The Archbishop of Canterbury said the church will “put its money where its mouth is” in helping to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, which he branded a “really serious crisis for a huge number of people”.
Church commissioners will commit £3.6 billion to the frontline ministry over the next nine years as part of the Church of England’s new financial strategy, Justin Welby announced on Wednesday alongside the archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell.
Asked if the church should speak out more about the crisis, Mr Welby said: “We’re all very aware – and you heard from the people talking in the food bank – that they’ve seen this huge increase in the number of people coming along here.”
Before Covid, we ran a food bank just one day a week where we saw around 20 people come for our help. During the pandemic, we saw a massive increase of needs within the community. Now we open four days a week, two-hour sessions. We see around 100 people a day come to us in need
He added: “It’s not a case of ‘the Government can solve it” or ‘the church can solve it’.
“It can only be done by all of us working together.”
Mr Cottrell added: “We want to use that money in a focussed way to revitalise every parish in the country to enable every parish to grow, with a particular focus and emphasis on our poorest communities.”
The pair said £1.2 billion will be available over the next three years – a 30% increase in Church of England funding.
The archbishops spoke during a visit to the St John The Evangelist church in Balby, Doncaster, where they spoke to volunteers who run a ‘multi-bank’ providing food, toiletries and clothing to poorer families.
One church member, Andy, said: “Before Covid, we ran a food bank just one day a week where we saw around 20 people come for our help.
“During the pandemic, we saw a massive increase of needs within the community. Now we open four days a week, two-hour sessions. We see around 100 people a day come to us in need.”
Volunteer manager, named only as Sharon, told the archbishops “we have incidents in the clothes’ area, where mums who now come for clothes for the children, for themselves, but in this economic climate they can’t afford to run the washing machine”.
In response, Mr Welby said: “It’s very humbling to hear this.”
