I grew up in a family and church that always ‘did
Christian Aid week’. Maybe you did too?
I have an early memory of doing door to door collections from my dad's shoulders in Bradford, West Yorkshire. It was a thing we just did, because it mattered.
Years later I was volunteering for Christian Aid in an office in Loughborough when a calm and softly spoken man handed over a bucket of sweaty bank notes to the sum of £400. He took off his vest, handed over his lanyard, rejected a cup of tea and went on his way with a smile, like it was nothing. I thought it was magical. It mattered.
When groups of dedicated people come together, like many of you have did recently during Christian Aid Week, the world changes. Maybe not the seismic, earth-shattering kind of change we might desire, but a deeper, gentler, magical kind that often goes unnoticed. It matters.
And it’s not just the fundraising – the stunts, the door knocking, the cake sales – it’s the small acts of rebellion - like
talking to your MP,
signing a petition or organising a vigil. Acts of hope and restoration for a broken world.
However you got involved in Christian Aid Week this year, thank you, and if you’re looking for a little bit more here’s a few ways you can continue to challenge the structures and systems that keep people trapped in poverty.