Key themes of the unseen issue of relational poverty and the strategic placement of the church emerged as civic, church and charity leaders gathered in York on 6th November 2025
The Right Time to Gather
One Voice York in partnership with Christians Against Poverty (CAP) and Gather Movement launched an ambitious project earlier this year called “No One Left Behind” with a vision of a poverty-free York. As the project nears the end of its first year it seemed an opportune time to share with the city leaders about the work done so far. The Gather Movement’s Your City, Your Summit concept of a series of local city summits also lined up with the timing of a city leaders gathering. So with those two things aligning, we held our event called “Hope and a Future”.
Insightful Presentations Uncover a Deep Need
About 70 leaders from the city, churches and charities were there for the morning, starting off with delicious croissants and enjoying a great networking lunch catered by a local social enterprise who work with refugees.
The first session featured a keynote talk by Rachael Maskell, MP for York Central, giving her perspective on the needs of the city. This was followed by updates on the project including a presentation by Paul Hildreth on the ‘Understanding York’ Place Review and an interim report from the mapping of current church and Christian charity social action activities, which is about a third of the way complete. With city leaders taking part alongside church and charity leaders, we held table discussions on how different sectors could work together for a thriving York. To close the session, the Lord Mayor of York (who is a local church member) prayed a blessing over the city.
The second session focussed on Church and Community Transformation (CCT) with a workshop led by Jodi Blackham from CAP where church and charity leaders had a chance to sample some of the CCT training which will be going on in many churches across the city next year as part of the project.
Lunch was followed by a panel interview with some of the unity leaders from York and Stephen Sutton who shared the unity story from Teesside. This was followed by a discussion time on what church unity means for us in York and how does and could that work in practice.
It was a really full day but there was a very clear common thread which ran throughout the sessions and discussions.
Rachael Maskell spoke passionately about the role that churches can have in York. She noted that a lot of politics and public services have increasingly become transactional, focused on resources, outputs, and measurable outcomes. In contrast, genuine change in people’s lives comes through relationships, and churches bring that relational approach. She also talked about her belief that cities need “parents”—people and organisations that demonstrate nurturing, stability, and care, and that churches, in particular, are uniquely positioned to take on this kind of role.
“I think this event has given us that platform to extend invitations in the future. And to do something again, maybe every year or 18 months, we would want to gather and continue that relationship building across the city”
Paul Hildreth’s key findings from the Place Review drew out the theme of relational poverty, and how both historical and contemporary perspectives on poverty were important in York. Whilst the focus has often been on tackling material poverty, the importance of addressing relational poverty is gaining increasing recognition. The presentation on CCT followed through on that same theme, so it became very clear that this was a truly God inspired day.
This theme really aligned with the aims of the day, which were about forming relationships, creating dialogue and making connections across the different sectors that were present. The mapping report revealed that over 300 services covering housing and homelessness, food provision, support for families, and mental health and wellbeing support, are provided by just one third of the churches in York, with more data to come as the mapping work continues. This provides evidence that churches can and are meeting that need for support and community, addressing relational poverty and social isolation.
“I found that really inspiring. And I think just the number of people in the room and the conversations that were taking place and the connections that were being made. It was great to have city councillors there and senior staff from the local council as well, all mixed up on the tables with church leaders and people who run homelessness charities and food banks and just really demonstrating the breadth of what churches do in York to support people who might be experiencing poverty. And then having that evidenced by the mapping work that we’re doing.” Alison Dawson, Project Director for No One Left Behind
Reconnecting With A New Generation
One other exciting outcome of the day was a new set of connections and relationships emerging with a whole new generation of leaders in the city. One Voice York has existed for more than 25 years and many of the leaders who have prayed together and worked alongside one another are now retiring. The handover of leadership doesn’t automatically extend to a handover in unity relationships in the city. So this event was also a great step towards starting new connections with those new leaders as well as strengthening existing friendships and collaborations.
The Planned and the Unplanned
Some of the next steps towards the vision of a poverty free York had already been planned out as part of the multi-year strategy involved in No One Left Behind. As the project moves into its second year, the focus will be on growing the engagement with churches in the city. This event was a very helpful opportunity for reminding leaders about the vision and plans for that project and to build a sense of ownership with the local leaders. One key part of that plan will be the CCT training which many churches are taking up with teams from their congregations.
One of the unexpected outcomes of this day was seeing the value of doing these kinds of gatherings and the need to continue making that space for cross-sector conversations to happen in the city. The next opportunity is likely to be the launch of the mapping results and Place Review report next year.
Alison says “I think this event has given us that platform to extend invitations in the future. And to do something again, maybe every year or 18 months, we would want to gather and continue that relationship building across the city.”
