2014

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Welcome to Jubilee+ Hello! I am so grateful for your interest in the work of Jubilee+. This booklet is designedto give you an overview of what we do and how we do it. I hope you find it informativeand motivational.

Jubilee+ has been on an exciting journey since its inception at the start of 2011. Wewere originally launched by Newfrontiers to help UK churches increase their capacity toengage with social action. We started our work at a critical time: in the aftermath of thefinancial crisis of 2008 and the major economic and social challenges that faced ournation at that time – and are still very much with us.

We quickly formed a national core team that has worked very hard since then to providetraining, consultancy, resources and networking opportunities for local churches acrossthe country. As time has gone on we’ve developed our vision to encompass three keyareas of church activity: social action, social justice and social enterprise. As a result, wehave developed conferences and training to facilitate the development of individualsand churches in these three areas. By the end of 2014, we will have hosted more than2,000 delegates at our conferences and the training events we have run in numerouslocations across the UK.

Recently we have been able to advocate effectively withpoliticians on issues relating to the work of churches.

We have also been forging strong relationshipswith Christian social action charities and various

church networks and denominations.Alongside this, we have developed a teamspecialising in researching the outcomes ofchurch-based social action and publishingreports on its findings. Finally, we havepublished our first book, entitled The Myth of

the Undeserving Poor.

As you read this booklet, I hope you enjoyfinding out more about Jubilee+.

Yours,

Martin Charlesworth

Jubilee+ team leader

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3Jubilee+ 2014

Sue Lyndon

Sue, married to Pete, is ourhighly experiencedconference administrator.Sue and Pete arerelocating fromManchester to Bristol.

Pete Lyndon

Pete's working life hascombined churchleadership roles withsocial work. He co-ordinates our partnershipswith Christianorganisations and adviseslocal churches on socialaction-related issues.

Geoff Knott

Geoff is based in Dorkingand combines looking afterour website and doingresearch with providingadvice to churches andother partners on businessplanning and socialenterprise development.

Natalie Williams

Natalie lives in Hastings,where she works for alocal church. She is ourcommunications co-ordinator, looking afterour social media andcommunications strategy.

Martin Charlesworth

Martin is based inShrewsbury and workspart-time as a churchleader and part-time forJubilee+. He focusesparticularly on speaking,writing and advocacy.

Andy Biggs

Andy lives in Durhamand runs his ownbusiness alongsideworking with varioussocial businesses andcharities. Andy heads upour Impact Researchteam.

Our dedicated team is drawn from all over the country and brings a wide range of skillswith which to fulfil our mandate. We’d like to tell you a little bit about the team and whatthey do for Jubilee+ – from left to right:

Meet the Jubilee+ core team

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Impact ResearchChurches engaging with

their communities in social

action projects often

conduct research on one

level – by keeping records

of the number of volunteers

involved and the number of

people they actively work

with. However, they often

lack the resources and skills

to answer the key question:

"What is the impact of the

work we are doing?"

This question is vitally

important because when

churches understand the

outcomes of their projects,

they not only hold more

credibility with local

communities and external

agencies, but they also

enable Christians and

churches to engage

effectively with local and

national government

agendas. At a time when

services are under strain

from spending cuts, public

sector agencies are

increasingly looking for

partnership with the

voluntary sector, using the

language of 'impact' and

'outcomes'.

Although academic and

think-tank outcome

research is often extremely

valuable and insightful, it

very rarely focuses on the

unique contribution of

impact that the Church

makes through social action.

Therefore, it is often difficult

for the local church and

individual Christian

charities to apply the

academic language and 'big

picture' trends that this

research generates.

For this reason, Jubilee+ has

set up an impact research

group to develop a robust,

simple and consistent

approach to discovering the

impact of and outcomes

from social action projects.

Working alongside national

networks and with

individual churches, we have

undertaken research

projects into the impact of

debt advice and early years /

pre-school groups. This is in

addition the broader

national survey and report

work that is published on

the Jubilee+ website.

The core impact research

team, led by Andy Biggs, is

now seeking to broaden its

reach through further

academic and Christian

network partnerships,

continuing to undertake

primary research projects

and seeking to connect with

existing research initiatives.

If you would like to be

involved with these projects

through offering your time,

skills, connections or helping

us with funding, please get

in touch with us.

You can find more

information on our

research projects at:

jubilee-plus.org/research.

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Over the last couple of years we have had an increasing sense that we needed to start

writing. We felt we wanted to write something more substantial than our weekly blog

posts (which you can find at jubilee-plus.org/blog). Topics that kept cropping up in our

team meetings included perceptions of poverty in Britain and a pervasive media

narrative that some of the poorest people in our communities don’t deserve our help.

