What's next for Church and Community Transformation at Tearfund?

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:36:23

Unknown

Hello and welcome back to our final episode of season three of the Faith and Development Podcast. Brought to you by Tearfund, a Christian relief and development agency working in over 50 countries around the world. This is a podcast of storytelling and conversation as we explore different areas of development through the lens of faith. Drawing on the wealth of incredible people who will share their learning and experience.

00:00:37:01 - 00:00:57:18

Unknown

This season we're focusing on the church and want to hear from the lens. Working with the church is critical to ending global poverty. My name is Pete Dawson and I'm joined once again for the final time by my co-host Bethany Sykes. Hey, both. Annie. Hey, Pete. I can't believe it's the final episode already. And I said time, but it's going to be a good one.

00:00:57:18 - 00:01:30:18

Unknown

We're going out on a high. So, just to recap, last episode, we learned all about how to calculate the value of church and community transformational team, for sure, and that the work of churches creates high social returns and is great value. But, Bethany, could you just give us a quick summary of the last episode? Yeah. So the last episode, we covered some big technical concepts, and it was great to have Lizzie trusted from stage of life, to walk us through the process of measuring social value in the local church lasting transformation study.

00:01:30:20 - 00:01:57:03

Unknown

And we were really excited to share that. We found that our model of working with churches super charges, investments, turning every 1 pound invested in CT alongside community contributions into 211 pounds worth of social value. So that's for every 1 pound that Tearfund and partners invest in the church's key journey. Unlock 7 pounds worth of community resources to support CGT.

00:01:57:05 - 00:02:21:11

Unknown

And that combined create a social value of 211 pounds in increased life satisfaction through improved wellbeing. So really exciting findings. That's pretty incredible. And so what are we going to be looking at in our final episode of the series? We're going to be hearing about what's next for a church and community transformation. As Tearfund enters a period of ambitious scale up.

00:02:21:13 - 00:02:41:20

Unknown

And there also may be some exciting new evidence coming soon. Teams will be talking about that. And just to say, you will hear a new term in this episode, which is CCM and that stands for Church and Community Mobilization. And it's a type or way of doing church and community transformation. So don't worry if you hear that, don't be thrown.

00:02:42:01 - 00:03:20:11

Unknown

It's you can understand it interchangeably with CCG. Brilliant. And as well, in this episode you might notice the audio sounds slightly different. For this last episode, we're recording entirely remotely touring across countries and continent. So without further ado, let's dive in to this episode where we're going to be joined by two guests this time, and Mimi and Grace Kariuki, both of a supporting the scale of Cincinnati.

00:03:20:13 - 00:03:47:19

Unknown

So big. Welcome to, Grace and Annie. So good to have you. On this episode of the podcast, could you begin by just introducing yourselves a little bit about who you are and what you do? So grace the staff? Yeah, my name is Grace Kelly. I am the global CCM officer. My main focus is around coordinating learning across our regions, around and but specifically for our church mobilization principles.

00:03:47:20 - 00:04:14:21

Unknown

And also the community manager for our community practice, and have been coordinating that space. And also another part of my big role is improving understanding both internally and externally around what we mean by sensitive specifically. So yes. Thank you so much. My name is, Mumbai. I'm based in Zambia. I have been working with Tearfund for over 12 years now.

00:04:14:22 - 00:04:54:15

Unknown

I am the South and East Africa, regional influencing lead. My role, revolves around, working with the church, theological institutions in countries, where Tearfund has, strong church networks, and denominations. Most of the work is around, influencer ING, church leaders that are influential and powerful to work with church and community transformation as one of the approaches that we use.

00:04:54:19 - 00:05:19:06

Unknown

So that's a bit, about my role. Thank you. Plastic and plastic. Thanks so much. So over the course of this series, we've been learning all about the power, of the church to address poverty. So a couple of questions, really, for you both. What is it that excites you about CCT? And I guess, more importantly, why do you think it's important to work for the church in the first place?

00:05:19:08 - 00:05:51:12

Unknown

I think for me, really what excites me so much about church and community transformation, is the tools that it uses. And one of those tools is called church and community mobilization. Process, which is a step by step process that takes the church, through in terms of identifying itself and its mandate and discover itself, and then being able to use that to empower and affect its own local, community.

