This year the Kendal branch of Christians against Poverty (CAP) celebrated its fifth birthday.

It has been a huge privilege for us at Parr Street Church, where CAP Kendal is based, to help and encourage many local people struggling with debt through our free debt counselling service and money management courses. Many are already free of debt and others are well on their way.

Debt can happen to anyone for all sorts of reasons. It is not always the result of mismanagement or irresponsibility. It can often be the result of unexpected illness, redundancy or relationship breakdown and it can bring people who are already at the end of their tether to breaking point.

Even if the debts are the result of poor choices, as Christians we are aware that we have all ‘fallen short’ of what God requires of us. He has been merciful and kind to us and that mercy and kindness must be reflected by his church.

Even greater than the burden of financial debt is the debt we owe to our Creator God who made us for a relationship with himself.

We are all massively ‘in arrears’ when it comes to paying to God the love and service that he rightly deserve. Christians delight in the fact that God is astonishingly merciful and in the person of Jesus Christ has come to us in love and compassion. Jesus took our ‘debts’ upon himself when he died on the cross and offers us forgiveness and a new relationship with God.

Those of us who know that we have been treated so kindly by the God who could have condemned us, will be slow to condemn and will consider it a privilege to show the love of Christ to others.

Christians Against Poverty is a national debt counselling charity that works in partnership with local churches. Anyone interested in using the free debt counselling service can call CAP on 0800 328 0006

Brian Maiden

Parr Street Church. Kendal CAP Centre