September is often a time of fresh starts and new beginnings and a good point to look back at the year so far to see where we are and if this is where we think we should be.
For Ely and District CAP, there has been 94 client appointments so far this year. There are 34 active cases - some of these are debt payment plans so there are around 23 clients actively on the three meeting part of the process. 74 clients are debt free since the debt centre opened in 2016, 6 so far this year.
However these are just statistics, do they really show how well the debt centre is doing? What should success look like?
Maybe it is the number of clients debt free - This seems a good measure but with many clients suffering negative budgets due to the current pressures on finances, many who have a DRO (Debt Relief Order) to clear their current debts do not have sufficient income to avoid falling into debt again. Several former Ely and District CAP clients have recently started the process again.
Maybe it's filling the places for new clients each month - In an ideal world, no clients would be a measure of the success of a debt centre!
Every clients situation is different, so a measure of debt freedom or other statistic is also only a small part of the story.
Jesus' ministry looked like failure for the Disciples at first, ending in trial and death so that they fled for their own lives, but this apparent failure was the greatest victory of all, the ultimate triumph of love over sin and death. A need to look at the whole picture. And for living a Christian life, Jesus has given us the measure of success:
John 13: 34 - 35 (NIV)
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
This is the best measure of success for Ely and District CAP and for all of us as Christians: are we demonstrating the love of God to our clients, is our love of God and for all those who we meet evident and growing in our work, by our work are we visible people of God?
Prayer
Please pray for all our team as they share God's bountiful love with all our clients, demonstrating the love of God to them through their actions as well as their words. Pray that we would be visible people of God through the love that we have for all that we meet.
Please pray for all our Ely and District CAP clients, for the day-to-day struggles that they face and that the help of the team can bring them the knowledge of the love of God into their lives as an ever present support. Please pray for the development of the income maximisation process, that this will help towards a more sustainable financial future for many of our clients.
Please pray for the CAP head office team as new systems are being put into place leading to delays and frustrations to client processes. Pray that this work would be a pathway to a smoother process in the future.
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