00:05:51:14 - 00:06:18:06

Unknown

And I have seen this from community to community, just how the church has gained so much confidence in its mandate because of this, process. And because of that, it has seen how individuals within the local church itself have been able to transform their own lives healthier mindset transformed, and that has begun to filter through in their own local community.

00:06:18:11 - 00:06:53:02

Unknown

Each time I reflect and look upon this, what does excite me? And whenever I meet development organizations, being a development practitioner myself, I have say to them, if you really and genuinely want to transform a community, I think we have discovered a process and an approach that has shown us that it is possible to actually have a community that works a different journey in terms of looking at what they what they own and the resources they have.

00:06:53:03 - 00:07:22:23

Unknown

Yeah, I think for me, that excites me. And I get excited because then I am able to talk about what the church is capable of doing, because many people think the church is only there just to preach, you know, and, spiritual stuff, but actually when you bring in this element, then they realize there's so much that the church has to offer, in a community and in its nation that excites me about CCT.

00:07:23:01 - 00:07:39:11

Unknown

It has that power. That's amazing. And, that's so good. And I guess the exciting thing for us now, when you talk to other agencies and charities about our work and the effectiveness of the church, we now have this robust data to go alongside that, which is just incredible. Grace, what about yourself? What excites you about Cincinnati?

00:07:39:11 - 00:08:03:10

Unknown

And. Yeah, the place of the church and what we do. Yeah, I think for me, it's, it's recognizing that God has given the church the mandate, to bring change, to bring holistic transformation to itself and to those around them. And God has been so gracious to give the church resources, time, people skills, right placement, right connections, right structures.

00:08:03:15 - 00:08:27:21

Unknown

So all of that is already in place. But for me, as the UN mentioned, one of our tools is church and community mobilization. It's that systematic pathway, for churches to do what they want to do. But we've, a very well thought out process. So this is where you start is are the questions to ask. And it's very open handed because it just gives the church the space to say, let me reflect on this.

00:08:27:22 - 00:08:53:08

Unknown

What does it mean to be Christ like? What does it mean to serve my community? What does it mean to bring change? And these questions are both reflective and, introspective. And so churches get to do what they already doing, but with a bit more shape and ideas, with a bit more shape and plan and resource. So like answers, I think for me this is gold mine.

00:08:53:10 - 00:09:11:10

Unknown

Because church want to reach out, but sometimes they don't know where to begin. And cesium gives you that very specific journey of this is where you can start. This is where you can follow on this, where you can build on so suddenly having the desire, the resources, the time, and then having a plan. Since that for me was exciting.

00:09:11:12 - 00:09:36:23

Unknown

It's so exciting to hear your, your reflections there, to quite different perspectives of, you know, the way that you work with the church. Grace and and and but hearing, you know, similar things around why why it's so important. And so throughout this series, we've been unpacking the evidence from the local church that some transformation study all about the impacts of our church and community transformation model.

00:09:37:01 - 00:10:01:09

Unknown

And I'd love to hear from you both about whether the evidence has changed your perspective or practice related to church and community transformation. Yeah, I think for me, this I changed it probably stamped an approval on what we already know, an instinct that we have. And, I said within the learning space. So I get to see some of that evidence, some of that evaluate and some that want to change.

00:10:01:09 - 00:10:23:13

Unknown

So I get I have, an eye on that. But for me, what was beautiful was seeing it being brought out in different spaces, and seeing the similarities, but also the unique differences and how, they were able to achieve the same thing, but different impact because of their context. So for me, it was just like, you're doing well.

00:10:23:15 - 00:10:46:18

Unknown

Keep going. This thing is working. And now we have, the numbers we have the timelines. And I think it's been really, really encouraging for people in the ground to be like, I can actually just pull this out in a very simple way. This a summary. If you haven't seen somewhere, there's one there. And being able to share with people who are seeing the change but know not knowing what exactly this change.

