A LOCAL church is to partner with an award-winning charity to offer debt counselling, following concern from church congregations about the financial hardships of their local communities.
Members of Holy Trinity Church, Frome, amongst others, report that they wanted to help people living with the pressure of debt and got in touch with UK debt counselling charity Christians Against Poverty (CAP). After fundraising, they plan to offer the new, free service from now.
Holy Trinity’s Vicar, Reverend Graham Owen, said, “Debt stress can be so destructive. It affects family relationships, health and can be very isolating. As a compassionate community, we wanted to provide people with a route out of debt and CAP is distinct because it does that in partnership with the church.
“Sometimes people feel they have made mistakes but very often they’ve been driven into debt by suffering from job loss, relationship breakdown or coping with illness in the family or a bereavement – situations that are often difficult, emotional and have a financial impact. The pandemic has only made that worse.
“We have now appointed a dedicated debt centre manager, Phil Gray, who has been given training from CAP to offer a face-to-face, tried-and-tested professional service which will see people escape that debt trap and get their lives back on track.”
The charity report, “CAP has around 300 church-based debt help centres across the UK offering a free service which begins with three home visits.
“TV’s Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has described CAP as “unsurpassed” in its in-depth service which encourages and supports each household to repay what they owe – or go through an insolvency – until the day they are debt free.”
