Crisis Centre Ministries is a Christian project working with homeless
people and those who used to be homeless - with the weak, the poor and the
vulnerable. In the words of our tag line, we are bringing God's grace
and healing love to people with life-disrupting problems. In other words,
to everyone.
What do we mean when we say we are a 'Christian project'? This may
sound like an obvious question, but there is a significant question of
theology and of strategy behind it.
More Than Motivation
Most Christian projects are run by people who are motivated by their
Christian faith. Sometimes they are happy for this motivation to be
public, as part of their Christian witness. Other times, they do not want
to talk about their Christian faith in the context of the project - often
because they do not want to alienate either the people who they are
helping or the people who fund the project. Sometimes they do not want to
talk about their faith because it is a question of principle for them: the
faith is a personal issue, the project work is public, and the two should
not be mixed up.
We do things a bit differently.
Like most other Christian projects, we are motivated by our faith. But
we believe that following Jesus means that we must allow our faith not
only to motivate our work, but to shape the way we do it.
What We Do
The details of what we do are somewhat varied. You can read about some
of the activities in our newsletter. It often involves providing food to
hungry people, building friendships with people who society has abandoned,
referring folk to various projects and services when they are ready to
access the help being offered, training, counselling, practical support,
and much more.
In other words, we seek to provide an authentic Christian ministry,
offering a holistic response to anyone who comes to us. At this level,
there are only a few points to note.
We believe that authentic Christian ministry is the best way to meet
the deepest needs of the people who come to us.
What we do is a public demonstration of the Gospel: if it works for
the most difficult and damaged people you can meet, it will work for
everyone.
The other side of the coin is that this work is necessary to
establish the truth of the Gospel: if it is truly a message for
everyone, then it must be relevant to and effective for the poor. If
it was only relevant to the good, the whole and the strong, then there
is a real possibility that I am not good, whole and strong enough to
qualify. If it is for the weak, the poor and the damaged, then I can be
confident it is for me too.
How We Do It
What does this mean in practice?
We work through relationships - genuine relationships. We accept
people as they are.
We work through volunteers - ordinary Christians, who have the
opportunity to serve Christ and see God working through them.
We work without power, criticism or conditions.
We work holistically, engaging with every aspect of peoples lives.
We work as a community, and as a team.
We work to empower people, not to make ourselves necessary.
We work, aware of our own failings and limitations, knowing that it
is our weaknesses and not our strengths that equip us to reach out to
needy people.
We work, knowing that we are unable to achieve what needs to be
done, but trusting that God will be present and will use what we offer
to Him.
We work, seeking to love and to do our best for the people we serve.
We work, seeking to learn and grow through our work, so that we can
love God and love our neighbour better today than yesterday.
And through our work, we train Christians in effective ministry,
which enables them to love and serve their family and their fellowship
through living out the life that Christ has placed within them.
Prayer Needs
If you would like to support us, please sign up to receive the
quarterly newsletter and the monthly email prayer letter. Visit the web
site and read the news and articles there.
The work is growing, which means we need more prayer, more volunteers,
more money and larger premises, so please pray for all these areas.
And we are increasingly being called on to provide assistance to the
statutory services: please pray that we continue to be effective, that
the relationships with other agencies will grow as God intends, and that
we have wisdon to know how and when to use the opportunities we get
through these growing relationships.