We have been concerned that such narratives are creeping into the church and

possibly influencing us more than what the Bible says about the poor!

Our desire to tackle this issue and help Christians respond to

poverty in our nation has led to two of the team taking some

time over 2014 to write the first Jubilee+ book, The Myth of the

Undeserving Poor. Within the 100 or so pages of the book, we

outline the rich heritage of Christian engagement with British

poverty and the biblical framework for how we should

respond, as well as highlighting how the media handle

the issue of poverty and the extent to which

Christians are shaped by this. On the back of

this, we explore how Christians should

respond – in both attitude and action.

Find out more at

mythoftheundeservingpoor.co.uk

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We’re delighted to be holding our second Faith +Justice conference in 2015 to help Christiansengage with the most important issues of theday. In the run up to the General Election, theaim of this event is to offer Christianperspectives on immigration, welfare andbenefits, the economy, and life issues, with afurther seminar on Christians in politics.

Our keynote speakers are Dr Dave Landrumfrom the Evangelical Alliance, Care’s Nola Leachand our own Martin Charlesworth. The EA, Careand Tearfund are partnering with us in thisevent, which will be held in Milton Keynes onSaturday 7 February. Other organisations suchas Theos think-tank and the Christian groupsaffiliated to the three main political parties willbe running stands at the conference.

If you want to be equipped and inspiredto engage with the issues facing Britaintoday, book in for Faith + Justice 2015 orfind out more here: jubilee-plus.org/events

Faith + Justice

conference

“Excellent! Thank you so much! I feel encouraged that politics isrelevant and I have a responsibilityto get involved.”

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7Jubilee+ 2014

Equipping ordinary Christians to make

an extraordinary difference

How can I support Jubilee+?We are often asked this question – so thank you for considering supporting us.

A few words of explanation might help to start with. Jubilee+ started out as an informal teambut was constituted as a company in 2013 and is governed by a board of directors. It has a smalloperational base and most of our team members give their time voluntarily. We are largelydependent on financial donations. We run a Partner Church scheme for churches desiring toestablish an ongoing partnership with us. There are several ways you (as an individual or achurch) can keep in touch with us or support us on a regular basis:• Receive our regular email newsletter;• Become a financial donor through standing order or one-off gift;• Become a Partner Church.

Please contact us for further details: admin@jubilee-plus.org

“The benefit of such

conferences is not simply

drawing on the experience of

the main and seminar

speakers, but also having the

opportunity to hear the

stories of those from other

churches, sharing together

our concerns, needs and local

experiences.”

Richard Wilson, Hastings

“To me this is the heart of what Jubilee+ is about– sharing ideas, inspiring each other, helping eachother, building the Kingdom... I left excited againabout what God might do in the UK.”

Tom Bray, Durham

“I came looking for refreshing and inspiration from God and speakers. I found both... As always after a Jubilee+event, my head and heart were full of so much as we left.” Gavin Bateman, Nassington

“The benefit of such

conferences is not simply

drawing on the

experience of the main

and seminar speakers,

but also having the

opportunity to hear the

stories of those from

other churches, sharing

together our concerns,

needs and local

experiences.”

Richard Wilson, Hastings

“A precious time... It was very worthwhile andcertainly worth the long journey...” Bonnie Lyne, Bexhill

We put on conferences with a rich variety of ingredients: worship, Bible teaching, keynotespeakers, wide-ranging seminars, networking opportunities, partner organisation stands,resources… and much more. Many hundreds of people have been at our conferences in recentyears. We aim to inspire, equip and encourage existing and new initiatives in church-based socialaction. We hope to connect with social entrepreneurs. We want to support those called toadvocacy and public policy engagement.

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jubilee-plus.org

twitter.com/jubileeplus

facebook.com/jubileeplus

Vision

To increase social inclusion andthe relief of poverty throughchurches engaging with socialaction, social justice and socialenterprise.

Social action – the Church expressing the gospel throughaction that improves the lives of those in the surroundingcommunities who are in material, physical, emotional andeducational need.

Social justice – equipping individuals to engage positively on behalf ofthe poor and socially excluded. Through research and biblical teaching,Jubilee+ seeks to help people to work for the common good in our society.

Social enterprise – advising and encouraging enterprises establishedeither to produce goods and services beneficial to the disadvantaged, or to provide them with employment opportunities and skills training.

© Jubilee+ 2014

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