Acts - A Church for Today's Society
Acts Community Church was formed in 2008 with the aim of supporting the community with practical demonstrations of God’s love for people. We want our church to be contemporary and relevant to today’s society, hence the name –
ACTS -
A Church for
Today’s
Society.
Whilst we are a Christian organisation, we serve people of all faith groups and beliefs and those with none. We are passionate about inclusion and being non-judgmental is central to what we do. We believe that everyone has the right to have food on their plate, dignity, skills, a chance to work and hope for the future.
We operate according to Christian principles of compassion, honesty, integrity, openness, kindness and care of all people, regardless of backgrounds or beliefs. We believe in turning faith into practical action.
In Jan 2012 the church purchased a former three storey social club building with the intention of creating a high-profile community facility. Within the plans for building were disabled toilets, three storey lift and multi-functional areas which can be adapted to suit community needs. The building once refurbished and made fit for purpose would also be used for church services and would also be the main hub for Rhondda Foodbank. Prior to the purchase of the building Rhondda Foodbank was operated from a lock up garage.
Rhondda Foodbank was set up by the Church in Nov.2009 as a franchise of the Trussell Trust. It is a project which helps and support people in crisis who are unable to feed themselves or their families. It supplies three days of emergency provisions to individuals/families in the community whose personal circumstances mean they do not have enough money to buy food.
Rhondda Foodbank partners with over 80 referral agencies. These include a wide range of care professionals who are best placed to assess need and make sure that it is genuine. Frontline care professionals such as health visitors, social workers, pastoral care workers, Citizens Advice, Communities First, Rhondda Housing, Job Centres etc., identify people in crisis and issue them with a Foodbank voucher. The partner agencies then contact Rhondda Foodbank to arrange for clients to exchange their voucher for 3 days of nutritionally balanced food. The clients collect the food and are met by volunteers who make time to chat and to signpost them to a range of support services such as debt counselling and life skills training.
With the help of supporters Phase 1 (First floor) and Phase 2 (Basement) of the building project have been completed. The first floor is now used by the church for services/meetings and by the community for music/drama/dance/parties etc., by the local school for crafting sessions organised by the church. It is also used by the local authority pre - school and parenting sessions. The basement is now the main hub from which Rhondda Foodbank operates. Rhondda Foodbank, has 5 distribution centres’ and in the year ending 31 March 2020 supplied 1400 food parcels feeding 2061 adults and 1020 children.
Again, with substantial support in the form of financial contributions Rhondda Foodbank has employed a Foodbank manager since 2015 and more recently an Admin assistant to help with the ever-increasing demands for its services
Our vision is to serve build and transform our community by being totally committed to unconditionally serving, supporting and investing in people. By taking positive social action we will improve the quality of life for families, children and young people within our community making it a more peaceful, safe and prosperous place to live where people of all backgrounds and abilities are included and have the opportunity to live in dignity
For further information please visit
actscommunitychurch.co.uk
Glenwood ::
Acts ::
Henley YMCA ::
NOMAD ::
The Berin Centre ::
YoCO