Engaging the wider church and society
Whilst there is a great deal of talk about 'the problem of poverty' the real problem is one of wealth and our inability to share justly. In this area of work, the Priority Areas Committee supports a range of initiatives which help people struggling against poverty to be heard and organise themselves. It also encourages the sharing of knowledge and resources between wealthy and poor parishes.
A Passage From India
Passage from India organises and brings women together in Self-Reliant Groups (SRGs); trusting and enabling them to become leaders and enterprising agents of social and economic change in their local communities.
Anti Poverty Networks
Priority Areas continues to work with a wide range of partners, including the Poverty Alliance, the Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office and the Church and Society Council, on campaigns such as the Scottish Living Wage Campaign, to ensure that people in poverty do not suffer unjustly, particularly in the light of extensive public sector cuts.
Poverty Truth Commission
The Poverty Truth Commission has been a two year project bringing together some of Scotland’s civic leaders with people at the sharp end of poverty. They have worked together to discover the truths about poverty, and explore real solutions to it. They have also become friends.
Now that the Commission has officially come to an end it will look over the next three years to: support people living in poverty to have the confidence to speak, and others to have the confidence to listen; support organisations who would like to work in a similar way to the Commission; and use social media to get across the message that ‘Nothing about us without us is for us.’
Priority Areas Forum
The Priority Areas Forum is a regular gathering of representatives from the different councils of the church to share our joint work in the poorest parts of Scotland.
Together for a Change
Together for a Change is about people with a direct experience of poverty in Scotland and in other parts of the world learning together and challenging people in power to work differently. It has supported a range of pioneering exchanges between Priority area churches and groups from other countries through which astonishing relationships a range of new developments have taken place. Together for a Change is now working to develop relationships between groups from Drumchapel (Glasgow) and Kenya and Greenock and Zambia.
Read the story of Together for a Change and find out how to get involved.
Twinning
Twinning brings together churches in a relationship marked by a genuine friendship, solidarity and a genuine desire to accompany each other’s faith journeys. Currently, 42 such twinning’s exist between churches in Scotland. If you are interested in twinning please contact our office.
A number of resources are available explaining Twinning:
