Making a Christian difference
‘ Who is like you, Lord God Almighty? You, Lord, are mighty, and Your faithfulness surrounds You.’ Psalm 89:8 (NIV)
ANNUAL REVIEW 2018-2019
Himalayan Mountain Top, Annapurna, Nepal.
Making a Christian Difference | CARE
Making a Christian difference As I look back over the last year three things particularly strike me. First of all, how much CARE is incredibly blessed by so many wonderful supporters – some of you have been with us for more than thirty years. We give heartfelt thanks for your generosity and engagement; through prayer, giving and practical action. Then, the way in which Parliamentarians from all sides are increasingly requesting CARE’s help on issues such as human life, human trafficking and sexual exploitation, families, online protection, problem gambling, robotics and AI, and freedom to manifest our faith. CARE is regarded as a trusted Christian organisation with unique experience and professional expertise in how public policy and legislation works. I’m sure you’ll be encouraged by the reports of our Public Affairs Team’s hard work and the varied activities of the rest of our talented staff. Thirdly, that as part of our mandate to make a Christian difference, CARE has been very active in areas beyond our main emphasis on influencing policy makers and equipping the Church to engage with our issues. For several years now we have been part of some exciting wider initiatives, like the European Leadership Forum, the annual Westminster Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast and we have also provided a platform for key Evangelical leaders to share strategic conversations and pray together. So, once again, this year we have found God to be so faithful and thank Him and you for all your expressions of support for CARE – we deeply appreciate it.
Nola Leach Chief Executive
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INFORMING PUBLIC POLICY
CARE | Making a Christian Difference
England and Wales Abortion CARE worked closely with MPs and Peers to oppose Diana Johnson MP’s Abortion Bill in the Commons, as well as opposing an amendment to the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Bill in the Commons and the Lords. We assisted Fiona Bruce MP in her debate about the sad lack of support for parents of babies diagnosed with a life-limiting condition and the pressure to abort. In Westminster, to counter Amnesty International’s protest about current abortion law in Northern Ireland, CARE participated in a demonstration using facts and figures from the Both Lives Matter campaign’s findings that 100,000 lives have been saved in Northern Ireland since the 1967 Abortion Act was not extended there. Marriage We engaged closely with the Government consultation on proposed reforms to divorce law in England and Wales, submitting an extensive response and equipping CARE supporters to respond too. We highlighted concerns that these reforms would increase the divorce rate, reduce the societal value of marriage and overall be bad for children. CARE attended a Ministry of Justice Round Table as a part of this consultation, as one of only two groups speaking against the proposals.
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Online Safety and Pornography CARE supported Baroness Howe as she took her Bill through the House of Lords to amend the Digital Economy Act 2017 regarding the definition of ‘extreme pornography’. Polling commissioned by CARE revealed that 71 per cent of MPs – increasing to 76 per cent amongst female MPs – do not think it is right that the Digital Economy Act 2017 allows non-photographic child sex abuse images to be available online, even if there is age verification in place. We supported MPs and Peers in scrutinising the Government’s Online Pornography (Commercial Basis) Regulations in debates in both Houses of Parliament. Human Trafficking In the House of Lords, CARE continued to support Lord McColl with his Modern Slavery (Victim Support) Bill, to strengthen support for victims of human trafficking. We also assisted Iain Duncan Smith MP, the Bill’s sponsor in the House of Commons as the Bill progressed there. CARE continues to coordinate the Free for Good campaign, that promotes the Modern Slavery (Victim Support) Bill. The campaign is supported by 26 NGOs and business groups. We submitted written evidence to the Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, and to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women’s General Discussion on the Trafficking of Women and Girls in the Context of Global Migration. CARE also contributed to the US State Department’s evidence-gathering process for their Trafficking in Persons Report 2019.
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INFORMING PUBLIC POLICY
CARE | Making a Christian Difference
Scotland Freedom of Religion or Belief CARE made a submission to the consultation on Lord Bracadale’s Independent Review of Hate Crime legislation, highlighting the need for a clear conscience clause to protect freedom of speech and for religious liberty to be included in any new laws. Our recommendation was included in the Review Report. We also raised concerns about overall implications of the Government’s review for freedom of speech and religious liberty in our submission to the Scottish Government’s consultation on Hate Crime.
Prostitution CARE continued to support the development of legislation intended to tackle demand for prostitution by criminalising the purchase of sex. This work included sponsoring a fringe meeting at the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ Party Conference which featured the moving testimony of a survivor of prostitution. Alongside this, we continue to participate in the Cross-Party Group on Commercial Sexual Exploitation at the Scottish Parliament.