00:10:46:23 - 00:11:12:09

Unknown

So it's been a real good tool for us to say, here is a simplified version of what we know is years of work and years of effort and years of blessing with the space. And so it's given more credibility, to this space. And I'm excited for you to do. But I think for most of us within the scheme world are we've already known this or finally, somebody who put pen and paper together.

00:11:12:11 - 00:11:35:18

Unknown

Yeah, definitely. And I think, like what you said there about the people who are working on CCTV on the ground, you know, they're seeing transformation at their church and their community. But to have the data to show, you know, this is what this looks like, you know, on an individual's life, but also at scale, you know, in over 200 communities across 44 countries.

00:11:35:22 - 00:12:11:23

Unknown

That must be really inspiring for the staff who were like chipping away, working on their every day. That's really encouraging and I'd love to hear from you. Whether the evidence from the little church lesson transformation study has as little changed your perspective or practice related to CCTV. Thank you so much. Bethany, I think for me, the study has just confirmed what, we see every day as we, we work with the churches on this act journey.

00:12:12:01 - 00:12:52:11

Unknown

A lot of things actually have been confirmed from the different contexts where this was done. Even where we are working, we are actually able, to confirm the changes that, have happened in the lives of individuals in the lives of the church and the community. We have the church has actually been, involved. So for me, it hasn't, changed my perspective at all, but it has given me confidence, that I can be able to engage, with, different, denominational leaders and be able to bring out this evidence for them to see.

00:12:52:13 - 00:13:21:12

Unknown

And I just want to give a little example of, of just what's happened or your testimony of what happened when the study came out. That, we shared this with one of, the church leaders, where I, who was very, very skeptic of, CCM and, when he actually read through this study, he actually came back, to us and said, you know, I want to work with Tearfund.

00:13:21:14 - 00:13:46:06

Unknown

I have read through and this is what we really want to do. And so he already is one of those denominations that we are going to work with as a result of, of the impact from this study changing his perspective. He had a very different perspective, on society. But really, having gone through the evidence and the work that we do that has actually convinced him.

00:13:46:06 - 00:14:15:03

Unknown

So for me, it has just given me really confidence, to be able to present, to denominational heads and others that because we can now speak with evidence, really? That is documented. That's so encouraging. So over the course of this podcast series, we've been looking quite in detail at the study, about about the impact of CCD, but also tearfund has set a pretty ambitious vision to reach even more churches.

00:14:15:03 - 00:14:46:01

Unknown

So could you tell us what's next, specifically? Yes. So we want to see, as the whole, of course, 250 churches, activated as transformation centers in their communities over the coming, years. We're looking at 2030 is our target. And we know that, CPM will be a huge part of that parcel of the 252 churches. But we also know that there's incredible ways of working within the church, that could also make up that number.

00:14:46:01 - 00:15:22:04

Unknown

So looking forward to seeing us fulfill that target together. One of one example I can actually really give is, when we were in, Kigali with the church leaders from the continent of Africa, we actually shared this vision. We, the meeting in Kigali was for the African, church leaders, for those where we, have been working as a fund and also for those leaders that, that have never had an opportunity to, to, to go through the CCM process.

00:15:22:06 - 00:15:49:12

Unknown

And so it was really bringing them together and so we could actually share as Tearfund really what our vision was of the 250,000, and also being able to share the impact study, you know, to this bigger group and it was so, and it happened that while in this meeting, the leaders after the impact study said, we, we realize this is our mandate, buy into it.

00:15:49:18 - 00:16:27:11

Unknown

And we want to, you know, to work with this mandate and that and and that is the vision of Tearfund that we reached out to 250,000 churches and impact them with, CCM because we have seen that CCM really does want. And so, in summary, the the meeting in Kigali was to was to influence the, the, the church leadership in Africa and bringing them to the space that we were available as tearfund to support them in this in this journey.

00:16:27:13 - 00:16:51:16

Unknown

And they caught it and they caught the vision and they came out of that vision saying, we as the church in Africa, we will actually take on, CCT. Great. Thanks so much. And over to you guys. Thank you. I think, for us there, pray trust build 250 K. It's a very, very exciting number.

