our city, forcity.
our city, forcity.
our city, forcity.
our city, forcity.
our city, forcity.
our city, forcity.
our city, forcity.
our city, forcity.
our city, forcity.
This decade has started with huge challenges: the Covid-19 pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the refugee crisis have put pressure on society in multiple ways. Some people in Edinburgh are grieving loved ones who died in difficult and lonely circumstances, others are full of fear and despair.
An old hymn, Kyrie eleison, captures the mood of our time well.
“Look around you, can you see? Times are troubled, people grieve. See the violence, feel the hardness; all my people, weep with me.”
Kyrie eleison, Christie eleison, Kyrie eleison. This hymn calls us to see the world through Christ’s eyes: to weep with Him over the violence, grief and hardness that we see around us.
We long for more people in our communities to experience God’s love, crying out: “Kyrie eleison: Lord, have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord, have mercy.”
Although we might feel pulled towards focusing on our own needs, living out God’s kingdom turns everything on its head. We pray, but we do more than that; we step out of our comfort zone to serve those experiencing isolation, exclusion, poverty, brokenness, exploitation and suicidal thoughts. Our faith in Jesus motivates us because His example is so powerful and His cause is so important.
“Walk among them, I’ll go with you. Reach out to them with my hands. Suffer with me, and together we will serve them, help them stand.”
Kyrie eleison, Christie eleison, Kyrie eleison. Maybe we are the answer to our own prayers: is the Lord calling you to be His hands? Will we walk among
those who need our help - in fearless faith that Jesus is with us? “I will follow you anywhere, Lord”, we might say, but are we prepared to serve in our own city, to lift up those who struggle, to help others stand?
“Forgive us, Father; hear our prayer. We would walk with you, anywhere. Through your suffering, with forgiveness, take your life into the world.”
Kyrie eleison, Christie eleison, Kyrie eleison.
We give thanks for everyone who stepped up during the pandemic, and for all who are going out with the good news of Jesus during the cost of living crisis and the refugee crisis. What a privilege it is, even if it is hard at times.
Thank you to everyone who is taking His life into our city.
- Duncan Cuthill, CEO
Edinburgh City Mission’s vision is to help create an unstoppable mission movement across Edinburgh by encouraging churches across the city to pray for and serve their local communities, and share their faith in Jesus with their neighbours.
Our mission is to stimulate and strengthen the church’s mission in Edinburgh. As we help to create momentum, we are praying in faith to grow by more than 30 Mission Strengtheners… and God is answering!
Our values are love, generosity, unity, justice and pioneering.
When we talk about love, we focus on self-sacrificial love for others as modelled by Jesus when He touched lepers and, ultimately, died on the cross on our behalf. We are to “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”.
Love is a high calling: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not selfseeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres”.
Our commitment to generosity flows from the generosity that God has shown us: He has lavished the riches of His grace on us with all wisdom and understanding.
We show God’s generosity in various ways: the amount of food we place in people’s bags in our Foodbanks+, the quality of food we serve at Soul Food meals and put in Christmas hampers for refugees and asylum seekers, the amount of time we invest in people who want our input, the kind words we say about others as we all seek to play our part in our inter-connected relationships, and the generosity of spirit that is displayed in the prayers we pray in churches over the city.
God is one and so are we in the church. And yet, God is diverse, having revealed Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the same way, there is unity and diversity in the church, as can be seen in Romans 12.
Unity exists amongst all Christians because we call on the same Father, we have all been adopted into the same family through Jesus, who is
the head of His church and every church, and we all have the same Spirit who has given us faith and prompts us to pray.
Living out our unity requires humility, love, effort and prayer. While we each have our own convictions and distinctive church traditions and cultures, we actively recognise and affirm the diversity of other Christians’ beliefs, experiences, worship styles, gifts, practices and viewpoints, wherever they differ from our own. And we rejoice when the good news is shared by whoever, wherever and whenever, regardless of what motivates sharing of faith.
God is just. This is at the very core of who He is. We trust that He will bring justice to the nations. Jesus underlines the centrality of justice: demonstrating that justice and love, what Jesus called the weightier matters of the law, are more important than religious practice.
We express our commitment to justice by praying God’s kingdom rule and influence will come in Edinburgh and by showing compassion and care for those who lack housing, money or foodreferred to as ‘the poor’ in the Bible - and those who are disadvantaged in other ways such as widows, orphans, prisoners and outsiders or because of their ethnicity, gender, education, health, abilities, sexuality and/or age.
Throughout the Bible there are many examples of those on the margins being cared for and drawn in by the wider community. We are warned of the danger of ignoring justice and there are clear exhortations to come alongside and lift up the weak and bring justice.
