Prime Minister pays tribute to Hope08

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and national church leaders have joined in honouring the Hope08 movement in a meeting with local Hope08 volunteers and board members at 10 Downing Street this week.

Mr Brown paid tribute to the efforts of thousands of Christians who have reached out to their local community throughout 2008 in a bid to restore hope and demonstrate the Gospel.

“People of faith have been at the heart of just about every social movement that has transformed society in this country, from the abolition of slavery through to Make Poverty History. I applaud all those involved in Hope08," said Mr Brown.

Stephen Timms MP, the Vice President of Faith in the Labour Party, said there was "no doubt that Hope08 has succeeded in offering hope to people".

He went on to say that this hope was "not the wishy washy maybe everything will get better kind of hope but the roll up your sleeves and actually do something about it kind of hope".

Steve Clifford, Hope08 chairman, describes the event as "absolutely fantastic – I had no idea that Hope08 would have such a high profile as it did".

All the Hope08 community activists invited to the reception are part of Hope08 projects that are carrying on into 2009. During the reception they were given the opportunity to tell meet their local MP and share their plans for next year.

Caroline Williams from St Albans has put in many hours of kindness through social action projects, one of which offers free water to people outside the local nightclub.

She said, "There’s an awful lot going on into 2009, people can really see Christians in their community."