As we noted last week, PCC made the decision to start supporting Shine Pinehurst as one of its local mission partners. That means we need to bring our support to a current partner to an end. Tom, Simon and Lesley were asked to consider this difficult question. They produced a report, accepted by PCC with a decision for today and guidelines for the future.
Shine is a local partner, so it makes sense for a local partner to be removed. The partner we have decided to cease supporting is The Willows Counselling Service. We have supported them for many years and they do a great job. However, Willows typically charge for their services which none of our other partners do. This gives an income stream. Nor do we have the direct connections with Willows through the congregation that we have had in the past.
Our support for Shine will make a difference. They are not by any means in an affluent area of Swindon but they are solvent and do not need funding simply in order to survive. We can help them to do more of the work they are already doing and enable them to grow their ministry.
We start supporting Shine from March 2022 but will continue to support Willows for a further three months, right up until June 2022.
For the future
We want to remember the poor. Swindon Food Collective is now very well established with an excellent system for acquiring food on a daily basis from supermarkets. They are no longer reliant on our giving. The gifts from PCC account for only 0.3% of its annual income. We could consider switching to another partner.
Our contact with CPAS is limited. We might make them one of our 1/14th share, rather than our 1/7th share partner and so increase funds for an existing partner.
Swapping partners is never easy. However, supporting Open Doors and Mercy Ships have given us a whole new vision of the world. Supporting Shine Pinehurst will help us with our very local Swindon focus.