Let no one be left out in the cold. This is the clear message to churches from the new Warm Welcome campaign which is urging them to open up this winter and provide warm shelter for those who cannot afford their energy bills.
The initiative is creating a network of churches and other community spaces to provide warmth for society’s most vulnerable. According to a recent warning from Citizens Advice, a quarter of people in the UK will be unable to afford their energy bills from October – with families, the elderly and the disabled bearing the brunt.
There are fears that many will be forced to choose between eating or heating their homes. The End Fuel Poverty Coalition has warned that 16.4 million people will be in fuel poverty this coming winter.
The Warm Welcome initiative was launched in September by the ChurchWorks Commission, which is chaired by the Bishop of Durham, Paul Butler. He warned that even with government support, millions will be unable to afford basics.
Many signed up more needed
More than 1,000 churches have already signed up to the campaign but ‘hundreds more’ are needed. Carl Beech, CEO of Edge Ministries, said: ‘There’s little doubt that we are heading towards a moment of crisis this winter … Creating warm and super-welcoming spaces full of love, life and community is going to be an absolute necessity.’
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has backed the campaign and spoke at the launch event. He said: ‘This crisis … is a moral issue – our responsibilities to our neighbours and in particular to those who have the least and whose needs are the greatest.’
