There are communities in our Diocese facing significant challenges - a third of our parishes are in the 10% most deprived communities nationally and face significant inequality of income, employment, health, wellbeing and opportunity.
This priority recognises and celebrates the contribution of every person and organisation endeavouring to respond to these inequalities, but we are also conscious of our unique resources for, and our call, to challenge poverty.
Our understanding is shaped by the Church Urban Fund’s three strand definition:
- Poverty of resources – income, skills, qualifications, health, choice or opportunities)
- Poverty of relationships – where people lack the strong and supportive relationships they need to thrive as God intends)
- Poverty of identity – where people lack a strong self-worth and confidence to respond to challenges
All of these are prevalent in many of our communities and we are committed to Challenging Poverty through our mission and ministry.
Our Challenging Poverty Priority has three facets:
- Working together to address child and youth poverty (Psalm 82:3; Mark 10:16).
- Responding to isolation, particularly among the elderly (Isaiah 46:4).
- Reaching out and responding to the needs and gifts of Asylum Seekers and Refugees (Deuteronomy 10:18; Leviticus 19:34).
Find out more about the Challenging Poverty priority.
Our affiliated charity Communities Together Durham aims to support and enable churches to outwork our Challenging Poverty priority.