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Newsletter
December 2002
Bringing God's grace and healing love
to people with life-disrupting problems
For us at CCM, as for so many of our clients, there are no simple answers. As I write this, one lady has just sent us her thanks: "It seems that one minute you were praying for me, and the next I was in the rehab centre!" We know how much hard work (and how much frustration!) went into getting her that place, alongside the prayer. But getting a rehab place does not mean she will keep it, and staying to the end of the programme doesn't mean the step after that will be easy: the rehab is not an answer, just one more step towards rebuilding a life.
And last week, there was another individual who moved into a rehab, and maybe three or four more who were found accommodation - including one couple who have been told they can stay for several weeks in the place we found for them for one night, and they will then be found a more permanent place. More encouraging steps: answers to prayer and the fruit of hard work.
None of these steps is really an answer to the problems they face: solving one problem simply brings folk to the place where they can start to address another problem. Someone has a place to stay, but no cooker, fridge or bed. Another has a flat and furniture but doesn't know what to do about debts, or access to children, or how to cope with the court case coming up. A great deal of what we do is dealing with small details - small details that matter a lot to the people involved, minor victories that lead on to other possibilities, and reveal more details needing to be sorted out.
For those of us who spend time at CCM, either as volunteers or as staff, there are so many complex problems and so few simple answers. All the answers come as the result of prayer and hard work, and bring with them more challenges. More volunteers helping in the office means more diaries to co-ordinate as we juggle the desks and computers and find space for people to work, making the need for larger premises more urgent than ever.
Of course, this is nothing special - just real life. God does not offer us any simple answers. He does, of course, have answers to all our questions and problems, but His answers are rarely easy and seldom quick.
We are very fortunate at CCM, because we are not being judged according to our productivity in some area. Our success is not determined by the number of people we get into rehabs. Why does this matter? We rejoice when each new person is found a place in a rehab, but we only work to get someone a place if it is really what they want to do.
We don't say a lot about the number of people we help, and, probably, we ought to say more. To be honest, we are not very good at compiling the statistics. But one reason why we don't make a lot of noise about the number of people we manage to place in a rehab or detox unit or hostel, is that it really doesn't matter how many people we help in this way.
What matters is whether, for each individual, we provide appropriate, relevant help - when they are able to receive it and benefit from it, presented in an accessible way. Getting someone onto a programme before they are ready for it simply sets them up for yet another failure.
We are so grateful that we are able to put people first: to get to know them, and find out what they want, only trying to help when they want us to and in the way they want to be helped. And we are very grateful to you and all our supporters, who make it possible for us to follow this approach - which, in the long run, is really the most effective way to help people.
Paul Hazelden,
General Manager
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I don't know how you respond to the name of our coffee shop. For me, the term has immediate connections with the Celtic meaning - the Holy Spirit. Like many other people, I'm familiar with the dove symbolising the Holy Spirit and have not interpreted any symbolism of a goose in that way. It may be that you are familiar with Celtic terms and why the goose, specifically a wild goose, was chosen as a symbol for the Holy Spirit and if this is the case I would very much like to hear from you.
The Wild Goose suggests to me something which is alive, not easily confined, above the world with, perhaps, a clearer perspective, responsive to the elements (in our terms, responsive to God), not inappropriately restrained or tamed (part of our challenge is not to make assumptions about what is right for someone but to listen to God and to them, and also not to be conformed to the world but transformed - Rom 12:2).
Your understanding of the name and your response to it may be very different from mine, or there may be similarities. Whichever is the case, it would be really good to hear from you. We can then include your comments in a future Newsletter.
Jayne Griffiths is our Catering Co-ordinator. She is presently planning for the clients' Christmas Party on 23 December, and she writes:
"Hello everyone. It's me, Jayne, the Catering Co-ordinator of The Wild Goose. It's this time of year again, Christmas, and I'm hoping that I can ask everybody if they would be able to help me out with some food, presents etc. for the clients that we have in our shop. We want to give the clients a good Christmas, as most of them have no family.
The type of stuff which would be helpful is:
- Food - sweets, cakes, lemonade, biscuits
- Presents - socks, pants (for men and women), gloves, hats, scarves, sweets, chocolates.
If you want to wrap the presents, we would really like that - but if you do so, please make a clear note on the parcel of what is inside so that we can give it to the right person.
So, if you would like to help please contact me at the office telephone number (on the back of this Newsletter)."
Sam Colgan, as many of you will know, has been having a very difficult time recently. As well as being off work sick, there have been many changes in her life. She says:
"Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me. I have very recently been offered a flat to move into and am presently sorting out all the details of that. I have been wanting to move into a flat of my own for quite a long time and this particular flat is an answer to my prayer and the prayers of many other people. There are a lot of decisions for me to make now about the way forward and the timing of that so please keep praying."