Jesus was a pioneer - He pioneered our salvation. The early believers were so full of passion for spreading the good news about
the resurrection that they were accused of turning the world upside down!
Edinburgh City Mission is not content with the status quo in our city. We are constantly seeking the direction and dynamic power of the Holy Spirit to help us love our neighbours and lead us into mission across the city. We are committed to helping churches who want to engage in their local community by getting involved in starting new church-based outreach projects.
We do this through envisioning, praying, connecting, planning, training and supporting them as they get started and beyond.
We have helped to pioneer two Soul Food meals, one with City of Edinburgh Methodist Church in Newington and the other with Carrubbers on the Royal Mile; Salaam refugee and asylum seeker support work; a new Foodbank+ with Lighthouse Central Church in
Prestonpans; a Clothesbank+ with Central Church in Tollcross; and Nations, our racial justice support work.
Last year we launched An Open Hand, a toy delivery service for families who are struggling, in partnership with Greenbank Parish Church. As of Summer 2022, we now operate a befriending service for older people in partnership with Linking Lives UK, called Two’s Company! Find out more on our website.
These values shape our culture. As we humbly seek to live them out and serve the church, we aim to help individuals flourish and trust they will find forgiveness and hope in Jesus.
Please get in touch with us if you are considering starting new community work through your church. We would love to hear about it and support you as you seek to love your neighbours.
In our city, forcity. In our city, forcity.
In our city, forcity. In our city, forcity.
Edinburgh City Mission runs a Soul Food meal in partnership with Soul Food Edinburgh and The City of Edinburgh Methodist Church. We also support one run by Carrubbers Christian Centre to run a second.
We believe in the power of a meal to restore dignity to an individual, and at Soul Food we are committed to providing meals which make people feel loved, valued, and at home.
Hospitality is at the centre of Soul Food, yet it is always more than a meal, the vision is centred around the power of a table. Holding to the fact that hospitality is something which is core to the very heart of Christianity, we hope that the ordinary setting of a dinner table becomes a space of life-changing relationship and community.
By setting a table and sharing a
meal, Soul Food offers a place of safety and security where people feel accepted, respected, valued, loved and heard.
This context of equality is the perfect space for those genuine relationships to grow, and for the community to walk alongside each other to help and support those experiencing homelessness and isolation, and to break free of the cycle of poverty.
The Storehouse is Edinburgh City Mission’s new food storage and distribution centre, generously supported by Len’s Self Storage at Sighthill.
Opened in response to Covid-19, it has now become a regular feature of our support for the Foodbank+ network, topping up their vital supplies through responding to the orders from the Foodbanks+ based on their weekly needs.
Volunteer drivers distribute the supplies from The Storehouse to the Foodbanks+.
Staffed by volunteers for an hour each Monday-Thursday, The Storehouse also allows opportunity for people to drop off donated food for distribution.
While most of the food we distribute through our Foodbanks+ is donated, since lockdown began, we have been spending an additional £800£1,000 a week to supplement donations with essential food items and sundries, such as hand sanitiser, nappies and baby food, as well as buying food for the Soul Food meals we partner in.
The support provided by The Storehouse means that our Foodbanks+ don’t have to worry about any gaps in donations, and allows them to continue focussing on providing vital practical help and building relationships with the individuals and families who are referred to the network.
We recently bought a brand new Edinburgh City Mission Food Delivery Van, and produced a video for our financial supporters and volunteers, enabling them to see the inner workings of the food+ process.
David, our Storehouse & Food Van Coordinator, manages a team of volunteers who deliver top-up food to our 7 partner Foodbanks+ as well as our Soul Food meal.
Check out our website or contact David for information on times to drop off food, as well as volunteering opportunitiesdavid@edinburghcitymission.org.uk
Foodbank+ (formerly known as Basics Banks) is the Edinburgh City Mission network of food banks.
There are 7 Foodbanks+, each one being a partnership between a church and the Mission.
Edinburgh City Mission provides the system for professionals to refer those in need and the church volunteers organise the collection of fresh food from Fareshare as well as donations of tinned food to pack and give out to those referred.
The ‘+’ in Foodbank+ is significant because the support given throughout our network has always been about more than food. The “+” can also be seen as a cross signifying our belief that Jesus is the bread of life who gives fullness of life to those who trust in him.
In every Foodbank+ we have a team of people who sit down to have a cuppa and lend a listening ear to those who need help. Often we refer people to other services such as Christians Against Poverty, Your Home Visiting Support or even just local church activity groups and meals. We also seek opportunities to pray with people when appropriate and very often our Mission Strengtheners and volunteers offer befriending and emotional support outside the Foodbank+ setting. We provide more than just food!
In response to the Covid–19 pandemic, Edinburgh City Mission in partnership with Central Church opened a weekly Clothesbank+ at the start of October 2020.
During the winter months, we provide for numerous people without adequate clothing to keep them warm, some owning only the clothes they are standing up in.
Clothes are very personal and as such we try to bless people with good quality items that they can choose for themselves to suit their own style and size. We often see the immediate impact of providing good clothes to wear - most guests leave with a smile on their faces, ‘lifted’ by the experience.
We take every opportunity to listen to each visitor and hear a little of their story. For us the Clothesbank+ is not just about handing out clothes
but about addressing the needs of the whole person, physical, emotional and spiritual.
Between Jan and Oct of 2022, the Clothesbank+ has helped more than 369 people with clothing.
The Care Van is a project we run in partnership with Bethany Christian Trust and 40 local churches.
The van is an important source of care and support for people who are homeless and vulnerable in the City of Edinburgh. Relying on volunteers, it goes out almost every day of the year providing soup, food, hot drinks, blankets and clothes, friendship, encouragement and advice to up to 60 people a night who are rough sleeping or housed in homeless
B&B accommodation by Edinburgh Council.
Edinburgh City Mission coordinates the evening rotas for 40 teams that are drawn from churches across Edinburgh and the Lothians and includes over 750 volunteers.
We recently celebrated three decades since the Care Van first took to the streets of Edinburgh to
provide food and comfort to people in need. Throughout Edinburgh’s Covid-19 lockdown the evening and lunchtime teams have served over 20,000 meals.
In 2022 our Care Van volunteers were awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
At the beginning of 2020, we expanded our work among the most vulnerable in our city to encompass refugees and asylum seekers by initiating our Salaam Ministry.
Salaam is Arabic for ‘hello,’ ‘welcome’ and ‘peace’.
In the Bible the equivalent Hebrew word, Shalom, paints a picture of harmony, completion and wholeness; the state of the world as the loving Creator intended it. Our prayer for our refugee friends and neighbours is that they find safety, peace, and the wholeness that comes from knowing that we are loved by our Heavenly Father.
Salaam has developed a befriending programme to help our refugee and asylum seeker neighbours make more local friends and practice English, while giving Christians in Edinburgh opportunities to connect
with and bless these ‘New Scots’ families.
We also will continue to support some of our new neighbours through our Foodbanks+, Clothesbank+, and other Edinburgh City Mission ministries.
Over and over again, the Bible commands us to love and care for all, in particular the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant. Salaam’s goal is to help Churches fulfill their calling of holy hospitality towards our refugee and asylum-seeking friends, and to share God’s love through all our words and deeds.
“The Salaam Weekend Club” is a monthly events programme for refugees and asylum seekers which provides opportunities for them to make new friends and establish themselves in the city.
not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.’
Peaced Together is a creative arts course that Edinburgh City Mission is delivering alongside Christian volunteers as part of our work with vulnerable women.
The course is based on the idea that good can come from difficult experiences. Using five themes craft projects, Peaced Together encourages women to reflect on their lives and set out on a personal journey from brokenness to hope. Each project helps the groups explore topics such as beauty, peace with past and positive choices.
It is a great first step to introduce women who have had negative and hurtful experiences to consider Christian themes and values. The course is not explicitly Christian but is designed for churches to run
for women in their community who need a safe place to start a healing journey, learn new skills, grow in confidence and have fun.
For some though it may lead to faith in God as they build friendships with the volunteers.
A mixture of six Mission Strengtheners and volunteers have trained to deliver the course. The training will enable our team to deliver a course for non-English speaking women, many of whom will be refugees or asylum seekers who are receiving support through our Salaam project.
For more information, contact Lydia from our Salaam team: lydia@edinburghcitymission.org.uk
Started in 2021, Nations is a ministry created to stimulate and strengthen the mission of ethnic minority and foreign language fellowships in Edinburgh.
We want to listen to and learn from these churches and fellowship groups, and promote integration between them and the wider church community in the city, championing the diversity of the church while seeking to build unity in the Kingdom.
We do this in various ways. Acts 2:11, celebrating the multilingualism of the global church in the city of Edinburgh which connects people with foreign-language Christians and Christian fellowship groups.
A Place at the Table, bimonthly conversations with people from different ethnic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds to learn
about inclusion, diversity and mission in the church, along with the intersections between faith and ethnic and cultural identity. It serves as an opportunity to reflect upon racism and engage constructively with its surrounding issues in a safe space in Edinburgh.
You can connect with these conversations in person, where there will be space for discussion, or via our YouTube livestream.
There are few things, if any, more important than praying for our city. The goal of City Vision is to encourage us all to cry out to God for Edinburgh, starting with the mission of the local church.
