To this end, the organisation recently held an evangelistic weekend away for some of its tenants, funded by the Baptist Insurance Company.

In addition to the serious talking, the 30 participants spent time outdoors doing a variety of activities designed to stretch them by trying new things, to good effect. As one of them said to her Empowerment Worker afterwards “Mustering the courage to do the high-ropes helped me overcome my fear of going to church” – which she has been doing regularly since the weekend away.

While Ed is careful not to “count chickens”, he and the team are encouraged by the spiritual journeys being undertaken by tenants, and emphasise the value to them of time away from their normal setting.

“Much of our contact with tenants is around the practicalities of life and dealing with their daily challenges.  By going away together for the weekend, we were able to have more in-depth spiritual conversations and put into words the love of God that we and the churches demonstrate through our actions all year round.