My aims

So this blogging regularly thing didn't quite work out as I had intended, but new year and perhaps a new effort?..we'll see.

Not only is this a new year, but it's also marking a slight change in the focus of my work. From September to December I was primarily researching - trawling the internet and reading reports, and meeting/chatting with people from charities, counsellors, the police, local organisations, and other churches. My focus was pulling together a picture of social need in Edinburgh, looking at what is already being done and what the greatest needs are. This also involved gaining an awareness of issues that will have to be addressed as the church reaches out in this area.
Alongside this I met with the youth and various individuals within church, to gain an sense of passions, ideas and skills, and to help instil my vision of Kings Church and community involvement.

One thing I became aware of over the past 3 months, is the need to gain a balance between research and action. I have a fair picture of what is going on in Edinburgh, but obviously it is incomplete. I could spend the next 6 months continuing to research, but I am doubtful as to whether it would tell me anything groundbreakingly new. Instead I think the time is ripe to just...start! Starting small and steady and just getting stuck in. I have drawn my research together and come up with several ideas to try and take forward (ideas I am not going to share just yet!). Therefore, for the next few months, my focus is on what to do and how to do it. My research into Edinburgh is not closed, it will always be ongoing and I have another meeting with a councellor in a couple of weeks, but my primary focus has shifted.

It may help to explain what my aims for this year are; the things that I want to achieve. By the time I leave this job I aim to have:

• Increased the awareness within Kings Church of the importance of social action/community involvement and its vital place within Christian and church life.
• Gained an overview of social need within Edinburgh, existing social organisations/structures, and an awareness of the issues involved when engaging in social outreach.
• Aided the set up of several smaller scale projects withinKings Church that enable community involvement, the formation of new relationships, and personal responsibility to the poor.
  

My aim is not to set up one big project run by the church. I do not think we are not at the right stage to launch one big thing. The aim is that these smaller scale projects are seeds which will grow in time and ultimately impact many individual lives and impact those in poverty - whether that be financially, socially, or any other type of poverty. By running several smaller scale projects we will be able to see which projects work for the church, in terms of local need, passion and skills of church members, and pratical implication. I think seeing them as seeds is important - in time I do believe that they will grow, but it won't happen overnight or easily. They also may change shape and direction and end up looking very different.
Working on a smaller scale also enables various other issues to be addressed: dealing with those from different backgrounds, sacrifical giving of time, balance of working with other local organisations, and many more.

In the beginning it may not always look like we are always actively engaging in work with "the poor", but in my opinion that comes back to your personal definition of poverty.
It should also be noted that I want to aid the setting up of these projects, not do it all myself. My time in this job is limited, and if I do everything myself there is a great danger of becoming depended on to such an extent that when I go, it all collapses. Therefore, I am merely here to aid this entire process, not run it all.


Maybe sometime soon I will start talking in terms of specifics, but for now this is all you're getting!