PA64
ROSS HENDRY CEO of CARE
DEAR FRIEND,
December 2023
Last year was a hugely significant one for us at CARE, as we celebrated two major anniversaries. It’s now been 40 years since CARE began, under the inspirational and visionary leadership of our cofounders, Lyndon Bowring and Charlie Colchester. And it has also been 30 years since we began the CARE Leadership Programme, which has seen more than 350 young leaders being placed with Parliamentarians and NGOs and receiving training from world-leading theologians, leaders and politicians, many of whom have gone on to positions of responsibility within the public square. We felt it right to properly mark both these milestones, so we welcomed more than 100 alumni to a special parliamentary reception last summer, before hosting nearly 600 of our supporters at our 40th Thanksgiving Service in October. We praise God for His remarkable faithfulness and for all the ways He has used CARE for good in our nation. When CARE began in 1983, it was a time of real societal change. The Judeo-Christian heritage of our nation was being systematically dismantled with substantial changes, both in laws and in attitudes. As we head into 2024, it might feel as though little has changed. Our society has continued down largely the same trajectory. It’s one where Christians sometimes feel pushed out of public life. Faced with such a challenge, the temptation is to withdraw into a ‘holy huddle’ and disengage from the world around us. Yet God calls us to do the exact opposite! He commanded Joshua: be strong and courageous and He promised He would go alongside him. At CARE, we hold onto this promise as we enter a new year. As we looked back in 2023, we have also invested considerable time in praying and planning for the future. As we reflect on the scale of the challenges we’re facing as a nation, on the divisive state of politics and on the importance of the upcoming General Election, it feels like CARE’s ministry is more important than ever. As we step into a new year, we do so excited by our vision: to see politics renewed and lives