How to be generous during the Cost of Living Crisis

Daniel Jones, Stewardship’s Chief Generosity Officer, was interviewed on UCB Radio to discuss the impact of the cost of living crisis on churches and charities. He offered encouragement to those trying to sustain their generosity amid stretched personal finances. He also celebrated the compassionate heart of Stewardship’s generous community of givers.

Commenting on the opportunity to be generous in the challenging months ahead, Daniel said, “These times of crisis present great moments for us to be loving our neighbours.”

Listen to the full Interview

Key highlights from the interview

1. Churches and charities are also in a cost of living crisis
   
   
   
   As many people are finding things difficult financially, they are naturally looking to churches and charities for practical help and assistance. But it comes at the same time as these organisations are themselves facing the same financial pressures – inflated energy bills, rising fuel and food costs – and it’s created something of a perfect storm. The need for the organisations who are helping others is exponentially growing just as there is an elevated strain on their own sources of income. This is why Stewardship’s Rapid Response Fund was initiated.

2. Stewardship’s Rapid Response Fund is designed to help organisations help those in need
   
   
   
   Stewardship is blessed to have a generous community who trust us with their giving and look to us for opportunities to meet developing needs. Our Rapid Response Fund is a place where money can be gathered into one central pot and, using our expertise within the Stewardship team, distributed to partners who are bringing gospel hope and practical help into places where the cost of living crisis is hitting the hardest.

3. We reached our first fundraising milestone quickly and deployed it with urgency
   
   
   
   We have had an open and encouraging response so far from Stewardship givers, and the wider public, with the first significant point of £100k raised now being passed. These funds are now being distributed to churches and charities who, as part of the Warm Welcome campaign, are using the money to help keep their places open and heated so that members of their community have a safe, warm and welcoming space to go to during the cold weeks of winter.

4. This is a great moment for us all to practically help others
   
   
   
   What has become apparent to us all is that this is a moment in time where we can demonstrate the love of Christ to our neighbour in a real and tangible way. In addition to financially giving to local churches and charities that are helping people, we can also offer our time in volunteering at Warm Welcome spots, we can use our voice in signposting people to the services that are available, whether that be in person or on social media, and we can of course simply reach out to the people who live next door or across the road to see if we can help them in any way.

5. We must pray for the journey ahead
   
   
   
   We should all be making sure that, above all else, prayer is the topmost priority in the midst of the cost of living crisis. Here are a few things that we can all be praying for:

• resilience, hope and encouragement, especially for those volunteering long hours to keep projects going
• generous gifts and funding to come in from those who are able to give, recognising that this is a challenge for all in the present circumstances
• opportunities to see where the need is in our own communities and how we can personally respond

How you can get involved

Visit our Cost of Living Response Fund page where you can find out more about how to give and the valuable work that our partners are doing in their local communities at this time. You can also sign up to receive Generous, our monthly email, which will keep you up to date with all the latest news and resources from Stewardship.

Listen to the full interview