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Annual Review 2018-2019
Making a Christian Difference | CARE
Northern Ireland Abortion CARE played a central role in engaging with Parliamentarians at Westminster and Stormont to oppose the liberalisation of abortion law in Northern Ireland. We responded to the Women and Equalities Committee Consultation on NI Abortion Law and have repeatedly engaged in the media on this topic. Our Both Lives Matter campaign, of which we are founding partners, continues to make a positive impact on the debate around abortion. In addition, CARE NI ran a billboard campaign across Northern Ireland entitled Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, highlighting our support that human life has value and worth from conception to natural death. This was viewed by tens of thousands of people across the Province. Gambling CARE worked with local councillors to see motions passed at Belfast City Council and Ards and North Down Council calling for a voluntary reduction in the stake on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) from £100 to £2 in Northern Ireland. In the absence of a functioning Assembly, no legislative action could be taken, yet many betting companies that operate FOBTs have voluntarily reduced the stake following public pressure. We have also participated in a wide range of TV and radio interviews on problem gambling and we hope to be able to shape future legislative action in this area.
We continue to pray for wisdom for those seeking to find a fair and peaceful resolution to the current political disagreements that have resulted in the suspension of Stormont’s power-sharing devolved Assembly.
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INFORMING PUBLIC POLICY
CARE | Making a Christian Difference
England and Wales summary Assisted Suicide n Advocated against proposals brought forward by Royal College of Physicians to adopt a position of so-called neutrality towards assisted suicide. n Worked with Care Not Killing Alliance to counter threat of assisted suicide. Family and Tax n Published The Taxation of Families – International Comparisons 2017, highlighting the discriminatory nature of the UK tax system faced by single earner families. This was featured in a House of Lords briefing event. n Assisted with the inquiry and subsequent report Making Work Pay for Low-Income Families; MPs debated the results in Westminster Hall. Prostitution n Submitted evidence to: the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women period review, The Prostitution Inquiry of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, and The Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. n Provided briefing materials to Parliamentarians ahead of debates on this topic.
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Annual Review 2018-2019
Gambling n Had several of the recommendations in the evidence we submitted to the Labour Party’s Review of Problem Gambling and its Treatment included in the final report. n Monitored the roll-out of GAMSTOP, for which we had lobbied hard. This now has tens of thousands of users. Relationships and Sex Education n Submitted evidence to both the Westminster and Welsh Government’s Consultations on RSE regulations and guidance, equipping supporters to do so too. n Worked closely with MPs to raise concerns related to the right to withdraw children from sex education. Abortion n CARE also made a submission to the UN regarding the rights of unborn children with disabilities in the UK in response to the Draft General Comment on Equality and Non-Discrimination (Article 5) highlighting issues related to the discriminatory treatment.
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Scotland summary Euthanasia n Monitored Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on End of Life Choices and participated in public discussions. n Coordinated Care Not Killing Alliance activities to counter the threat of assisted suicide. n Responded to the Scottish Government consultation on its review of the Adults with Incapacity Act.
Value of Life
Abortion nP rovided briefing materials and organised meetings with MSPs, other officials and pro-life organisations. nR esponded to the Inquiry of the Joint Committee on Human Rights at Westminster, addressing freedom of religion in respect to exclusion zones around abortion clinics and hospitals.
Human Exploitation
Human Trafficking n Continued to participate in the Scottish Government’s Human Trafficking Stakeholder Group, working towards the roll out of the Scottish Government’s strategy to tackle human trafficking. n Participated in the Action of Churches Together Anti-Trafficking Working Group.
Marriage and Family
Relationships and Sex Education n • Engaged with officials concerning sexual health education and the need to involve parents to discuss the use of appropriate resources. n • Joined discussions about the Scottish Government and health boards’ new resources for SRE.
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Organ Donation n S ubmitted evidence to the Health and Sport Committee about the Scottish Government’s Bill to introduce presumed consent for organ donation. Subsequently, we were invited to provide oral evidence to the Committee. nP rovided briefings about presumed consent and organ donation to all MSPs.
Named Person Scheme n Continued to participate in the Scottish Government’s Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) Third Sector Working Group and worked with local councils in redrafting their approach. n Continued to work with partner organisations to highlight challenges regarding the GIRFEC/ Named Person scheme and its implications for human rights.
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INFORMING PUBLIC POLICY
CARE | Making a Christian Difference
Northern Ireland summary Human Exploitation
Human Trafficking nP articipated in the Department of Justice’s Engagement group on Human Trafficking. nR esponded to the consultation on the NI Modern Slavery Strategy 2019-20. nC ontinued to play a central role in following up implementation of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Act.
