Mapping Church Assets for Community Transformation and Unity

One reason we should map our church-based assets is because leadership can be space blind. This is a phrase that's used by leaders, political leaders, and academic leaders who are looking at the future of our cities. There's a government project around this. They've recognized that there's a need to develop strategy for cities based on a range of social and cultural issues. [00:03:02]

If there is no evidence for what we're doing, then investors and funders can't invest in the work that the church is doing. There's a great phrase that provision follows vision, which I like. Provision follows vision. So we need to be able to set out a vision that has got some evidence for it, some data, some information that helps our leaders to make evidence-based decisions. [00:05:19]

Strategic collaboration: I love this picture of the cogs meshing together that actually as we collaborate, it's like the teeth on our wheels actually begin to mash and we begin to move each other. Vision empowers unity and conversations about collaboration and mapping is a tool that helps us to see beyond our silos. [00:06:39]

Mapping helps us work beyond that. It's so encouraging when we call our church leaders together across Bolton to be able to show them where all the churches are and what we're all doing together. It certainly develops momentum and I believe it enables a real gear change in the impact of the church across a town or even a county. [00:07:02]

In Bolton, we have used a very simple system. It shows which churches across Bolton local authority are providing food. We did this research back in August last year as we were approaching the cost of living crisis winter. We looked at which churches across our city are currently offering food provision. [00:12:35]

We looked to measure whether the group, the community group that we're working with offers community meals, whether it offers community cafes, a food bank, a food club, food pantry, community grocery or community fridge, an emergency food parcel on site, a relationship with the supermarket, manufacturer or surplus food charity. [00:20:19]

We've been working with the mayor and the NHS across Cambridge and Peterborough. Their particular interest is prioritizing mental health. The mayor there is keen that people are healthy and well. His background is being a GP but also recognizing there's a great cost to the employment sector when people are off sick with mental health. [00:21:28]

We know that 20% of patients that visit their GP don't need a tablet or a medicine. What they need is a social prescription. They're feeling massively isolated and GPS are very keen on social prescribing to the voluntary sector, including faith groups. So enabling them to do that by providing exactly what the church is doing across the whole area is invaluable. [00:23:21]

There's a number of strategies that work well across churches, whether it be suicide prevention training, which is a 20-minute online course. We know where we can ask someone if they have suicidal thoughts, we can reduce suicide by up to 80 percent. Equally, there's some fantastic work that churches in Lincoln are doing around night light centers. [00:24:18]

The church needs to be more ambitious in making a big ask to the civic and the health sectors and authorities for collaboration. That doesn't mean that the church can't be distinctive. We can still be distinctive, we can still share our faith, but we can still engage in shared missions with the silicon health sectors in terms of collaborating. [00:42:17]

We're encouraged to ask to meet more regularly with policy development makers and to share our intelligence from our communities. We're encouraged to explore what collaboration looks like in terms of talents, time, and finance. We're to make sure stories of what God is doing through the church are told and indicate the intention of being in a strong relationship with key civic leaders. [00:42:57]

As we meet with civic leaders, don't hesitate to offer prayer, making sure they know you're committing to them pastorally and that the relationship is built up. [00:43:48]