00:16:51:18 - 00:17:20:15

Unknown

And if I didn't start by faith might even be outdone. And why I say that is, there's been a lot of excitement. God has been really gracious. It's been a lot of excitement about the impact of this year and city in general. And there's been a lot of interest from churches, from denominations and theological institutions. And so when we think about the expansion or the scale up of this, we're thinking about nominations and there are many denominations.

00:17:20:17 - 00:17:47:01

Unknown

So in terms of opportunities and appetite, it is there. That's really exciting to hear that, you know, the church in action at all levels. It's a really beautiful picture of of what the church should look like working together for the kingdom. So I just want to check this 250,000, goal that we've set ourselves is is global is for the global church.

00:17:47:03 - 00:18:25:14

Unknown

Yes. That's correct. So currently we work obviously in Africa and Latin America. So and the Caribbean, and we work in Eastern and Middle East. And also we work in Asia. And so we have a large scope, pretty much global, that we have spaces and Asia, I would say is growing. Of course, we don't often name names, and countries, but I can tell you from what I know is that there's lots of countries appearing in Asia, lots of very fragile countries, but a lot of impact and a lot of impacts that I wish, you know, if it wasn't for a safety thing, I would love to be able to share very

00:18:25:17 - 00:18:49:14

Unknown

highly and widely. But they are growing as well as via as much as we hear about Africa growing, Asia is, is, is on a momentum of its own and the beautiful thing I've just been to, a country in Asia last year. And the beautiful thing for me is that it's become so ingrained in the way the church works that you don't even notice it as an addition.

00:18:49:16 - 00:19:24:07

Unknown

It is the same way you would think about having a women's ministry. They just have it as a normal. It's part of church. It's part of the way they do it. And so, in fact, when I went to make the visit, very rarely did I hear the name Tearfund very, very rarely. In fact, there's so many levels between, them and growing themselves and equipping themselves and resourcing themselves, that it takes you a while to figure out, oh, they were first trained by Tearfund and they went and took it to that denomination, and now they are the key folks in that nation.

00:19:24:10 - 00:19:46:04

Unknown

And so we just come to support and put them in that peer to peer learning spaces. And so the numbers in Asia are pretty epic. And I'm really, really excited and proud of the team. They do an incredible, incredible job in some very, very difficult spaces. That's really cool. One of the things that you're working on, to be that space around learning is the community of practice.

00:19:46:08 - 00:20:11:13

Unknown

Could you tell us a bit more about that? Yes. So coming to a practice is a very, very exciting space for us for a very long time, we have wanted to have a space where internal, members and external members can talk about CCM and talk about, the city in general. And we've not ever found a technology that allows us to do that in a safe in a coordinated space.

00:20:11:15 - 00:20:35:01

Unknown

But finally we've landed one. We've been around for about a year and a half now. For anybody who wants to join is interested. And that is committed to a funder. Org slash CC. And you will find the page. And here we have such a variety of people and it's become what we think a virtual home because we recognize that this city is, very much like wildfire.

00:20:35:01 - 00:20:51:22

Unknown

It's very catalytic in the way that it works. And you can often reach people without knowing you're reaching them. Say what? And is talking about influencing you can be very light touch and very, involved. But where do we take these people? Where do we bring them together? We can't afford to bring the whole world to a conference.

00:20:51:23 - 00:21:17:12

Unknown

And so we wanted to find a virtual home that has multiple languages. So we have, every language that Google can translate to. And so I would highly encourage, Tearfund to continue to embrace this, but also peer organizations and our partners to embrace this space because it will change the way we work. We're in a digital world, and we're pretty much a global village, and we now have a global and village.

00:21:17:12 - 00:21:45:02

Unknown

So welcome to the village and join the same love. Given the scale of impacts, of course, the amount of churches we're working at the moment, do we have any sort of potential estimate of, the impact to 200,000 churches? I can confidently speak about the estimations we have made, at the regional level, in South and, and East Africa region.

00:21:45:02 - 00:22:13:14

Unknown

So we, at the point where we comfortably can say, about 10 million people will actually be impacted from the number of churches in the 250,000 churches among the 250,000 churches that we have targeted. In terms of, you know, yes. So we are really looking at that figure. So definitely, can we expect any more exciting events about the impacts of society moving forward?