Value of Life
Euthanasia nP articipated in media debates concerning NI and Westminster.
Guernsey summary Saint Peter Port, Guernsey
Assisted Suicide n S upported local constituents, as well as States Members, in successfully opposing assisted suicide legislation and instead adopting an amendment to improve care at the end of life, including palliative care.
Isle of Man summary Douglas, Isle of Man
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Abortion nA ssisted Christians opposing the Abortion Reform Bill passed by the Tynwald in November 2018. The Isle of Man now has the most liberal abortion laws in the British Isles.
For the sake of the future conference at the British Library In June, CARE hosted a conference to explore the theological, ethical, social and practical implications of advances in A.I. and robotics and to discuss how the Church might respond. Through various seminar streams, over 250 delegates explored questions such as: what robots will mean for the future of healthcare, whether sex robots are a good idea and how church leaders can engage their congregations on the issue of robotics and A.I. There were contributions from special guests Prof Kathleen Richardson, Prof Nigel Cameron, Prof John Lennox, Dr Patrick Dixon, Jon Cruddas MP and other expert speakers.
Future is Now Digital Tech Tour Following this success, CARE took a condensed version of the conference to locations around the country to continue exploring some key questions around Digital Technology and stimulate thinking on issues of online safety, pornography and gambling.
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Equipping the Church CARE plays a vital role investing time and resources to encourage church leaders and individual Christians to engage in society. 17:21 National Leaders Gathering In early Spring, CARE hosted a diverse group of over 60 key Christian leaders in Westminster to discuss our unity in the gospel, to pray and to facilitate significant conversations. CARE is uniquely placed to help in this way and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Special events with RT Kendall & Graham Kendrick In March, we began hosting events in Belfast, Bournemouth, Brighton, Bristol, Guildford and Tunbridge Wells with special guests RT Kendall and Graham Kendrick. CARE supporters were invited to bring friends to this evening of ministry and learn more about our work. Over 2,000 attended in all, with scores of new supporters recruited. Engaging with Christians CARE’s Church Development Team, including a new North and Midlands staff member, continued to connect with UK leaders and congregations, bringing a biblical overview of political engagement, and discussing human trafficking, religious liberty, life and other issues to help Christians to be increasingly effective light and salt in society. This often resulted in individuals and churches supporting CARE financially. European Leadership Forum Nola Leach has been a leading organiser of this unique gathering of Christian Leaders across Europe. It encourages evangelism, political engagement and social action. This year, accompanied by our Senior Policy Officer Chris Buttenshaw, she led the Politics and Society Network, was a keynote speaker and acted as a mentor.
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Equipping the Church in Scotland and Northern Ireland Scotland Director Dr Stuart Weir delivered 40 speaking engagements equipping churches within ten denominations to interact with CARE’s social issues and to encourage the manifestation of Christian faith where they live and work. New resources to help churches link their faith with political issues were produced and circulated amongst our supporting churches. Stuart lectured to youth and community workers and future church leaders, and he also delivered Christian Ethics teaching at the Scottish Episcopal Institute, Edinburgh Bible College and the Scottish Baptist College. Two Leadership Programme graduates completed placements with MSPs. One now works in the Scottish Parliament and the other with International Justice Mission, Scotland.
CARE Regional Directors: Tim Martin, Northern Ireland; Mike Chesterton, Midlands; Stuart Weir, Scotland
Northern Ireland CARE and EA held Both Lives Matter roadshows to raise awareness of the consequences of liberalising abortion law. In January, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made was launched with billboards across the country declaring God’s truth and love, reminding everyone of their value, made in His image. Over the year NI Director Tim Martin spoke in scores of churches across the denominations. Over 800 people came to hear RT Kendall, Graham Kendrick and the CARE team in April. Church leaders attended various gatherings including 100 at an OPEN event about pregnancy loss, followed by our first miscarriage healing retreat. CARE exhibited at New Horizon, Wondrous and Bangor Worldwide Missionary Covention, where people were really enthusiastic and encouraging about CARE’s issues.
Hannah Arnold, NI Development Consultant and CARE Volunteer
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CARE | Making a Christian Difference
In the Press Interacting with mainstream and Christian publications, broadcasting and social media is vital, enabling us to influence decision makers and raise public awareness. CARE colleagues have been aired on BBC Radio stations, and comments have appeared in the Telegraph, the Mirror, The Times, and the Guardian and many other regional and national news outlets, speaking out on issues relating to human dignity and protecting vulnerable members of our society. CARE has a thriving relationship with the Christian media: Premier Radio, UCB, Christian Today, The Catholic Universe and others. Nola Leach frequently writes opinion pieces for news outlets and Lyndon Bowring is a regular columnist for Direction and Sorted magazines. Digital Communications CARE has a strong social media presence with 3,500 likes on Facebook and reaching over 670,000 users in the last year. CARE has 6,400 Twitter followers and has reached 890,000 users. CARE’s Instagram account has grown rapidly to over 3,500 followers in less than a year. In addition, thousands of supporters have signed up to receive our regular emails.
