Magazine for the Builth Ministry Area March 2018
Issue No 199
A Call to Action If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be … For the poor you will always have with you in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ (Deuteronomy 15:7-11) In March 2016 the then Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan spoke at a meeting in support of the idea of transforming Wales into a “credit union nation”. Prior to that in September 2013 he had urged parishioners to ‘invest in credit unions’. He said of Credit Unions, “In this country, they are seen as something that exists for poor people. In fact, of course, if we all paid money into credit unions, say £10 or £20 a month, this would remove the image of them being poor people’s banks. This would not be a gift on our part. We would get a half percent return on our investment. More importantly, money could be lent at reasonable rates, to people who desperately need it. Likewise, if we too fell on hard times, we could borrow.” He went on to say, “This church, along with other churches at the minute, runs youth clubs, visits the elderly, provides food and shelter for the homeless, and raises money for the poorest parts of the world.
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Becoming involved in Credit Unions might be a further way of helping families in desperate financial circumstances, to access loans at more tolerable interest rates, and help transform lives.” Earlier in 2013 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, called on church parishioners to lend a hand to credit unions in a bid to provide an alternative to payday lenders. He hopes that skilled churchgoers with financial experience would volunteer at their local credit union. He also proposed that church halls and other church properties could be used to provide collection points, widening access to credit union services for local communities. **************** At this point I feel that I must declare an ‘interest’ as I am a volunteer for the Red Kite Credit Union which is one of the Credit Unions operating in Powys and is the one on your doorstep. The Red Kite Credit Union is run entirely by a small number of unpaid volunteers drawn from its membership. We would welcome the opportunity of talking to anyone interested in becoming a new member or indeed anyone who might be able to help with the smooth running of the Credit Union. Contact details can be found in the advertising section of Signposts or visit our website www.redkitecreditunion.co.uk David Anderson .
EDITORSHIP Under new editoriship. Please note new email address: signpostsmagazine@gmail.com