Edinburgh City Mission believes that praying for the city needs to be rooted in local ministry, so the City Vision prayer gatherings are hosted by a local church and focus firstly on their mission. It is hugely encouraging when people from other churches pray for your church’s ministry. One person said:
“There is something very wonderful about joining with people from so many different denominations and to know that they are praying for you and vice versa – the family of God becomes so much more real.”
for our work, and for Edinburgh itself. These have been inspirational times, helping us see the breadth of God’s work in the city and giving us a longing to see more. If your church would like to host a City Vision event, get in touch with Andy Bathgate on andy.bathgate65@gmail.com or mail@edinburghcitymission.org.uk for more information. We’d love to hear from you.
A number of years ago Edinburgh City Mission was offered an allotment space at the Craigentinny and Telferton Allotments.
The volunteer committee for the allotments were looking for local charities to use some of the plots to benefit more people in the community. The plot has been used by Mission Strengthener Charity, and before her Zoe, to invit individuals from Craigentinny Foodbank+ to build relationships and share life and faith together as we work in the garden.
Over the past 2 years Charity has been keen to involve local Christians in the garden so that they too can befriend people in the community who have come to Foodbank+ for help. It is also a lovely opportunity for people to learn how to grow vegetables, share their experience
and can often lead to deeper conversation.
We would like the allotment to have more input from local Christians and churches in the area as a space to use for support, befriending and discipleship. There is also possibility to expand the project into cooking the vegetables we grow and teaching life skills.
Strengtheners are involved in, they also take opportunities to meet with people one-to-one.
Often after building positive relationships with the women and men who attend the Foodbank+ it can be appropriate to suggest meeting for coffee or going for a walk together as a way to continue providing emotional and spiritual support.
Sometimes this support is more practical, for example, helping someone with a housing issue and supporting them to make phone calls. Other times it becomes more spiritual, and the person is open to study the bible or attend an Alpha course. These individual relationships are so important for investing in long term change and transformation.
Every person is valuable to God and in times of crisis we can be his hands and feet to show kindness and shine the light of Christ.
“Improving quality of life through friendship.” - In partnership with Linking Lives UK, Two’s Company Befriending aims to help churches engage with older people facing loneliness, by establishing a befriending scheme within their community.
The scheme addresses all aspects of loneliness, but has a special emphasis on people whose situation may be made harder by isolation.
We know that “God sets the lonely in families…” and we believe that He can use local churches to do just that. We hope that through Two’s Company we will be able to reach the most isolated, and bring hope and connection to older people experiencing loneliness.
To participate in Two’s Company or if would like more information, please contact our Project Coordinator, Julie Youngjulie@edinburghcitymission.org.uk
Lydia, one of our Salaam Mission Strengtheners, was living in Carlisle with her family and working for Salaam remotely when she met Amara* through a series of connections related to her work and volunteer experience. Amara is a Syrian woman, relatively new to Edinburgh.
Initially, with the limitations that the pandemic and distance generated, Lydia and Amara only had a few chats here and there to talk about practical things; questions that Amara had about life in Edinburgh, tasks she needed to do to settle into her life in Scotland and so on.
As time went by, they started to talk more often about less immediate and more personal issues, such as their day to day lives, their activities during lockdown, their families and their improving Arabic and English skills.
Finally, when Lydia was able to come back to Edinburgh in November,
they met in person for the first time and this was when they realised they had become good friends. Their in person conversation was just a follow up from their chats and phone calls, just a catch up between two old friends who had helped each other during a very strange and difficult year.
Befriending people who find themselves in a vulnerable situation either because of a financial crisis, mental health issues or because of their immigration status is vital for our work. It is through this that we are able to journey with people and support them in meaningful ways. It is through these deep and honest relationships that we demonstrate Jesus’ love and model the value of hospitality to others. *name changed to preserve her privacy.
An Open Hand aims to provide parents in severe hardship with a present for their child’s birthday, along with books and items for each family to play with together, such as simple games and stationery. We hope to give more children the opportunity to celebrate their birthday by reducing the financial burden it can place on a family. The present given to each child will be specific to that child’s interests and tastes so that they receive not just a gift, but one that they will really cherish and enjoy.
child would wish. This will then be delivered to the family along with the other birthday items.
When a child feels their family are celebrating their birthday, they feel special and significant. It is a time when families can show how much they love and care for someone. A time for the family to create positive, happy memories and help strengthen family bonds. Buying presents for a birthday puts a strain on many families, however, and moves them into debt, or is simply not possible and the children go without a birthday present.
An Open Hand is here to provide parents with presents for their children, so that the door can be opened to celebrating their birthday.
An Open Hand is a partnership between Edinburgh City Mission and Greenbank Parish Church. Referral agencies from across Edinburgh will apply for families who are eligible. They will be able to indicate on the application form specific toys the
Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain. Psalm 127:1