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Andrew Luxford writes:-
"LITE Course Graduation - Thursday 24 October 2002. The 9th course I have led finished with 3 students, Drena, Jason and Paul, receiving their City of Bristol College certificates from Kathy Gilman, head of Learning Services. Anni Davey, Chair of the CCM Management presented LITE course Module 4 certificates to Drena and Jason. Members of the Management Council, staff, volunteers and others were there to encourage the students as they move on to the next stage in their career development.
Congratulations to them: Drena is going on to the Open Learning Centre to continue with a literacy course and possibly maths. Jason joined the LITE course halfway through and will come back on the next one to complete modules 1 and 2; he has applied to Cannington College to do a foundation course in Environmental Studies. Paul has gained employment as a security guard. The group has been easy to lead and a pleasure to work with. I wish them well for the future.
I particularly want to thank David, Jenny, Natalie, Pearl and Lyn, who helped me every week. In addition, thanks to Gill, Ann, Moira, Fiona, Maureen, Alan, Mark and Maggie, who came in to take specialist sessions. Also, Jayne and the volunteers in the Wild Goose, who provided our lunches.
Sadly, the funding issue for LITE continues. However we now have a gallant team of volunteers who are on the case and are working on fund raising for CCM."
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Thank you so much to those of you who have been praying for us regarding a more pro-active approach to raising funds and PR. We now have two volunteers - Linda and Carina - involved specifically with fund raising and this is being co-ordinated by Ann Banks, one of our Management Committee. A system is being put in place to keep necessary records and allow for follow-up and we hope to have been able to send out letters to appropriate trusts and organisations by the end of the year.
This is a very good first step in the area of PR and fund raising but we recognise that we still need someone who take on responsibility for heading up this whole aspect - so please keep praying.
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Our Trustees include representatives from various churches in the city, bringing with them different areas of expertise. They are Anni Davey (Chairman), Richard Hill (Company Secretary), Martin Horton (Treasurer), Ann Banks, David Jeanneret, Ann-Marie Holland, Graham Donald, Dave Wiles, Sue Hazelden and Andrew Robinson.
Some of these are new to their involvement with Crisis Centre Ministries, whilst others have been members of the Trustees for a number of years. Each one will be invited to introduce themselves to you in our Newsletters.
In case you were wondering - the Trustees are also the Council of Management and the Directors of the company.
Martin Horton writes:
I have now been the Treasurer of The Crisis Centre for some four years. I normally come into the offices each Friday to keep the books in order. The other four days of the week I do audit work for the Audit Commission.
I worked for almost twenty years for Wessex Water and, having at that time taken a sort of early retirement, I thought it was time for the Lord to be able to use my training and experience as a chartered accountant on a voluntary basis for a worthwhile Christian cause. Just at that time our chairman, Anni Davey (who attends the same church as me - St Mary's Stoke Bishop) let me know that The Crisis Centre was seeking a new treasurer. The rest, as they say, is history.
I have found the task rewarding and challenging, and nicely complementary to my other work for the Audit Commission. It is great to be part of a team that seeks to have such a positive affect on people's lives in an area of great need. At the same time, it is challenging balancing my training and background of prudence and care in financial situations with the need to let God work in what is, after all, a faith ministry. So far, I think, with prayer, this balance has just about been maintained!
David Jeanneret says:
I'm David Jeanneret, one of the newer members of the Trustees. At the beginning of this year I was working for a computer consultancy providing IT consultancy and training services to the business community. Since January I have moved from working in business to working with The Crisis Centre and a number of other agencies that are providing for people with less privilege in life. Currently I am working as an IT Tutor for young people in Bristol and with children that have been excluded from school.
I am encouraged to be able to work with the Crisis Centre and fulfil some of my life vision: to bring God's kingdom into evidence now.
In my spare time I enjoy reading and studying applied theology and work with a training course called "Workshop" (www.workshop.org.uk). I also play my saxophone in a tremendously lively band called GoldFunk.
If you want to know more about GoldFunk, or book the band, David can be contacted at the CCM office - details on the back of this Newsletter.
Dave Wiles was co-opted onto the Trustees some months ago, and officially became a member at this year's AGM. He gives us a glimpse of who he is:
I am Donna's husband and have three wonderful children who tolerate my ageing sense of humour remarkably well! I like reading, travel, sleeping, walking (when my leg is not broken!) and real ale - not necessarily in that order!
