Meet our Commissioners

Our Commissioners are senior leaders from 15 major UK Christian church denominations.

Hear from our commissioners

In this time, we are needed. There is loneliness, despair, hopelessness which the church is able to engage with and the church is far better when we do it together.

Commissioner Anthony Cotterill

The Salvation Army

The church should be involved in solving the needs of its community…the Church can play a wonderful role in reaching people, connecting people, in praying for people, in dealing with issues such as mental wellbeing and domestic abuse for people within and outside the church.

Pastor Agu Irukwu

Redeemed Christian Church of God

The Warm Welcome Campaign demonstrates the willingness of churches and different community organisations across the UK to partner, and most importantly, to come alongside and serve those most in need this winter and beyond.

Alicia Edmund

Evangelical Alliance

This is an excellent opportunity for God’s people everywhere to make a difference in bringing healing, reconciliation and raising hope for so many people.

Bishop Tedroy Powell

Church of God of Prophecy

Meet our members

Ataloss

AtaLoss provides the UK's bereavement signposting website, directing bereaved people to a range of services and information tailored to circumstance and location. The charity also trains churches in bereavement support (Loss and HOPE) and raises awareness of the relationship between mental health and bereavement - in grief often appearing as mental ill-health, unsupported loss potentially resulting in mental ill-health, and suppressed grief often leading to longer term mental ill-health and other societal issues. The charity has developed a gold standard for bereavement signposting and calls for universal, routine referral, so that everyone can find timely support in the interests of their mental and general health and wellbeing.
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Bible Society

We believe the Bible is God's gift to the world. We want everyone to discover its message for themselves. Because of that, we translate the Bible and make it accessible in people's heart languages. We bring it into public spaces where its voice can be heard. We tell its stories. We encourage people who've never thought the Bible was for them to explore it for themselves, and see life through a different lens. When we read the Bible we find out more about God, more about ourselves and more about the world. That’s why Bible Society invites people to discover it for themselves.
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Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN)

CSAN is the official agency of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales for domestic social action. They support and facilitate a network of over 50 Catholic dioceses and independent charities that provide help for families and children, the elderly, homeless people, refugees, the disabled, and prisoners. The national team strives to develop the network, advance the education, training, practice and formation of those active in Catholic social action, and offer a coherent Catholic voice on social justice in the public arena. CSAN is a member of Caritas Internationalis within the Caritas Europa group.
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Christians Against Poverty (CAP)

With a vision to see transformed lives, thriving churches and an end to UK poverty, Christians Against Poverty (CAP) is a national charity that equips churches to deliver a range of services in their local communities. These services include award-winning free debt help and community groups aimed at helping people to manage their money well, gain life skills and get back into work.
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Christians Together Against Loneliness (CTAL)

CATL is a group of Christian organisations working to combat loneliness. They want to inspire, equip and mobilise churches and the individuals in them to alleviate the loneliness in their local communities. The network includes Linking Lives UK, Faith Action, Parish Nursing Ministries, Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries, Anna Chaplaincy, Faith in Later Life, Arthur Rang Centre and Embracing Age.
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Cinnamon Network

Cinnamon Network conducts research, provides advice, delivers training courses and helps churches start social action projects that transform their communities. Each year they interact with more than 1,000 local churches the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland. They want it to be as easy as possible for local churches to set up sustainable social action projects, find funding and get the right support and training to make a positive impact. They find effective grass-roots, social-action projects and help them develop so they can be replicated through churches across the country to help even more people.
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Embracing Age

Embracing Age is a Christian charity founded in 2014.They’re working towards a world where older people are valued, connected and full of hope. They do this by combatting loneliness, mobilising volunteers to visit care homes, equipping churches and speaking out.
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Faith Action

Faith Action is a national network of faith-based and community organisations seeking to serve their communities through social action and by offering services such as health and social care, childcare, housing and welfare to work. Faith Action empowers these organisations through providing training to enable them to carry out their mission effectively, conducting research to highlight the work of faith-based organisations, disseminating information so organisations have access to information, best practice and funding opportunities, and campaigning so that the needs of faith based and community organisations are considered when policy is made.
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Faith in Later life

