SchoolsComing soon
Praying With Children
Age-appropriate material helping children pray for children elsewhere without frightening them.
For: Parents, children's workers, teachers
Advocate
Speak about this work without doing harm with the words
Advocacy is mostly a language problem. Getting it right matters considerably more than enthusiasm, and we will help you.
Why language matters
Most harmful things said about poverty are said by people trying to help
Describing a community as having “nothing” is almost always factually wrong. It has land, labour, skills, relationships, organisation, knowledge of its own conditions and — very often — a church that has been serving its neighbours for decades on no budget at all. That is considerably more than nothing.
Saying it anyway does two things. It misleads the audience about what is actually needed, and it quietly recasts capable people as empty vessels waiting for us.
This is not about policing words for their own sake. Inaccurate framing produces inaccurate solutions — and inaccurate solutions are how organisations end up building things nobody asked for.
What we will equip you with
- How to frame the issues accurately
- Language to use, and language to retire
- Guidance on using images responsibly
- A short talk outline and slides
- Answers to genuinely difficult questions
- Training and a briefing from our team
A worked example
Four swaps that change the meaning
"Beneficiaries" → "participants"
"Beneficiary" defines a person entirely by what they receive from us. "Participant" describes someone taking part in something — which is what is actually happening.
"We transformed the village" → "the village decided and built"
Putting our organisation as the subject of the sentence is usually inaccurate. The community identified the constraint, contributed labour, and absorbed the risk. We funded materials.
"The needy" → "people in this situation"
"The needy" turns a temporary circumstance into a permanent identity. Nobody describes themselves that way.
"Voiceless" → "not listened to"
People are rarely voiceless. They are frequently not listened to, which is an entirely different problem with an entirely different solution — and it is not us speaking for them.
Where to advocate
Places this makes a real difference
Your church
A short slot in a service, a small group session, or a conversation with your mission committee. The most common and often the most effective.
Schools and colleges
An assembly or a lesson, using our schools material. Children can hold a surprising amount of reality if it is given to them well.
Your workplace
A lunchtime briefing, a charity-of-the-year nomination, or a conversation about matched giving that colleagues do not know exists.
Online
Useful when it is your own words about work you actually understand. Less useful as reposting, which we would rather you did not feel obliged to do.
Community groups
Rotary, women's groups, men's breakfasts, student societies — regularly looking for speakers, and genuinely interested.
One conversation at a time
Explaining accurately to one friend why you support this work does more good than a hundred shares. We are not being modest; that is what we observe.
Resources
Material for advocates
SchoolsComing soon
Schools Teaching Pack
Curriculum-friendly material on global citizenship, water, education access and reconciliation.
For: Teachers, school chaplains
AdvocacyComing soon
Advocacy Toolkit
How to speak about poverty, reconciliation and aid accurately and without demeaning anyone.
For: Supporters, students, church advocates
Sign up
Become an advocate
We will send the toolkit and get you properly briefed before you speak anywhere.
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.”
We hold this verse alongside a caution: speaking for people is a last resort. Where they can be heard directly, our job is to get out of the way.
Ready to speak about this?
We will send you the advocacy toolkit and, if you would like, arrange training and a briefing from our team.