00:22:13:15 - 00:22:35:12

Unknown

Yes, we can actually, as we speak, data collection is underway for a year or two of the local church lasting transformation study. We're going to at least three new study countries, including one outside of Africa, for the first time to repeat our study. So in year one, we went to, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

00:22:35:14 - 00:22:58:07

Unknown

And for a year or two, we've already collected data in Nigeria and Malawi. And, as we're recording, we're about to start, data collection in Bangladesh, which is really exciting. And we may be having one other country join the study. We will see, what that means is we are repeating the study to be looking at holistic transformation, well-being again.

00:22:58:11 - 00:23:21:01

Unknown

And but we're also going to be adding a slightly new element, which is looking in more detail at the impact of KT on the church itself. So we've been interviewing church leaders and asking what the changes they've seen in their in their congregation and in their church. So that means that we'll be able to speak to the impact on individuals, on churches, and also on the communities.

00:23:21:03 - 00:23:42:07

Unknown

So hopefully we will be bringing you some exciting evidence of the impact of CCD in a future episode. We've got a long way to go, got lots of data still to collect and to analyze, go back to communities and validate those findings and but hopefully keep your eyes peeled because they may be, some more exciting findings to share with you in the future.

00:23:42:09 - 00:24:12:07

Unknown

Fantastic. And maybe just to close up, obviously this is KT. It's the focus on the church. We wholeheartedly at Tiff and believe that the church, right, the center of God's plan for the healing and restoration for the world. And it's exciting to look at the impact on the church because we we've seen the data about how good, the impacts on communities and the development side of things, but bring it back to that church level for grace and, obviously it's different for us.

00:24:12:07 - 00:24:39:11

Unknown

Poverty is more than about material, poverty. For us, it's it's fundamentally about brokenness. And for us, we believe that the only one who can restore that deep brokenness in humanity is Jesus. And he's at the center of everything we do. So just around the impact on the church, could you just share maybe maybe to close, how have you seen this impact churches and communities from the more spiritual transformation side of things?

00:24:39:13 - 00:25:05:02

Unknown

The most exciting thing is to see the church come alive. It's like they finally see their relationship with Jesus. So close. Jesus is not so far. And they can see him close to them, and experience him. The second thing for me is that because all of these are based on Bible studies, people are reading the Bible more, and whenever you read the Word of God, it changes you.

00:25:05:02 - 00:25:35:11

Unknown

There is absolutely no way that you wouldn't change. So people's relationship and understanding of God, of understanding of theology, of understanding of, you know who God says he is and that faith and that belief that he is indeed a miracle worker, he is indeed concerned about your everyday is not just waiting for when you pray more. He is concerned that you wake up, that you ate, that you're fed, that you have friends he is concerned about.

00:25:35:11 - 00:25:57:01

Unknown

How are you getting on with your neighbor? Do you have a best friend? I think people are excited and proud about their faith and feeling that they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, that he is concerned about not only their spiritual life, but their personal life, their marriages. You know, I remember one of the my favorite stories is a Nigerian.

00:25:57:03 - 00:26:16:16

Unknown

In Nigeria, they were doing a CCM and there was this, drug addict. Basically, he just was in like watching, you know, from the door. So these people always wanted to get. So he kind of listened high as a kite. And gradually he was like, oh, maybe I'll take mine at two hours before so I can listen a bit better from the door.

00:26:16:18 - 00:26:34:22

Unknown

And actually, believe it or not, he came in, started doing the sessions. I actually had the privilege of meeting him on video, saying that my wife had obviously, like, less me because I was into drugs or the pressures of life or too much. I wasn't able to see my baby and he had his baby on his lap.

00:26:35:00 - 00:27:00:17

Unknown

We, one of our coordinators on the with me and I just thought, Only God can do this. And you would think, you know, somebody watching Christians be really like that is many that you cannot explain. And then seeing somebody being attracted by that goodness, that fragrance of goodness and deciding it's not worth being high anymore, I want life, I want the life that I'm seeing them experience.

