New report reveals Scottish churches deliver over 200,000 individual acts of support during lockdown

A new report published today has calculated that churches across Scotland have delivered 212,214 acts of support during lockdown. The Stories of Hope report, which was requested by the Scottish Government and produced by the Evangelical Alliance and Serve Scotland, found that these acts were delivered by 3,212 volunteers and impacted 55,671 beneficiaries.

The study details how churches in more than180 locations, often in partnership with others, developed support networks and established projects to support the most vulnerable and isolated in their communities. Projects were active across the country from the Highlands to the Borders, across the breadth of denominations and in partnership with a number of charities including Christians Against Poverty Scotland, Bethany Christian Trust, and Glasgow City Mission.

Kieran Turner, public policy officer for the Evangelical Alliance in Scotland, says, “2020 has been a year of disruption for all of us and churches, like many other essential services, have had to adapt. This report has highlighted the significant impact churches up and down the country have had in supporting the most vulnerable in society.”

The report also highlighted the importance of churches partnering with local businesses and other agencies as more than two-thirds of the projects identified were delivered in partnership to provide support to those in need. Supermarkets, community councils, businesses, NHS boards, housing associations, voluntary support groups, and foodbanks have all worked with churches on the ground in these projects. In addition, 11 local authorities were identified, sometimes by multiple projects, as providing emergency funding for weekly support costs.

Turner continues, “Churches have re-purposed existing services and staff and volunteers have been quickly redeployed. New projects have been set up to deliver food, phone the elderly and isolated, support those homeless or claiming asylum, and connect with children and young people who were struggling with their mental health. For many, these services were literally a lifeline – often the only contact in a day when all other normal support networks and buildings were closed.”

The online survey was gathered data from May 2020 to July 2020 by the Evangelical Alliance with the aim of understanding the range and focus of church-based projects taking place across Scotland during the pandemic.

To find out more and download the full report go to https://www.eauk.org/about-us/nations/scotland.

Media enquiries

Kieran Turner
Email: [email protected]

Notes to editors

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For more information about Evangelical Alliance Scotland please visit:

Web: https://www.eauk.org/about-us/nations/scotland

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EAScotland

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EAScotland/

About the Serve Scotland

Serve Scotland is a movement which works to help the church be a catalyst for transformational change in the lives of the people and communities across Scotland. Bethany Christian Trust, Glasgow City Mission, Blythswood Care, The Cinnamon Network, Redeeming Our Communities, and Care for Scotland have joined the Evangelical Alliance in setting up Serve Scotland, an umbrella group to bring together the Christian voluntary sector in Scotland at both a local and national level.

About the Evangelical Alliance

We are the Evangelical Alliance. We join together hundreds of organisations, thousands of churches and tens of thousands of individuals for the sake of the gospel. Representing our members since 1846, the Evangelical Alliance is the oldest and largest evangelical unity movement in the UK.

We love Jesus and we want everyone in the UK to be given an opportunity to know Him.

We love His church, and we will do all we can to unite evangelicals, building confidence in the gospel and speaking as a trusted voice into society to see it changed for Him.

Working across the UK, with offices in London, Cardiff, Glasgow and Belfast, our members come together from across denominations, locations, age groups and ethnicities, all sharing a passion to know Jesus and make Him known.