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Unlike any previous generation, most Christians entering their retirement years now enjoy good health and have rich resources to offer in this new season of life and service. CARE’s AfterWorkNet initiative, to challenge and support this key age group, has been well received. The project involves a comprehensive website, with over 600 people regularly engaging with the Facebook group and roughly 1,500 people receiving our thought-provoking weekly blogposts. AfterWorkNet is also promoted through seminars at festivals and in local churches where we suggest ways of effectively releasing the resources of their ‘after-work’ congregation members both in church and out in the community. AfterWorkNet has been growing in strength and influence over the past twelve months. We are grateful to Dave Fenton as Ambassador, Peter Meadows as Programme Director, and to CARE staff for their involvement. Please take a look at our website; you could even join our Facebook group. /afterworknet
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Investing in Leadership
Leadership Programme Graduates 2018-19
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Making a Christian Difference | CARE
CARE’s Leadership Programme offers an exceptional opportunity for young Christian graduates with a vision to live out their faith in the workplace and aspire to positions of leadership in public life. It provides a unique insight into influencing our society for Christ at a political level, combining outstanding professional experience, biblicallybased study and a supportive Christian community. The Programme includes a ten-month internship with a Member of Parliament, NGO or Member of the Scottish Parliament. This ensures that participants find themselves placed in positions of real responsibility at the beginning of their career. Alongside the internship, graduates take part in a weekly study programme, helping them think through what it means to be a Christian in the political sphere. The Programme started in 1993 and now has over 300 alumni, amongst whom are Parliamentarians, senior Civil Servants, and charity executives. CARE keeps in close contact with many of these people, drawing from their own experience and insight as we plan for the future. There were eleven members of the Leadership Programme in the last academic year. A further seven have been recruited for the 2019-20 year and will be placed across the main political parties in Westminster. Our nation, like the Church, is in desperate need of leaders of vision, Christ-like character and integrity and we believe that CARE’s Leadership Programme is helping to meet this need. We are accepting applications for the 2020-21 Programme until 11 November 2019. For more information and to apply visit care.org.uk/leadership
‘The Leadership Programme has been the richest teaching and training investment I’ve received in thinking about the relationship between Christ and culture, and growing in servant leadership.’
‘Making the step from university to work could have been lonely and daunting, but the time CARE has taken to support me has been invaluable and is unique to this Programme.’
‘Fridays and study weekends have been a highlight.’ Feedback from Alumni Annual Review 2018-2019 17
CARE | Making a Christian Difference
OPEN has continued to help equip churches to gain an understanding of the pastoral issues surrounding unintended pregnancy, abortion and other baby loss.
Providing a compassionate response
This has been through invitations to speak in churches, and through offering training events for pastoral workers and church leaders, and those studying at theological college. We were delighted by the response to an OPEN Training event in Belfast in November, which led to our first Loved Miscarriage Retreat Day in Northern Ireland in March. This was attended by women from all over the region. Post abortion retreats have also been held in East Sussex and Lincolnshire and continue to be a source of healing for women who make the courageous decision to attend. We are encouraged that people continue to access our services via the OPEN website and through contacts made in conferences and church events. weareopen.org.uk
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Making a Christian Difference | CARE
‘Every school a prayed-for school’ That’s the vision that inspires Pray for Schools (PFS), CARE’s partnership with Youth for Christ, Scripture Union, Free Churches Group, Association of Christian Teachers, Prayer Spaces in Schools and Open the Book. The network now covers approximately 2,000 schools prayed for by over 850 individuals, churches and groups. In February we launched Love Our Schools encouraging pupils, parents and friends to do something practical alongside praying. Feedback to this was very enthusiastic. Our website’s database of schools has had many new users searching to see if theirs is prayed for and registering new groups to join the PFS network. There were thirty regional prayer events and we are in touch with many local networks regularly ministering in schools. We helped set up two new town-wide prayer groups. Our social media presence is growing, with 1,270 Facebook followers and 571 on Twitter. Visit prayforschools.org/nearme to find out which schools are being prayed for in your area. We warmly welcome groups and individuals wanting to join the network and use our resources.
