There's a 'something or other' Sunday every week of the year, it seems, and it's just not possible to re-work the calendar to include them all. We chose this Sunday to focus on Christian Stewardship and Giving, so there'll be little opportunity to do justice to Church Urban Fund Sunday this year. I'm resolving to do more next year, or to find a way in the coming months to raise the profile. (We did try a Church Urban Fund evening a few months ago and the response was disappointing).Church Urban Fund is celebrating 20 years of action in England's poorest communities. The Fund does great work helping churches make an impact in some of the most challenging places. It was set up by the Church of England in 1988 as an expression of its mission to serve the poorest within our society.
Key areas of its work involve partnering with other organisations to tackle the roots of poverty, advocating on behalf of faith communities and their work at the grassroots, the giving of grants, developing of research and the championing of causes related to poverty.
A prayer from the Church Urban Fund website:
Dear Lord
Help us to follow your example by looking out
for those who each day feel that they are marginalised,
who cannot find hope,
who believe that they have little to offer,
who are overcome by the challenges of poverty.
Help us to widen our horizons,
to make space for the stranger,
to watch out for those who feel invisible,
to give time to the outsider,
to talk to the person facing silence,
to restore justice and value.
Give us the courage to undertake this,
the determination to join with others in seeing grace
in every human face,
the faith to embrace the opportunity in your name.
Amen
