Tag: churches

Hallelujah! Places of worship can reopen from Friday

People living in all parts of Scotland will be able to attend places of worship in gatherings of up to 50, where there is space for physical distancing, from Friday 26 March.

Updated guidance publishing on Friday will also allow people to travel between Level 4 areas to attend their usual place of worship following sustained progress suppressing Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Na h-Eileanan Siar moved to Level 3 last night, but all other council areas will remain at their current levels, with restrictions on non-essential travel across local authority boundaries.

The latest easing was announced yesterday, the anniversary of Scotland first entering lockdown. The First Minister reflected on the loss of life over the past 12 months and thanked health and care workers, public service workers, teachers, local authorities, businesses, community groups and volunteers for their efforts to support the nation through the pandemic.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “On this National Day of Reflection, I know that many of us will be thinking about people we have lost during the last year, whatever the cause of their death.

“It is a natural human response when someone dies to gather with others, to mourn our loss and to celebrate their life. The fact that this shared ritual has not been possible has been an additional source of grief for many during this most difficult of years.

“The return of collective worship in greater numbers is an important change that I hope will be especially welcomed as we head towards important religious festivals over the next few weeks. That we are in a position for Na h-Eileanan Siar to move to Level 3 reflects their success in reducing transmission in recent weeks.

“I am grateful to everyone who has shown solidarity, compassion and love to one another by sticking to incredibly tough rules and restrictions. By following the rules, all of us have saved lives – we’ve helped keep the virus under control, and helped to create the situation we are now in, where we can now start to plan our route out of lockdown. We know too that the vaccination programme is now reducing deaths, and recent research also gives us confidence that vaccination will reduce transmission rates.

“To lift restrictions in the future, we still need to suppress the virus just now, so please stay within the rules in the coming weeks – stay at home for now, unless for an allowed reason; do not meet people from other households indoors; and follow the FACTS advice when you are out and about.”

Edinburgh faith community marks ‘Blue December’ during time of Covid

For many, the festive season each year is a difficult and challenging time. More so this year with Covid as many of us face losses arising from the pandemic: loss of employment; loss of financial certainty; loss of connection to others due to social restrictions; and the loss of loved ones whose lives were taken by the virus.

Unitarians in Edinburgh are holding a unique programme of online services acknowledging the challenges of the season.

The programme begins this Sunday 13 December, 11am, with an online gathering entitled ‘Blue December’ where time, space and care is given to honouring what we’re with. There will be candle lighting, readings, music, and an opportunity for your voice to be heard, to share how you are.

Minister of Unitarians in Edinburgh, Rev. Peter Fairbrother says: “So many of us put on a brave face during the festivities, bottling-up how we feel.

“This can be tremendously damaging both to ourselves and to those around us given that the eventual outcome is often meltdown or explosion. Unitarians in Edinburgh seek to create a safe space where individuals are seen and heard on their own terms, not judged nor ‘fixed’.

“We are a diverse community of spiritual explorers, drawn from many different backgrounds, and everyone is welcome to come to our free online services. Simply come as you are.”

Stories of Hope: New report reveals 200,000 individual acts of support during lockdown

A new report has calculated that churches across Scotland have delivered 212,214 acts of support during lockdown.

The Stories of Hope report, which was requested by the Scottish government and produced by the Evangelical Alliance and Serve Scotland, found that these acts were delivered by 3,212 volunteers and impacted 55,671 beneficiaries.

The study details how churches in over 180 locations, often in partnership with others, developed support networks and established projects to support the most vulnerable and isolated in their communities.

Projects were active across the country from the Highlands to the Borders, across the breadth of denominations and in partnership with a number of charities including CAP Scotland, the Bethany Trust, and Glasgow City Mission.

Kieran Turner, Public Policy Officer for the Evangelical Alliance in Scotland said: “2020 has been a year of disruption for all of us and churches, like many other essential services have had to adapt.

“This report has highlighted the significant impact churches up and down the country have had in supporting the most vulnerable in society.”

The report also highlighted the importance of churches partnering with local businesses and other agencies as more than two-thirds of the projects identified were delivered in partnership to provide support to those in need.

Supermarkets, community councils, businesses, NHS boards, housing associations, voluntary support groups, and food banks have all worked with churches on the ground in these projects. In addition, 11 local authorities were identified, sometimes by multiple projects, as providing emergency funding for weekly support costs.

Kieran Turner continued: “Churches have re-purposed existing services and staff and volunteers have been quickly redeployed. New projects have been set up to deliver food, phone the elderly and isolated, support those homeless or claiming asylum, and connect with children and young people who were struggling with their mental health.

“For many, these services were literally a lifeline – often the only contact in a day when all other normal support networks and buildings were closed.”

Case study: MARIE

Marie is a young mum who lives with her partner and four children in a two bedroom flat in a tower block in Aberdeen.

