Cranleigh Baptist Church
“I ran a Nursery School for 20 years and this was when I first became interested in helping people struggling with debt. It was often the families that you least expected who would suddenly without any apparent reason experience financial difficulties.”
Volunteers at a village church in Surrey have come forward for personal budget coach training after being inspired by a Stewardship seminar. Now it is hoped they will soon be able to offer practical help and support for local folk who are struggling to cope under a wave of debt, struggling with their borrowing or simply need a little help getting control of their finances.
The seminar was arranged after shop manager Angela Stride decided to do something positive to try and encourage members at her Baptist church to respond to a growing need in the community. She had the idea and the energy but knew that she needed some training as this was something she knew she could not do on her own, but as a possible community ministry for her church, Cranleigh Baptist.
“I initially approached my church leadership for their support in taking what was just an idea and turning it into concrete action. We considered starting a money ministry which would serve both the congregation and also our local community. Then we arranged an introductory session one evening called “How can your Church help people in debt?” which enabled me to assess the level of support and interest there was likely to be in the church for setting up a money ministry.
As part of the preparation we then ran an interactive workshop called “Managing Money God’s Way” later in the year. I was delighted when over 60 people came along that evening, including people from other churches in the Cranleigh area.
Many folk commented on how helpful they found the whole evening. They said it challenged them to look at how and why they used money in the way they did. The facilitator from Stewardship led the workshop in a down-to-earth way using humour and personal experience to illustrate the session.
I have since approached five other church members who have a vision for this work to join me in training to be Personal Budget Coaches. “
