Caring in Christ's Name: Rooted in the Church of Scotland

Friday October 14 2016

The final feature in our series for CrossReach Week celebrates a parish church's connection with the organisation.

CrossReach remains rooted in the Church of Scotland

Carol Brackenridge is an elder at Portobello and Joppa Church in Musselburgh. She’s also a training/employment officer for adult services in the CrossReach team based at Charis House, CrossReach’s main central support service.

She’s worked with CrossReach for 30 years in different capacities and positions.

“The church here in Joppa and Portobello has a super relationship with CrossReach,” she says. “Charis House is in our parish, so the minister and assistant minister are there quite regularly as part of their duties and there are natural links to it.

“As a local church to Charis House and several Crossreach Services a few of our members work for CrossReach as well.

“One of our joined churches supported the Post Natal Depression group started by CrossReach. It followed on from the Bluebell Project. The project met at the church for some time and was able to use the rooms for the counselling it provided. Some people from the congregation volunteered to help out at the crèche so that the young mums were able to access their counselling without having to worry about their children while they were in.

“Another way we help is with the Sunflower Garden. It’s a project that works with the children of substance abusers.

“Every year we get a list of the children they are working with – just their gender and their age, and we ask the congregation to select a child to buy a gift for. I put up a tree inside the church and people anonymously donate gifts to the children so that each child has at least one present they can open on Christmas morning. It’s sad that even today there are children who might not get a Christmas gift – but good that we’re able to help in that small way. Last year I took around 70 gifts donated by the congregation to the project for distribution among the children.

“Also at Christmas, some of our young people’s choirs, from the Sunday School and the junior group, will go up to the integrated services for older people unit based at Queen’s Bay Lodge and sing Christmas carols for them.

“We’re also trying to organise a befriending group of people who will visit the people at Eskmills, a service supporting people with learning difficulties, but that hasn’t got off the ground properly yet.

“Helping CrossReach doesn’t always have to involve money or volunteering your time though.

“Our prayer group uses the CrossReach prayer letter, which comes round quarterly, as the focus for its prayers.

“We, as a church, very much feel that the people who work at CrossReach, the people who work with CrossReach, and the people who need CrossReach in their lives, are all part of our family. It’s a relationship we value very highly.”

This week is CrossReach Week, when the Church of Scotland celebrates the work of its social care arm. Throughout the week, we will profile a cross-section of CrossReach projects.
Polmont Prison Family Bus
The Rankeillor Initiative
Lewis Street Project
Daisy Chain Early Years Project

These articles first appeared in October's Life and Work. Subscribe here