Churches urged to support people in financial difficulty

|PIC1|More than half of UK adults feel ill-equipped to handle their finances, new research commissioned by Christians Against Poverty has revealed.

The YouGov poll of more than 2,000 adults also revealed that younger generations are the least prepared to cope with the effect of the credit crunch.

Women, meanwhile, are more likely to feel they have not been properly prepared to handle their finances. In the survey, 58 per cent said they felt they had not received adequate financial education, compared to just 47 per cent of men.

CAP, which has 95 debt counselling centres, is calling on churches across the UK to open their doors to people feeling under pressure from the present crisis by becoming CAP ‘Money Coaches’ and training to run its free money management course, CAP Money.

Matt Barlow, CAP’s UK Chief Executive, said: “The results of our research send out a clear message to churches across the UK: people in your local communities are struggling with their finances and desperately need your help. There has never been a more important time for churches to engage with the issue of debt and poverty on their doorstep.”

After a successful first year, CAP Money will be launched in the coming months in Manchester, Bristol, Bradford and Bracknell in a bid to train at least 1,000 new Money Coaches “to start to tackle the ‘Goliath’ issue of personal debt”.

“Our CAP Money course is free for anyone in the local community to attend and has a proven track record of attracting un-churched people, in need of extra help and support to manage their finances,” said Mr Barlow.

“In CAP Money we have an effective tool for churches to reach out to residents with a practical demonstration of Jesus’ love. Please do not miss the opportunity to help those in your local community who are simply crying out for help.”

CAP's debt counselling centres are run in partnership with churches and have been know to bring people to Christ.

"We’ve just run our first CAP Money course and we are now planning three or four more. The course had a fantastic response and we are looking forward to using it as an evangelistic tool because of the huge impact it makes in people’s lives," said Alan Meyer, Senior Minister, Elim Community Church Carlisle.

CAP is planning to hold a ‘cash only day’, when it will be encouraging people to ditch the plastic in favour of cash.


On the web: www.capmoney.org