Faith in Later Life are on a mission to inspire and equip Christians to reach, serve and empower older people in every community, through the local church; and to encourage older people in their faith. They do this through advocating for older people through the media, equipping a national community of Church Champions, providing a central hub of resources to encourage older Christians, a national UK directory of church led activities for older people of all faiths and none and through commissioning new projects where there is a gap so that churches can better reach, serve and empower older people.
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GoHealth (The Guild of Health and St Raphael)

The Guild of Health and St Raphael has been around for over 100 years connecting holistic health, science and the Christian faith with a vision to see flourishing communities made up of flourishing individuals. It exists to enable churches and individual Christians to be a healing presence in the world by inspiring and empowering them through membership communities, resources and training. The Everyday Healing course introduces the Christian healing ministry as a core element in church mission today and explores the history, theology and good practice in health mission so that churches can confidently engage with prayer, outreach or collaboration with local healthcare. The course not only offers good theory, but takes individuals on a discernment journey into how God is calling us to offer healing today, and how to look after ourselves in the process.
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Growing Hope

Growing Hope provides free therapy for children with additional needs in partnership with churches across the UK. Growing Hope grows hope for families where it has been lost due to isolation or rejection. Growing Hope shares hope in Jesus because he brings hope even in the most difficult situations. Growing Hope is aiming to set up twenty clinics in partnership with local churches by 2030. As a national charity they currently have clinics in King’s Cross, Brockley, High Wycombe and Gateshead. Growing Hope supports the whole family, their courses for parents, carers and siblings of children with additional needs can be facilitated by individuals across the UK. Growing Hope’s accessibility award enables churches to receive a bronze, silver or gold award for accessibility to show that they’re a place for belonging for all individuals.
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HOPE Together

HOPE Together is a catalyst bringing churches together to transform communities in villages, towns and cities. They want to see a praying, growing Church that makes Jesus known together with words and action. Mission Champions provide a link to local churches and HOPE Practitioners bring groups of churches together to make Jesus known.
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Home for Good

Home for Good believes that we all have a part to play to ensure that every child and young person has the home they need. They work to mobilise the Church in the UK to respond to the needs of vulnerable children through families stepping forward to foster, adopt or provide supported lodgings for teenagers and churches wrapping around families with support, and to influence wider society through advocacy and engagement to create systemic change.
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Kids Matter

Kids Matter have a vision to see every child in need raised in a strong family. They do this through reducing the impact of poverty on children through community-based parenting programmes. Improving the parent-child relationship has been shown by research to have the greatest influence on reducing the impact of poverty on children. Kids Matter partners with local churches to run their evidence-informed parenting programmes for low income, low support families to equip parents and carers with the confidence, competence and community needed to build strong families, thus enabling their children to thrive.
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Kintsugi Hope

Kintsugi Hope is a charity based in the UK striving to make a difference to people's mental wellbeing. They want to see a world where mental and emotional health is understood and accepted, with safe and supportive communities for everyone to grow and flourish. They do this through facilitating Wellbeing Groups across the UK, and equipping and training churches to engage in mental health.
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Linking Lives

Linking Lives UK is a national Christian charity working to address loneliness and social isolation particularly among older people. They work with churches to set up befriending schemes in which volunteers visit or call those people in their community who are often housebound or have little contact with the outside world. They run an online volunteer training called ‘Good Conversations’ aimed at volunteers who engage with people through a regular community café, drop-in centre or lunch club. They also run monthly webinars for individuals focusing on addressing loneliness in their day-to-day life.
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Loss and Hope

Loss and HOPE Loss and HOPE is an ecumenical coalition project led by AtaLoss, training and equipping churches in effective bereavement support, for the prevention of mental ill-health and other negative outcomes in their communities. They offer a website for the sharing of ideas and resources, The Bereavement Journey (an easy to run course of films and discussion groups for processing loss), training for youth leaders to support young people through loss and training for church leaders in bereavement awareness and accessibility. Feedback is outstanding and The Bereavement Journey now has GP, Funeral Director and Social Prescriber referral and high attendance by the public, including its unique optional session supporting faith questioning in bereavement
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Movement for Recovery (Gather Movement)

