CHURCH PARTNERSHIP. debt help. Lifting people out of debt and poverty

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1 CHURCH PARTNERSHIP debt help FREEDOM SALVATION YOUR CHURCH LOVE CAP DEBT COUNSELLING POVERTY RELIEF Lifting people out of debt and poverty

2 VE LV SA COU PO RE V ER LIE TY F OM ED AT IO N FR E G TN B I DENSELL LO HUNGRY our clients 72%of sacrificed meals 30% did so regularly RELATIONSHIP BREAKDOWN our clients said 78%of debt affected their relationship 24% SUICIDAL our clients 37%of considered or attempted suicide as a way out of their debt said their relationship broke down entirely

3 In Luke 4, Jesus set out his mission to bring good news to the poor and to release the oppressed. As his hands and feet, Jesus calls his Church to live out his mission and values. As the 21st century Church in Canada, how do we reach the poor in our communities, help them practically and tell them the good news? Opening a CAP Debt Centre will connect you with people in your community who are suffering as a result of debt. They may be struggling to feed their families, depressed and alone. Your church will be able to offer them hope and a real solution through CAP s professional debt counselling service. You will be there to put an arm around them in their darkest hour and show God s love in a real way. This partnership of CAP s service and the Church s compassion is changing thousands of lives every year. Will you join us so that together the local church can give hope and an answer to one of society s biggest problems of our time? Why not contact the team when you have read this brochure and we can talk about how we move forward. Please debtcentres@capcanada.org John Kirkby Founder & International Director Christians Against Poverty Our vision is to have a CAP Debt Centre in every town and city so anyone in Canada can access our life transforming work. ILL HOMELESS of our clients visited a GP our clients 74% 48% of feared losing were prescribed 44%medication to their home help them cope 15% did * UK Statistics

4 What the church provides We choose to partner with local churches because we believe that the church is the hope of the world. It holds in its hands the only message that can change lives and communities both now and for eternity. CAP is openly evangelistic and we look to work with churches who share our values. CAP workers from the church have the opportunity to express God s love to clients, offering prayer and sharing their faith. The church will also welcome CAP clients into their meetings and disciple new Christians. Centre staff Lead Debt Coach The church will employ or recruit a volunteer Lead Debt Coach who is responsible to CAP and the church to run the centre. They will manage the centre and volunteers and provide debt counselling in your community. The Lead Debt Coach must work a minimum of two days (16 hours) a week. Debt Coaches (optional) To expand your centre and help more people, you can put forward additional people to be trained as Debt Coaches at any time during your partnership with CAP. CAP will have final approval of Debt Coaches because they are representing CAP to provide debt advice. Successful candidates will receive in-depth training and management to equip them to fulfil their roles. Community Links Coordinator (optional) To lessen the load on your Debt Coaches, why not ask someone in your church who is a great communicator or sales person to be trained as a Community Links Coordinator? This person will promote your centre through the press and referral agencies to ensure the centre has a steady stream of potential clients. Essentially we are looking for someone with an evangelistic track record who can pioneer a new ministry in your community. t: debtcentres@capcanada.org

5 Support Team A key part of CAP s service is our holistic approach. For many people debt is just the tip of the iceberg and your church can be there to befriend them and help with other areas of their life. Showing God s love in action like this often means clients want to come to church or find out more about God. Your team can start out small and grow as the number of clients you help grows. Life Changers When you partner with CAP, one of our speakers will come to inspire your church at a Sunday meeting to help you launch your centre. This includes asking people to join us to achieve our goal of having a centre in every town and city across Canada by supporting the charity with a monthly gift through our Life Changer program. As an evangelistic charity we rely on Life Changers as their support means we don t have to compromise our beliefs to obtain funding. MICHELLE & LARNI I got baptized and I knew the old me had died and the new me was allowed to live. Sometimes I get so excited about what s happened, I just want to shout about God and CAP from the rooftops! t: debtcentres@capcanada.org

6 What CAP provides What does it cost? CAP gives the local church a professional debt counselling tool that is geared towards helping the most vulnerable. Helping someone out of debt is a complicated, time consuming process that requires financial and legal knowledge. CAP provides a free payment system called a CAP Account to enable clients to repay their debts. This means we are able to support them until they are debt free. We also help support people in severe debt through different routes, for example bankruptcy. This means we can give a solution to people who are in very desperate situations. It would be virtually impossible for a church to provide this level of service on their own. The CAP system is very effective with over 90% of bills and debt repayments paid on time by established clients. 94% of clients rated our service as a great help or life transforming. CAP gives churches the opportunity to help people get out of debt in their communities and experience the privilege of being invited into people s homes to help them, and show them God s love in a real way. As a result CAP sees over 60 people every month becoming Christians through local church based centres across the world. CAP is committed to our vision of empowering the local church to tackle the big problems in its community by having a CAP Debt Centre in every town and city. For this reason CAP is happy to invest significantly in every centre. CAP will invest in your church by providing some of the centralized debt counselling services necessary to run your CAP Debt Centre. We also provide the training, management and support to help your centre be as successful as possible. CAP also provides free comprehensive PR support and literature, evangelism and discipleship aids, and access to CAP s client aid budget and bursaries. We ask each church to make a contribution towards these costs through a regular donation of at least $400 per month. We would ask you to join us in stepping out in faith as much as possible. t: debtcentres@capcanada.org

7 CAP s debt counselling how it works The Debt Coach does the local publicity aided by the central PR team The client calls for help and books an appointment The Debt Coach visits the client at home to collect their financial information The Debt Coach works out a budget and negotiates with priority creditors The Debt Coach goes back to visit the client to explain the budget and set up a CAP Account* CAP s Creditor Liaison Unit negotiates with the secondary creditors Bills and debts are paid through the client s CAP Account* The Debt Coach and the church continue to support the client until they are debt free FREEDOM SALVATION YOUR CHURCH LOVE CAP DEBT COUNSELLING POVERTY RELIEF *A CAP Account, which acts like a simple bank account, is set up for each client. The client makes one weekly or monthly payment into their CAP Account to cover all their bills and debts, which we then distribute on their behalf. This facility means that clients are able to stick to their budgets as their finances are simplified and obstacles to physically paying their debts are removed. t: debtcentres@capcanada.org

8 FREEDOM YOUR CHURCH SALVATION LOVE CAP DEBT COUNSELLING POVERTY RELIEF SPEAK UP for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. SPEAK UP and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:8-9 e: Registered Office: 383 Hughson Street North, Hamilton, Ontario, L8L 4N2 Corporate Name: Christians Against Poverty Canada Corporation Number: ; Business Number: Charitable Registration Number: RR0001 Copyright Jan 2013 Christians Against Poverty Canada. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced for any purpose without first obtaining written permission from Christians Against Poverty Canada. Disclaimer: This information is not intended to be legal advice and is for educational purposes only. All information in this booklet was correct at the time of printing in January Christians Against Poverty Canada cannot accept any responsibility for mistakes or omissions. Christians Against Poverty Canada excludes to the extent lawfully permitted all liability for loss or damage arising from reliance upon this information.