Faithworks Awards Ceremony Celebrates Contribution of Christians

The Faithworks Awards Ceremony 2006 has honoured the work and service of Christians who are making a real difference to local communities across Britain through their outstanding Christian faith-motivated projects.

The evening was hosted by the Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, who congratulated the 18 short-listed projects which had been narrowed down with great difficulty by a panel of assessors from 263 applicants.

"Churches are at the cutting edge of policy and action," said Mr Timms, adding that it was a "very welcoming development".

"We are seeing a new social movement coming from the churches...clearly one of the most heartening developments of our time," he said.

Faithworks presented Robina Rafferty MBE, the recently retired Chief Executive of Housing Justice, with its Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her outstanding commitment to the cause of homelessness and housing for all.

Particularly close to Rafferty's heart is her strong desire to see the churches work more closely together to end homelessness in Britain.

She shared her thoughts on winning the award with Christian Today: "I feel very humbled. When you win something like that you never feel worthy. I am very happy to accept it as much on behalf of Housing Justice as to myself personally.

"And I think it is a wonderful sign of the way in which the churches are now working together more closely."

Rev Steve Chalke, founder of Faithworks, summed up the motivation behind Faithworks and each of the projects at the Awards Ceremony last night: "We are inspired by Christ, who he is, but also those who model him so well."

Other such award winners included: Barnabas Workshops, South Ilford in Essex, winner of the Congregational Award for Excellence; Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team, Eastbourne, winner of the Spring Harvest Award for Developing Projects; Open Door, Tyneside, winner of the Spring Harvest Award for New Projects.

The Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team talks would-be jumpers down from the cliff and offers after care services including counselling, debt advice and a safe house. The team members perform nightly patrols 365 days a year and are on call to the Sussex Police force 24 hours a day. Since they began in 2004 the suicide rate has dramatically decreased.

Team leader Ross Hardy said in an emotional acceptance speech that it was a "great honour" to "actually see Christ touching people who were just moments earlier going to end their lives".

Bernadette Benn of the Barnabas Workshops, an initiative which equips individuals with skills, knowledge and confidence to gain success in the job market, said that receiving the award was a "turning point".

"It has given us the impetus to continue to push forward," she said, adding that as a faith-based project it had been a constant battle to gain funding.

Benn said she would like to see more initiatives like the Faithworks Awards Ceremony to acknowledge the real contribution that faith-based projects are making to communities up and down the country.

"People should not be afraid to recognise their faith. And I think within Christianity at the moment we are not encouraged to and in some areas feel afraid to."

The head of Faithworks, the Rev Malcolm Duncan, praised the many more Christian community projects which did not make the shortlist but which are still making great contributions to their communities in the name of Christ.

"Christians are engaging in community transformation and are making a difference," he said. "Their faith is their engine; their faith is their passion that leads to commitment that leads to change."

Rev Duncan said that the challenge now was to help government understand that "faith works".