Movement for Recovery from the Gather Movement aims to harness together the extensive work that Christians undertake serving across the UK, by creating a network of networks that enables a more strategic and coordinated response to the Covid and cost of living crisis recovery. The networks across each town and city are led by a small centralised body who release funding and create support structures to all the churches and Christian charities in the area. The vision is to see Christian organisations coordinate and collaborate together to avoid duplication and to maximise impact.
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Renew Wellbeing

Renew Wellbeing supports churches in setting up quiet safe spaces in partnership with local mental health services. Renew spaces are cafe style venues where all are equalled and valued. They offer a place to connect and belong, to share hobbies, learn a new skill or simply enjoy a cup of tea or coffee. Each Renew space also has a quiet area for personal reflection and optional times of prayer for those who want to join in.
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Safe Families

Safe Families believes that no-one should feel alone. They work with 35+ local authorities around the UK to offer hope, belonging and support to children, families and care leavers. This is done primarily, though not exclusively, through local churches. Safe Families link children, young people and families with local volunteers who offer a Family Befriending scheme, hosting for children from vulnerable families, and practical resources.
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Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries

Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries is a Christian charity that equips the Church to support mental health and wellbeing. They do this through The Sanctuary Course and other mental health resources.
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The Message Trust

The Message Trust is a worldwide movement passionately sharing the love of Jesus Christ in words and actions with the hardest-to-reach young people and communities. They do this through creative mission teams who share the gospel in schools and communities, community groceries, urban missionaries who live in the most deprived neighbourhoods in the UK, prison ministry and evangelism training.
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The Trussell Trust

The Trussell Trust exists to raise awareness of poverty and help end UK hunger. They support a nationwide network of food banks who provide emergency food and support for people in poverty while also campaigning for an end to the need for food banks in the UK.
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Transforming Lives for Good (TLG)

TLG is all about helping churches to bring hope and a future to children facing heart-breaking challenges. Through their network of partner churches, they are committed to reaching out to the most vulnerable children in the UK and seeing hope spread. With expertise in school exclusions, emotional wellbeing and food insecurity, and a crucial understanding of trauma-awareness underpinning everything, TLG runs education centres, coaching and lunch clubs.
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Waverley Abbey Trust

Waverley Abbey Trust exists to help individuals grow in their relationship with God and be equipped with the knowledge and skills to help others. It does this through producing 'Every Day with Jesus', a daily devotional; providing Higher Education and Vocational Learning that aids people in developing in their calling; connecting and supporting those working to make a difference for Christ in the lives of others; publishing resources that help people grow in faith; using its historically prayerful venue to resource and strengthen the community; and supporting individuals and churches through practical engagement and support in specific areas of ministry and service.
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The Good Faith Partnership acts as the Secretariat to the ChurchWorks Commission

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“Working with ChurchWorks has been a great opportunity to collaborate across denominations and organisations. We've been part of projects that would not be possible without this network of partners. In particular, we've valued playing a role in the Warm Welcome Campaign and sharing our expertise with spaces across the country”

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Dan Lane

Christians Against Poverty (CAP)
Christians Against Poverty
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We know this is going to be a tough winter for many, with our youngest children most at risk. Having places for families to go that are local, warm and welcoming will make a big difference. The Warm Welcome initiative is a simple and effective way of connecting people and places so no one needs to struggle alone.

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Warm Welcome

Dr Eli Gardner

Kids Matter
Kids Matter
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At Libraries Connected we know that public libraries are determined to help people during the difficult months ahead. We’re proud to be a partner of the Warm Welcome Network, which is playing such a vital role by bringing together all the community organisations that have stepped up to offer a warm space and friendly face this winter.

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Warm Welcome

Isobel Hunter MBE

Libraries Connected
Libraries Connected
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As a charity focusing on addressing loneliness and social isolation across the UK, we are acutely aware of the prospect of a combination of factors affecting the physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing of many people this winter. Concern about bills, heating and food are already leading to increased levels of anxiety and this – in turn – leads to increased feelings of loneliness. This is why we are partnering with Warm Welcome to provide training for volunteers in their key roles and to promote this crucial initiative.

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Warm Welcome

Jeremy Sharpe

Linking Lives
Linking Lives