Ben Pearson wrote this poem as part of a workshop run by Church Action on Poverty's poet in digital residence Matt Sowerby.

Universal credit,
You prepare me for work.
You motivate me,
Mend me.
You are,
Not a joke.

Universal credit,
You joke with me.
You mock me,
Break me.
You are,
Laughing at me.


During the pandemic, Matt Sowerby is Church Action on Poverty’s poet in digital residence. He is helping our partners and supporters to respond creatively to the virus and lockdown, with weekly online workshops.

Food Power Empowerment Programme Officer

Speaking Truth to Power in Pantries

Catholic Social Teaching and human dignity

How to unlock poverty for families like Carlie’s

3 ways church leaders can truly transform poverty discussions

SPARK newsletter autumn 2022

A new partnership to support communities

A group of 12 people, in two rows, outside a log cabin

Addressing poverty with lived experience: the APLE Collective

Fair fares in the North East, thanks to students!

Mary Passeri stands smiling in front of some of her paintings

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

Church Action on Poverty supporter Liz Delafield wrote this poem as part of one of our weekly poetry workshops.

Nobody saw it coming
It changed everything.
All those things that seemed important yesterday,
Ofsted, SATs, spreadsheets of
data, observations,
suddenly wasn’t.
We began to realise what was.
People,
keeping safe,
being happy,
little things like soap.

May we always remember
how it felt,
when the unimportant
important things came
crashing down.
Yet with them important
important things.

Like…
A child’s hand held in safety,
Laughter of a game played
together with friends.
A trip to the zoo,
Lining up for school dinners,
Story time and reading books (in
real life, not online),
Walking with you and helping
you grow,
Saying goodbye with hugs and
handshakes.

And when we emerge once
again,
Instead of going back to normal,
May we go ahead, remembering
what we missed, and what we
didn’t.

During the coronavirus pandemic, our poet in digital residence Matt Sowerby is running weekly online workshops to help our partners and supporters respond creatively to the impact of the virus and lockdown.

Speaking Truth to Power in Pantries

Catholic Social Teaching and human dignity

How to unlock poverty for families like Carlie’s

3 ways church leaders can truly transform poverty discussions

SPARK newsletter autumn 2022

A new partnership to support communities

A group of 12 people, in two rows, outside a log cabin

Addressing poverty with lived experience: the APLE Collective

Fair fares in the North East, thanks to students!

Mary Passeri stands smiling in front of some of her paintings

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

Matt Sowerby shared this poem in one of his workshops as Church Action on Poverty's poet in digital residence.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Matt is running weekly online workshops to help our partners and supporters respond creatively to the impact of the virus and lockdown.

Speaking Truth to Power in Pantries

Catholic Social Teaching and human dignity

How to unlock poverty for families like Carlie’s

3 ways church leaders can truly transform poverty discussions

SPARK newsletter autumn 2022

A new partnership to support communities

A group of 12 people, in two rows, outside a log cabin

Addressing poverty with lived experience: the APLE Collective

Fair fares in the North East, thanks to students!

Mary Passeri stands smiling in front of some of her paintings

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

Matt Sowerby shared this poem in one of his workshops as our poet in digital residence.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Matt is running weekly online workshops to help our partners and supporters respond creatively to the impact of the virus and lockdown.

“We can make a change. That’s why we’re here.”

How YOUR church can build community & save people £21 a week

Annual review 2021-22

A group of 12 people, in two rows, outside a log cabin

Addressing poverty with lived experience: the APLE Collective

Fair fares in the North East, thanks to students!

Mary Passeri stands smiling in front of some of her paintings

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

Matt Sowerby, Church Action on Poverty's poet in digital residence , has gathered people's own poems about poverty and the pandemic.

Here’s Matt performing ‘Breadlines’, the poem he wrote for our End Hunger campaign.

Through lockdown, Matt helped Church Action on Poverty’s partners and supporters to respond creatively to the impact of the virus and lockdown, with weekly workshops and inspirational online performances.

We have now compiled Same Boat?, an anthology of the poems people wrote during the workshops. 

It will be published on 15 October 2020. Click the links below to find out more.

“We can make a change. That’s why we’re here.”

How YOUR church can build community & save people £21 a week

Annual review 2021-22

Find out more

Read about it

Learn more about the anthology
Find out more

Read poems

Read poems

See a selection of the poems from the anthology
Read poems
A group of 12 people, in two rows, outside a log cabin

Addressing poverty with lived experience: the APLE Collective

Fair fares in the North East, thanks to students!

Mary Passeri stands smiling in front of some of her paintings

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