{"id":571,"date":"2015-04-08T16:17:01","date_gmt":"2015-04-08T16:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christ-church-selly-park.org.uk\/blog\/?p=571"},"modified":"2015-04-23T15:00:20","modified_gmt":"2015-04-23T15:00:20","slug":"launching-our-cap-debt-advice-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christ-church-selly-park.org.uk\/blog\/launching-our-cap-debt-advice-centre\/","title":{"rendered":"Launching our CAP Debt Advice Centre"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Centre<\/div>\n
\n

Six local churches have joined together with award-winning national charity Christians Against Poverty<\/strong> to offer advice and support to people in South Birmingham who are struggling with unmanageable debt. Our Debt Advice Centre launched in April 2015. Centre Manager Judy Ward<\/strong> is building a team of volunteer helpers from each of the partner churches.\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

My story: Judy Ward<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\"Debt

Debt Advice Centre Manager Judy Ward<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

“God has given me a heart for people in debt and I have supported the process of our group of churches working together to open a CAP Debt Advice Centre ever since it started. It just never crossed my mind that I would be the right person to run it!”<\/p>\n

“I had been working for Birmingham Adult Education Service for 21 years and was thinking about a change but wasn’t sure about the way forward. When the post of CAP Centre Manager was advertised I thought that I had some of the qualities needed. The friends I spoke to were very encouraging and so I decided to apply. I really wanted to be free to share God’s love with people, and to support and care for them during a really hard time.”<\/p>\n

“I first came to a genuine faith in Christ as a student and grew a lot at first. More recently I found myself in something of a wilderness until I came to a Good Friday service 6 years ago. I was overcome by God’s presence and am still learning to recognise and receive God’s love.”\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"Christians<\/div>\n
\n

About CAP<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

Christians Against Poverty<\/b><\/a> is an award winning charity dedicated to lifting people out of debt and poverty through free debt counselling, job clubs and money education.<\/p>\n

We learned a lot more about CAP and the hope that it offers when Regional Manager David Parkinson<\/strong> visited Christ Church. You can hear what he said via our sermons page<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

By working with CAP we can bring hope and a solution to anyone suffering from the impact of debt. We help anyone regardless of their faith, beliefs or background and whatever the level of debt they are trying to manage.<\/p>\n

“This Centre is an opportunity to show God’s love to the community in ways that people can see and experience. It belongs to all six churches and I want this to be an adventure for us all”<\/div>\n

Serving together<\/h2>\n

Christ Church is working alongside five other churches to run the Debt Advice Centre. All are equal partners in the project and members of each church are encouraged to support it.<\/p>\n