‘Children and young people face many challenges and school staff and governors need God’s help as they seek to support them. Our prayers make an enormous difference.’ Celia Bowring, CARE’s Prayer Coordinator and Chair of Pray for Schools.
A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN
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Sharing Our Vision Our Communications Team has a passion to assist our supporters to partner with CARE’s work in many ways. We are deeply grateful for those who pray, give financially and engage in the advocacy work of making the Christian voice heard. We produce printed and online resources to inform, inspire and equip our supporters to make a Christian difference. The encouraging feedback we receive is greatly appreciated. Keeping supporters informed... CARE’s regular emails and informative letters summarise key events in the UK Parliaments and Assemblies and identify the best ways to respond, by prayer and action, to various situations that arise. We aim to make sure that everything we provide is both encouraging and helpful for our supporters. A new publication this year was the Good News booklet, promoting our Public Affairs Team’s successes over the past year, and also a Church Leaders Brochure, highlighting our key ministries.
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Making a difference through prayer... The quarterly CARE Prayer Diary, written by Celia Bowring, provides information, scripture and prayer points about a wide range of issues affecting our society. It is available as a free booklet, online, by email, on Twitter and via the PrayerMate App. Alongside this, we produced a stand-alone fourweek version of the Prayer Diary to be distributed at Spring Harvest across all three sites.
CARE Staff at Our Annual Away Days Connecting online... At CARE, we are always reviewing the impact of our online services and along with other communication tools our weekly Impact Direct email has been redesigned. You can sign up to these emails, as well as our regular mailings via our website. Or connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. @careorguk
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We are all available to answer any queries and provide information on any of our causes or services. You can get in touch using the contact details below.
CARE 53 Romney Street, London SW1P 3RF 020 7223 0455
mail@care.org.uk
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CARE | Making a Christian Difference
Thanksgiving ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.’ John 1:14 (ESV)
Truth as it is, and grace for people where they are. In the summer of 1983, I marched through central London with tens of thousands of other Christians to express our deep sadness for the tens of thousands of unborn lives lost since the 1967 Abortion Act. I carried my 8-month-old son on one arm and with the other I held up a placard with the words ‘Abortion Kills!’. My beliefs haven’t changed but I wouldn’t do that again. What message was I sending to the woman standing by who was facing an unplanned pregnancy, living in impossible circumstances? The Apostle John described Jesus as being ‘full of grace and truth’, and we should be too. But sometimes we’re in danger of declaring truth at grace’s expense! CARE has stood firmly by our foundational Biblical convictions and values, but over the years we have wanted to have an attitude that recognises the importance of showing understanding, kindness and respect to others. Defending truth is vital, but let’s express it with compassion. Jesus told us to love our opponents and to pray for them, which isn’t always easy with some of the controversial areas we work in, like human trafficking, pornography, abortion and assisted dying. Sometimes CARE comes under attack, or is misrepresented. But we aim to maintain grace-filled attitudes whilst courageously standing for truth as it is. Please keep praying for us in this respect and thank you for every expression of your support.
Lyndon Bowring Chairman 22 Annual Review 2018-2019
‘We are so grateful for the ongoing generosity of individuals, churches and grant-making trusts. We have continued to engage with policy makers and with tens of thousands of Christians, encouraging them to speak out, to be practically involved and to pray. CARE faces the future with faith and confidence; as we strengthen our supporter base and develop fresh ways to engage with all our stakeholders.’ John O’Brien Chair of CARE Trustees
Making a Christian Difference | CARE
Financial Activity We are grateful to God for His provision over this period. As these charts illustrate, the generosity of CARE supporters has enabled us to face the many challenges that lie ahead.
total expenditure
total income
ÂŁ1,968,894
n Voluntary Income n Other Income
ÂŁ2,050,243
99% 1%
Charitable Activities n Educating Public Opinion n Influencing Public Policy n Developing Young Leaders
44% 36% 10%
Other Costs n Raising Funds
10%
Donate To make a financial gift to CARE, please visit care.org.uk/donate or you can call the office on 020 7227 4707. Alternatively, cheques can be made payable to CARE. We only ask you to support our ministry after you have considered the needs of your family and local church. Annual Review 2018-2019 23
Edinburgh
Belfast
Cardiff
CARE has offices in London, Glasgow and Belfast and is represented in the UK Parliaments and Assemblies. CARE is a Registered Charity No: 1066963, Scottish Charity No: SC038911, Company limited by guarantee No: 3481417. Chief Executive Nola Leach, Chairman Rev Lyndon Bowring. Design and print: weareyeomans.co.uk This product is recyclable.
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