She first connected with Seaton Community Church through the Mums & toddlers group. When lockdown happened as she faced real financial hardship with a young baby she turned to the church’s packed lunch project for help.

The church provided daily meals and also supported the family through this daily connection with mental, emotional and spiritual support. This lifted a huge financial and emotional pressure off her shoulders and Marie has now become part of the wider church community, watching church online as well building deeper friendships with others locally.

The online survey was gathered data from May 2020 to July 2020 by the Evangelical Alliance with the aim of understanding the range and focus of church-based projects taking place across Scotland during the pandemic.

To find out more and download the full report go to https://www.eauk.org/about-us/nations/scotland.

Edinburgh City Mission and churches across the city join forces to offer CAP life skills

Edinburgh City Mission and Christians Against Poverty are pleased to announce a new partnership to deliver the CAP Life Skills course. This initiative builds on the success of the course that was pioneered by Mustard Seed Edinburgh earlier this year and will be run at four locations across Edinburgh this autumn. Continue reading Edinburgh City Mission and churches across the city join forces to offer CAP life skills

CAP to open debt help centre in Comely Bank

StStephenComelyBank

Debt counselling charity Christians Against Poverty (CAP) is launching its third Edinburgh debt help centre in Comely Bank next month. 

CAP has partnered with St. Stephen’s Comely Bank Church (above) to extend its award-winning free service to those in need across the city. It joins two other busy centres at Central Church and Holy Trinity Wester Hailes, and brings the total number of CAP centres in Scotland to 22. 

Manager of the new Edinburgh centre Claire Baggaley said: “The Church has always been about offering hope and we’re really pleased to be able to give more people a tried-and-tested route out of debt alongside other great free debt agencies in the area.”

“There is a lot in the Bible about looking after the poorest. In our society, a lot of poverty is debt-related so our congregation at St. Stephen’s Comely Bank Church has been working hard to open a CAP centre to help get people back on track.” 

CAP offers a uniquely in-depth, caring service to people with spiralling personal debt regardless of their age, gender, faith or background. Every client is visited in their own home; the charity does all the negotiating with creditors and local volunteers offer support to each person face-to-face until the day they are debt free. 

Statistics show that one in three callers seeking debt help are feeling suicidal but find huge relief through the non-judgemental service that treats every person as an individual.

The new service will be launched at St Stephen’s on Comely Bank Road on Thurday 10 September.

 For debt help call 0800 328 0006 or visit capuk.org

 

You need friends: Montgomery Street Park to be transformed

‘Improving the facility in this way will undoubtedly enhance our school, and wider community’ – Jackie Reid, Head Teacher at Leith Walk Primary School

montgomery park in snow

The Friends of Montgomery Street Park are celebrating a £40,000 grant from Biffa Award, a multi-million pound fund that helps to build communities and transform lives through awarding grants to community and environmental projects across the UK.

Montgomery Street Park will get a major upgrade after a group of local residents were successful in their funding bid. The grant from Biffa Award means that the hard-surface sports area, which is currently cracked, uneven and pot-holed, will be completely refurbished. The area will be levelled and resurfaced with rubber, then painted with lines for both football and basketball. New goal posts and basketball hoops will be installed and new seating added, in the form of long-lasting and low-maintenance recycled plastic benches.

The work will start in mid-March and should be finished by the end of April.

goalposts

The application was the result of a public consultation exercise and several local groups, including schools, churches and youth organisations, wrote letters of support.

Jackie Reid, Head Teacher at Leith Walk Primary School, said: “Many of our pupils make excellent use of the park, which has become a hub of our community. As a school, we use the park extensively to ensure our pupils are active and healthy. We also hold our Nursery Sports Day there each year in June. Improving the facility in this way will undoubtedly enhance our school, and wider community.”

Rev. Gordy Mackay, Minister of Abbeyhill Baptist Church and local resident, said:“Montgomery Street Park is a vital and very valued space within our community. Over many years Abbeyhill Baptist Church has benefitted from our close proximity to the park. We have used the park for picnics, participated in fun days and enjoy taking groups of children and teenagers there to play games. These improvements to the park and the facilities within it will bring significant benefit to the park’s many users and will be greatly welcomed.”

Gillian French, Programme Manager at Biffa Award, said “Biffa Award is delighted to support this project, which has been led by local residents and involved local children. Outdoor spaces are incredibly important; the improved area will be a fun, stimulating and engaging place where children and their parents can meet and socialise.”

The funding from Biffa Award will go directly towards creating a safer and more usable space for park users, in what is the most densely populated area of not just Edinburgh, but Scotland (Census 2011). The upgraded sports facilities will be free to use. The improvements will promote active living and sports engagement, directly benefiting the health and wellbeing of local residents, who – having small or no private gardens – make good use of the park.