When young people occasionally suggest that I "get a life" I usually reply that I am living 3 already! I am the Chief Executive Officer of Frontier Youth Trust. I have 27 years of experience in youth and community work and believe that this is my 'street cred' - rather than the fancy MPhil I recently obtained at Bath University! I worked for the Children Society for 21 years in a wide range of roles and contexts having come into youth and community work, following a turbulent adolescence, as an apprentice to Bob Holman - who now lives and works in Easterhouse, Glasgow. My current mentor is Homer Simpson… Doh!… Just joking! I think youth and community work is great 'helper therapy' on the basis that I am still working out what happened to me in the 60's and 70's!
I spend a lot of time speaking at a wide range of Christian gatherings (e.g. Crisis Centre Ministries AGM's, Spring Harvest, Greenbelt etc). I have worked out that 50% of my speaking engagements are focused on trying to get people in the world to join the church and the other 50% are used on trying to get the church to join the world! A favourite 'hobby horse' is 'participation and inclusion' and I believe that there is a new call for participation: genuine involvement of people at the grassroots level, where they may begin to shape their own destiny. However, I also acknowledge that many institutions, like the church, will find the call for authentic inclusion extremely challenging and am only too willing to help them try!
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From time to time in this Newsletter, we are inviting your comments. We really do like hearing from you so please get in touch.
Among all the other things we have mentioned, we would appreciate your views on the Newsletter - layout, format, articles and anything else. As well as informing our present supporters, we are thinking of developing the Newsletter so that it is one means, among others, by which we can also communicate with people who are not familiar with us and the work we do.
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Now is the time to put these important dates into your new diaries! Even if you cannot make these events, please write them down and pray for us. Thank you.
The trustees meet on the second Monday evening of every other month, starting in January: please pray that they will have wisdom and understand God's will and timing for our work.
We also get together on the third Monday evening of each month, alternating between a Volunteers' meeting (January and March) and a Prayer Meeting (February and April), which is open to anyone who wants to pray for us and the other groups such as Aspire who are working to help our clients.
The Volunteer Training continues on the second Saturday morning of each month. If you don't know about this, please ask - you don't have to be working as a volunteer to benefit from these sessions.
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Part of the work of Crisis Centre Ministries, and in particular part of Paul Hazelden's role, relates to the bigger picture in the city and the role the ministry plays in that connection. One aspect of this is Bristol Christian Action Network, a network of churches and Christian groups across the city which are involved in Christian social action. As a result of Paul's involvement, a Homeless Forum has been set up, and this comprises people, groups and organisations (the majority of these are Christian - but not all) specifically working with the homeless in Bristol. We invited Medina Johnson, Manager of Caring at Christmas in Bristol to write about this from her perspective:
BCAN and the Homeless Forum
Last year I was invited along to the first meeting of the BCAN Homeless Forum. It was clear at our first meeting that further regular meetings would be helpful to all attendees and we now meet every two months at City Road Baptist Church in St Pauls. Over the past months we have discussed a range of issues including health and safety, codes of practice when working with homeless people, how to recruit and train volunteers and how best to communicate our work to the general public.
A number of speakers have also attended our meetings to share information about their work and answer our questions. We have had presentations from Bristol City Council's Neighbourhood and Housing Services Department, the Contact, Assessment and Tenancy Sustainment Manager and most recently the Co-ordinator of Nightstop, a project working with homeless young people.
I find the meetings a welcome change from some other meetings I attend that can be so full of jargon and policy debate that I feel more confused when I come out than when I went in. The Homeless Forum is a comfortable, supportive environment where discussion and questions are encouraged. It is an interesting mix of volunteers and paid staff. We seek practical solutions to further our work with homeless people and better serve their needs.
Medina can be contacted on 0117 924 4444.
One of our volunteers, Rosemary, has been specifically linked with Caring at Christmas in the production of a very useful resource for clients: Survival Handbook for homeless people in Bristol.
We do believe that establishing relationship between the various organisations offering resources to our client group is in the best interests of our clients and the service we jointly provide in the city. Further information on BCAN and the Survival Handbook can be obtained from CCM office, contact details on the back of this Newsletter.
Our developing relationship with churches around the city is another aspect of networking, and one which also puts substance to the original vision - that the work we are doing in St Pauls would not be something separate but would reflect and demonstrate something of unity of the churches in the city. Elim@bristol city church is one of the churches with which we work fairly closely and we have invited them to contribute to our Newsletter. Watch out for articles from other churches in future Newsletters.
Partners in the Community
At elim@bristol city church we've been proactively seeking to create partnerships around the city. Partnering with the Crisis Centre has been one such strategic relationship we've made.
