CAP Centres provide a hope and a solution for those living in poverty. A CAP Centre enables churches to engage with the poor and disadvantaged in their community.
how a centre works
- The Centre Manager/Debt Coach visits clients in their own home, gathering information and necessary paperwork. All of this information will then be sent to our Operations Centre, where the debt counselling (negotiation with creditors and working out a repayment plan) and specialist advice is given.
- The church then visits the client again to bring a practical solution, while offering friendship and demonstrating God’s love in action. The benefits of this system mean that CAP can do what we are great at – debt counselling and specialist advice – leaving the Centre Manager/Debt Coach time to see clients as well as train support workers and build relationships with key referral sources (doctors, job centres etc).
centre staff
- Each CAP Centre is open for a minimum of three sessions per week (a session is a morning, an afternoon or an evening). The church will need to employ someone or recruit a volunteer to manage the centre.
- While CAP recommends employing a Centre Manager we recognise this is not possible for all churches. Additional Debt Coaches can also work in your centre alongside the Centre Manager to increase the number of people that you can help.
- The Centre Manager will be the key contact who is responsible to CAP and the church for the running of the centre. They will organise prayer, support, publicity and evangelism as well co-ordinating any other Debt Coaches.
Some of the biggest problems we see in our communities revolve around money. Life can feel like walking a financial tightrope; balancing bank accounts, bills and credit whilst trying not to fall into unmanageable debt. This is much more difficult for the isolated and disadvantaged in our communities. Your church can partner with Christians Against Poverty to bring hope and salvation to those living in debt and poverty on your doorstep, through our first class debt counselling service.
You can also enable people to get to grips with their finances before they fall into debt through CAP Money, our money management course. A partnership with CAP means we give you the professional tools to reach your community. In turn, your church provides those who are interested with the welcome and support needed to learn more about the God who loves them.
Why don’t you join us so that today’s local church can give hope and an answer to our society’s most relevant and pressing problem? By the end of 2010, over 150 churches will be running our CAP Money course and we will have 20 debt counselling centres open, our aim to see a centre in every major town, city and suburb over the next 10 years. Together we can see our nation changed one life, one community and one church at a time.
John Kirkby, Founder & International Director of CAP
