23rd November 2025
Celebrating CAP
We're celebrating again this week: this time, 15 years of our CAP centre in Penge. We pray for CAP regularly on Sundays, we are aware of, and perhaps contribute to, the food bank, and we support them financially through our Mission Partnership - but because their work goes on quietly in the background on Mondays and Wednesdays, we rarely see the team or what is actually happening on the ground.
This Sunday, I am delighted that Gareth, our Centre Manager, will be leading the 10.30am service with me, and that Nigel Davidson from CAP will preach. We also look forward to welcoming several current and former staff members and volunteers to worship with us. And, in true HTSJ-style, there will, of course, be cake!
The verse attached to our church vision statement is John 10:10 where Jesus tells the listening crowd "I have come that they may have life in all its fullness." CAP's vision, from the beginning has been for people to find life in all its fullness. Poverty robs people of that fullness of life, taking away joy, hope and opportunities. CAP exists to help restore dignity, freedom and opportunity to those who are struggling - to support them in getting their finances back on an even keel in the here and now, and to offer them the eternal hope found in Jesus. They do this through partnering with local churches, joining with us in mission, supporting us to offer fullness of life to those we encounter.
One of the developments we celebrate is the growing partnership between CAP and Living Well, learning by listening to each other how their work can support and complement the vision and aims of both organisations. The current Money Course is, for the second time, deliberately following the Living Well session on a Friday, to help guests feel able to attend in a place they already feel comfortable.
Mission, whether close to home or further away, is not always easy or comfortable. Our CAP staff and volunteers work with people in often desperate situations. They need our prayers as they seek to support these people with the compassion and love of Jesus. And they work by trust in God: our debt centre is funded entirely through the generosity of individuals and churches.
In our service, Nigel will be preaching on Matthew 14, the feeding of the 5000. It's a reminder that the mission of CAP, like all our mission, rests not on our own ability to provide, but on the abundant goodness of God, who takes our little and turns it into much. This Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the Church's year, is a good moment to pause to reflect in gratitude on the God who has faithfully provided for us, shown us his abundant goodness through the ups and downs of the past year, taken the little we have offered, and used it to bless many lives.