The Crisis Centre are doing a great service ministering to the disadvantaged and homeless and we, as a city centre church, needed a practical and responsible means of helping feed the hungry in Bristol. Rather than reinvent the wheel we've worked together to develop our own elim@bristol luncheon vouchers. The idea is that people from our congregation can purchase the vouchers for their own distribution. However, the more popular way has been in giving the vouchers away direct to clients upon request at our church reception during the week. Since starting the scheme in May we've given away 500 vouchers, and seen to date 282 redeemed.
The opportunity to partner with The Crisis Centre to help communicate the value and care God has for the broken and hungry has been wonderful! It is so exciting, because God is so pleased when we, as his children, work together!
Pippa Chappell, Community Care Co-ordinator on behalf of e@b's leadership team.
It is such a privilege to be partnering with elim@bristol city church. As well as the Luncheon Voucher Scheme, Elim contact with us involves prayer, supporting our clients who also go to that church, and shared vision regarding the inner city. We pray that God will continue to build that church and cause it to be a beacon of God's truth in the city.
If you are interested in exploring how your church can become more involved in the inner city, link in with what is already happening, or become particularly involved with Crisis Centre Ministries, we would like to hear from you with a view to trying to provide an opportunity for discussion.
[Back...]
Having never attended an Annual General Meeting before, and only ever hearing people complain about how dull they are, I was a little dubious when I read CCM's invitation to their AGM and their description of the event as an 'Annual Celebration'. I was, however, pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the evening (really!). The business side of the meting was conveyed in an interesting and informative manner, the guest speaker - Dave Wiles - was brilliant and it was great also having a time of worship. And, to top it all off, there was lots of nice food at the end.
So, a big thank you to the CCM staff for all their hard work and, indeed, for making the AGM a time of celebration.
Natalie
[Back...]
This year's AGM was held at Etloe Evangelical Church, Redland. The church very graciously allowed us the use of their premises free of charge. Sabian Catering, Newfoundland Road supplied a really good selection of food and, again, made no charge. Our thanks to both Etloe and Sabian for supporting the ministry in this way. The theme was Transformation and the scene was set through displays of our work showing how transformation is taking place in the lives of our clients and the issues which affect them.
Sometimes it's the business aspects of an AGM which can seem a bit like hard slog, but these were led by our Chairman, Anni Davey, in such a way that they were interesting and lively topics. Management Members were introduced, the financial position explained (copies of our Annual Report are available on request), with questions, comments and suggestions from those present, staff made their reports and Paul Hazelden mentioned the good things happening in the ministry, and the potential for growth which is likely to involve the appointment of more paid staff. He talked of the present frustration of identifying important issues but not being in a position to become involved in these because all the staff are already fully stretched. Among these issues are two particular aspects which he mentioned - our need for a new building and fund raising. With these aspects, he suggested the possibility of volunteers being involved and since that time a small group of people have volunteered to concentrate on fund raising. As yet, we do not have people who are able to give time to pursuing the possibility of another building. If you want to find out more about either of these aspects, or volunteering generally with CCM, please contact the office.
Our speaker was Dave Wiles, one of our Trustees, and he followed the theme of transformation - talking about personal transformation (in our own lives) and accompanying people in transformation (our clients)
We aimed to present an interesting and informative Annual General Meeting which provided opportunity to celebrate what God has been doing through The Crisis Centre and, from the feedback we have received, we succeeded in doing this.
Trudie Lane
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It may be that you are looking for ways to respond to the needs of people in the inner city and we would like to offer a few suggestions:
- Use our Meal Voucher Scheme. You can buy a book of five meal vouchers from us for £5, and then hand out individual vouchers to people begging on the street. We think this is a positive response to the situation and, as well as giving the opportunity for the person to get a good meal, the voucher also invites them into The Wild Goose and we are able to build relationship with them and offer support. If you don't often come into the city centre, you may want to pay for vouchers which we can use for outreach.
- Pray for Crisis Centre Ministries and other organisations involved in the inner city. We hold prayer meetings every other month which you would be very welcome to join, and we can provide you with a monthly prayer sheet if you feel that would help you pray.
- Support us financially. If you are a tax payer, Gift Aiding donations has the added benefit of enabling us to claim back tax. Supporting us regularly by standing order is tremendously helpful to us in maintaining the work and planning for the future.
- Volunteering with us - in any part of the ministry.
Baking, cooking, providing food items is a very practical way to support us - but you may like to know that we are presently inundated with pasta, tea and baked beans. What we can use is coffee, tinned meat, sugar, biscuits, cakes, home-made meals such as bolognaise sauce, casserole, meat pies etc (anything which could be frozen).
Please contact the office for further information
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