00:27:00:17 - 00:27:24:07

Unknown

I want the joy of family that I'm seeing them experience. I just I can talk about this forever, but I'm like, the church are reaping the benefits of discipleship, of entering the world, of people being part of their faith or people being evangelistic in the way they live and say, and being practical doers and not ignoring the challenges and the difficulties that we have in our government, in our community.

00:27:24:09 - 00:27:41:18

Unknown

And then being saying, I am the answer because Christ is in me and God is he that is in me, then he that is in the world. So I could preach about this forever. But I'm like the church. The rights thrive. So so good. That's so good. Thank you so much. And, what about you? So. Yes.

00:27:41:20 - 00:28:16:17

Unknown

Thank you so much. Actually, for me, I have looked at, at CCM really also, having the potential and, for, discipleship because the Bible studies that are really at the center of this are the great igniters, that have enabled individuals, you know, to really strengthen their relationship with God. I have so many, many examples that I can give you.

00:28:16:17 - 00:28:47:16

Unknown

We went into one of the communities, and then people began to tell us that the numbers of people grew from, 15, at the time when we were visiting them, they were over a hundred people. So we we were we were interested and we wanted to find out really, what what caused the growth. And so we found out that actually, as they did the Bible studies, they said, you know, those Bible studies are very, very deep.

00:28:47:18 - 00:29:12:21

Unknown

You actually take them, personally. And not only that, it's not the preacher standing in front of you. You yourself actually speak and interrogate the scriptures and together with your colleagues, it's very participatory. You know, they said when we sit in church, it's only the preacher that preaches in front of us, and we don't have time to ask questions.

00:29:12:23 - 00:29:33:17

Unknown

But when we sit in a CCM and we are doing a Bible study, we are actually able to ask as many questions and we go our introspecting and we we go our way with actions, that we actually want to do better. And the other thing also that, that I have experienced on the ground is the level of giving.

00:29:33:22 - 00:30:11:06

Unknown

Interestingly, and most of the local church pastors have been able to tell us that, because they, they actually the giving was very, very difficult. And I come from the Pentecostal church and they would, you know, preach these messages to try and encourage people to give. But when the local church has gone through the CCM process, they actually have not struggled to tell anyone to give because people personal relationship with Jesus have really grown so much that they have fallen in love with the Lord over and over and over again.

00:30:11:06 - 00:30:38:04

Unknown

And giving does not become an issue for them. When there's anything they need to do and they need to give, they will gladly give because they understand. The calling Peter and their relationship has, has grown to become, you know, intimate with the Lord through these Bible studies. You actually have some really exciting, confirmation of that or quantification of that, in the local church Lost in translation study.

00:30:38:04 - 00:31:03:08

Unknown

So we found that three quarters of churches in the study who were, engaging with church and community transformation, reported that church attendance and financial giving to the church had increased in the in the year before, which is, which is really exciting and hopefully something we'll unpack a bit more in a year or two, as we're going to be looking at the impact of the church, impact on society, on the church itself a little bit more.

00:31:03:08 - 00:31:36:03

Unknown

So hopefully we can, unpack that even further and shine a light on. What's that? What's happening at, church level? Fantastic. Well, Grace, and, thank you so much for sharing. For inputting. And I, I'm leaving this conversation with my full of faith, and so inspired by what the Lord is saying. Thanks so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

00:31:36:05 - 00:31:59:13

Unknown

Well, personally, that was an amazing episode. I'm feeling so inspired. Just want to share a highlight or one of your takeaways from that. So, yeah, I'm just feeling so filled with hope. Having listened to Grace and and talk about what's next is as there's a real exciting future ahead, I think I was just really struck by all the different ways in which we're working with the church.

00:31:59:13 - 00:32:21:15

Unknown

You know, Grace talking about the facilitators and the sharing of of learning with with them, with the community of practice, with our peer agencies, but also hearing about, you know, working with, theological colleges and training up the future leaders of the church, and also working with denominations and seeing, you know, the vision of it take hold.

00:32:21:17 - 00:32:42:12

Unknown

Yeah, just really exciting to hear about that 250,000, goal to have 250,000 churches active as transformation centers in that community. And but also to really understand, like what that's going to look like and how we're going to get there. Yeah. Feeling very inspired and hopeful, having listened to that, said, yeah, that's life saver for me and for me.

