What is Bringing Hope?

Bringing Hope works with churches to address issues related to a lifestyle of guns, drugs, knives and gangs. Our aim is to see churches transform these lives, build community cohesion and restore family ties by working in partnership with each other and various networks from the private, statutory and voluntary sectors.

Our vision is based on Luke 4 v 18 from the Bible where Jesus declares that He has a purpose to heal the broken hearted, release the captives and recover the sight for the blind.

We believe that family and community brokenness, emotional imprisonment and blindness are at the root of guns, drugs and gangs and because of what Jesus says we, as a Church, are equipped to deal with these challenges.

Click here to view the report from the Bringing Hope conference in May 2004 for more details about the history of the project.

What do we do?

> Equipping
Bringing Hope believes in equipping and empowering people across the city to make a difference to the communities in which they live.

In the next few months, Bringing Hope will be publishing a toolkit to introduce church leaders and those who want to engage in working to respond to guns, drugs, knives and gangs. The toolkit includes case studies from those working directly with those at risk of criminal activity, a brief guide as to why people get involved in this lifestyle and how church leaders and individuals can approach the issues. To see extracts of this publication please click here. There will be a seminar in the next few months to train those who wish to know more.

Bringing Hope also endorses or jointly hosts workshops to train individuals to address the issues. Information about forthcoming events can be found in the Events section of this website

> Support
We recognise that there are some excellent organisations in the community and voluntary sector working with adults and young people caught up in guns, drugs, knives and gangs. We support these groups by signposting to their work, offering advice where needed, building networks between the groups who feel isolated in their work and by representing their views to the government and various groups within the City Council.

If you are involved in similar work and would like to be entered on the directory please complete the form on the links page.

> Prayer
Prayer is a vital source of communication to God for many Christians. We aim to have a regular time of prayer with workers in the community, to pray for crime reduction, for communities who have lost loved ones in tragic circumstances and for those considered as hard to access or socially excluded who are often engaged in illegal and dangerous practices.

Throughout the year we have links to networks that are dedicated to praying for these issues. We want to encourage you to submit prayer requests centred on the issues especially if they affect you, a friend or someone else close to you.