For more information about the Friends of Montgomery Street Park or to get involved in the group, visit

website montgomerystreetpark.org.uk

and Facebook page facebook.com/montgomerystreetpark

montgomerty logo

New Year, new funding to tackle homelessness

Government announces £2.3 million to address housing issues

beggarOrganisations which help homeless and vulnerable people find homes and live independently will get a funding boost next year, Housing Minister Margaret Burgess has announced.

More than £2.3 million will be allocated to 32 new and existing projects which make it easier for older and disabled people to live independently, will improve access to housing for homeless people and will support refugee, asylum seekers and new migrant communities.

Projects to benefit from the Housing Voluntary Grant Scheme in 2015-16, include Housing Options Scotland which will receive £242,000 to meet increased demand for its advice services for disabled people, older people and veterans.

Shelter Housing Law Service will be awarded £183,868 to provide specialist legal expertise on housing issues while the Scottish Refugee Council has been granted £130,000 for its work helping refugees adapt to life in Scotland.

Mrs Burgess said: “It is heart-breaking that in a country as prosperous as Scotland some people do not have the support they need to help them live as independently as they can and fulfil their potential.

“I am pleased this £2.3 million fund will be split between organisations that are addressing these inequalities, and supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

“This Government is clear, we want to provide opportunities for people to flourish and we recognise that a lack of suitable housing can be a major barrier preventing them from achieving their full potential.

“Whether it’s through working with the elderly, veterans, young people or asylum seekers, each of these 32 projects is closing this inequality gap, and tackling prejudice and discrimination.”

Moira Bayne, the chief executive officer of Housing Options Scotland welcomed the funding support. She said: “In 2014 Housing Options Scotland was able to help over 400 disabled people, older people and armed forces veterans to find the Right House in the Right Place.

“None of this would have been possible without the financial support of the Scottish Government.

“Thanks to this funding we have been able to help a wide range of people including a visually impaired teenager in the Scottish Borders who has had his family home extended to maximise his independence and a young former RAF officer with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder who has now returned to live near her son in Morayshire.

“We are absolutely delighted with the funding we have been awarded for 2015. We are mindful of how privileged we are to be offered such support in such difficult times and we look forward to helping many more people in the coming year.”

homelessThe Glasgow Simon Community and Positive Steps are two projects that will receive funding for the first time in 2015.

Through £90,975 funding Positive Steps will give training to men who have a history of re-offending and homelessness.

Cathryn Mill, development officer with Positive Steps said:

“Funding through the Housing Voluntary Grant Scheme will allow Positive Steps to deliver and implement a significant test of change project.

“Dundee in particular suffers from high levels of reconviction rates that present issues related to homelessness.

“The proposed project will target short term persistent offending and the lack of access to secure accommodation. We will also offer targeted support to address offending behaviours.”

The following Edinburgh-based organisations will receive funding in 2015 -16:

Age Scotland £126,250

To provide information and advice to older people to help them maintain their independence.

Bethany Christian Trust £44,000

Funding for homelessness projects including literacy and numeracy, budgeting support, employment and volunteering, and street work.

CRISIS (project 1) £26,000

The project to help improve access to the Private Rented Sector for homeless people in Scotland.

CRISIS (project 2) £52,943

Tenancy support project which works with people in shared housing.

Housing Support Enabling Unit (HSEU) £120,640

Assisting providers in the voluntary, private and registered social landlord sectors.

Move On Ltd £25,000

Project helping young people at threat of homelessness through peer support.

Housing Options Scotland £242,000

Provides tailored housing advice to disabled people, older people and veterans.

SACRO £49,000

Dealing with neighbourhood conflict and promoting positive community relations.

Scottish Churches Housing Action (1) £57,000

Project supporting a range of services and activities including starter packs and befriending networks.

Scottish Churches Housing Action (2) £9,000

Prison leaver peer support project for HMP Edinburgh. Prisoners will be supported through housing, health, training and employment interviews following release.

Scottish Housing & Support Conference £11,000

Funding for annual conference for service users and providers of housing support services.

Scottish Women’s Aid £67,345

Project focusses on homelessness and prevention of homelessness for women who are victims of domestic abuse.

Homeless Action Scotland £164,000

Facilitates national homelessness networks and National Homelessness and Employability co-ordinator.

Shelter Housing Law Service £183,868

To provide access to specialist legal expertise and representation on housing issues across Scotland

Scottish Social Networks (Rock Trust) £30,721

To support the work of the Housing Option Hubs. In particular by raising awareness of the link between positive social networks and prevention of homelessness.

Venture Trust £60,437

Outward bound courses and wilderness training to improve the confidence of homeless young people to develop their independent living skills.

An Audioboom clip of the Housing Minister can be found here: https://audioboom.com/boos/2745068