00:32:42:12 - 00:33:17:14

Unknown

It didn't spark so much hope. But I think the prevailing narrative of our time is one of despair and hopelessness, because of the immense need in our world. And we can't ignore that or shy away from that. But actually, there is so much good happening. There is so much hope, there's so much change happening. There's. And we're seeing it happen, through the local church and, and I think we're only just scratching the surface of what we're seeing from the relief of poverty, lives and communities being transformed, and to see the potential of what's going to happen when this multiplies tenfold.

00:33:17:14 - 00:33:42:10

Unknown

We're seeing 250,000 churches envision a mobilized. I just think that has the potential to make global headlines. Bias impact. Very exciting times ahead. But at the beginning of this podcast series, Bethany, we were asking the big question throughout it, which is why ultimately does Tearfund work through the local church now? Do you believe we can answer that now?

00:33:42:11 - 00:34:21:16

Unknown

Yeah, and I think hearing from so many different, guests with different perspectives on how we work with the church has been really, really helpful in unpacking that question. I think the clothes that will always stick with me is, when Penina talks about the church being a sleeping giant, you know that we're waking up through GCT and what happens, and we see that, that sleeping giant come to life, and I think is, well, hearing quite a few of our guests talk about the mandate of the church to be, I guess the, the hands and feet of Jesus in the community, to, to really, you know, spreading the, the

00:34:21:19 - 00:34:47:01

Unknown

love of the gospel in practice. And then I think when we also look at the impact that we the evidence of impacts to the local church lesson transformation study, to really be able to understand the impact of that when the when the church wakes up and starts, putting its mandate into practice, we see transformation happening in individual lives, in the community lives in the church as well.

00:34:47:03 - 00:35:13:06

Unknown

So yeah, I definitely think that we can see, you know, with these three things combined and the scale of the impact that we can have, it's a no brainer. Why would you not work with the church? Absolutely. One of the things that is said so often at Tearfund is that the church is the largest civil society network on the planet, and so we all best place practically to meet the needs of individuals and communities across the world.

00:35:13:06 - 00:35:40:20

Unknown

And, and, and the evidence is shown in a very practical way, what happens when the when the church takes a bit mandate and responds? So practically it's, it's it's the needs in communities. But then we have another layer to that in the fact that actually what was said so many times in this podcast, the issues, the need to the world, the poverty is not just a material need that we need, but ultimately it's it's much deeper than that.

00:35:40:20 - 00:36:04:03

Unknown

Fundamentally, it's about brokenness. And as those who follow Jesus and believe in him, we believe he is the only solution for that underlying brokenness. And so, combined with all the practical ways the church can serve, there's that much deeper level actually, we can get to the root cause of the brokenness. So we bring in the light in the life of Jesus, in the most broken places in the world.

00:36:04:03 - 00:36:31:07

Unknown

And we're seeing that and this just holistic approach, to, to acting in communities across the world, seeing such incredible impacts. I believe the church is, not the only way, but the most effective way we can see relief of poverty in the most desperate needs in our world. So, Bethany, we potentially got some more exciting data, some room.

00:36:31:09 - 00:36:54:12

Unknown

Yes. So as I mentioned in the episode, we are doing data collection for year two of the local church Loss and transformation study. At present. So definitely keep your eyes peeled for an episode. The second year of results from the study, we can find out what impact you know, the church is having. On holistic well-being.

00:36:54:14 - 00:37:20:14

Unknown

Amazing. And lastly, how can people find out more about anything that we've, looked at during this podcast series? Yeah, I really recommend that you head over to Tearfund learn, which is our hub of thousands of free resources at Lone Tearfund. So. Org and if you want to dig into the findings of the local Church Lasting Transformation study, you can add a forward slash CCTV dash impact to find out more.

00:37:20:16 - 00:37:49:16

Unknown

Fantastic. But for now, that's it from us. Thank you so much for tuning into this series and we'll be back with season four in the near future, so stay tuned. Bye for now. Bye.