Prime Minister praises Church Army during project visit
News Release: 26 January 2012
Prime Minister, David Cameron, has visited a Church Army evangelist whose outreach work in Oxfordshire is having a positive impact on the community.
Evangelist, Jeff Hill, lives and works in Mr Cameron’s Witney constituency, where he has established a number of projects including a night-time café attended regularly by more than 100 people, a Street Pastors initiative and various groups for families and children.
Mr Cameron met with Jeff at St Mary’s Church where they were joined by the Rector of Witney, Toby Wright, Church Army’s Director of Mission Support, Neil Biles and volunteers, Guy Plowman and Dominic Baker.
During the meeting the group discussed how Church Army could work in partnership with churches to contribute to Mr Cameron’s vision of the Big Society. They also talked about Church Army’s work in Witney and about the value of volunteering.
When hearing about the night-time café which takes place in Witney’s Market Place on a Saturday evening, Mr Cameron said: “It’s great, because you’ve found a model that works which is meeting a need. The state is not always very good at the personal, the emotional, the niche, and this is where I think the Big Society absolutely comes in, because you’ve got the creativity in people coming up with ideas like this.”
The group also talked about the need to create projects that were self-sustaining and Mr Cameron said: “One of the things we’re doing as a government in order to encourage the Big Society is to look at the whole issue of how to encourage and train community organisers – particularly in deprived communities. We’d really like community organisers to be able to build a project, make it sustainable and then move on to build another project.”
After the meeting, Jeff Hill said: “It’s been a real privilege to meet with the Prime Minister and to share how Christians are investing in their communities. I’d like to thank all the volunteers who work alongside me for their willingness to serve others. When we work together, we can make a real difference.”