Our aim is that through meeting the needs of others, God’s purposes in individual Christians is unlocked.
Besom enables churches to work together to provide their church members with discipleship opportunities through discovering God’s heart of compassion for the poor, and to serve and give effectively and generously of their time, skills, money and/or household goods to those most in need in their locality.
Our focus is on helping those who have something to give to do so that God’s miraculous provision is demonstrated, to bring hope and transforms faith.
“I’ve been amazed by the generosity of people who give time to Besom - they have made such a difference in our community.”
Activity
Initially a small team of volunteers (we call them time-givers) from 3-4 churches will pray about how to outwork the Besom Vision in their locality and establish their Besom through which others in their churches will be able to give their time, money, skills and household goods to those in need. Besom isn’t doing the giving, the local Christians are!
Besom doesn’t require the churches to carry out anything but gives them the opportunities to serve and give. It is a lay-led ministry.
Time
There is no set timescale to setting up a Besom ministry. Having a good time to gather interested church members to build community, pray and seek the Lord before rushing into activity, in our experience, is the best possible way. Seeking opportunities to share vision in churches, draw a core team together and build relationships with care agencies all takes time. A year would be an average time for a Besom to emerge and begin to facilitate the giving.
Besom is scalable - we have tiny Besoms serving a few villages, and larger Besoms serving a city.
Cost
No money is needed to start a Besom. People start with the kit and tools which they might already have available.
Ongoing costs are minimal at the beginning and will grow should the Besom become larger. Some Besoms run on less than £3,000 per annum, our larger Besoms turn over £35,000 to £40,000.
Partnership
We always look to form good relationships between ourselves and social workers/care agencies. We also look to collaborate with other Christian charities and ministries in order to avoid duplication.
Support
A new Besom will become part of The Besom Network and will be part of their local regional Besom Cluster. This is overseen by a Cluster Facilitator who will provide advice, resources and support. Besom Leads/core teams provide a variety of informal practical and spiritual support to one another, through online zooms, webinars, regional meetings and the annual conference. The Network runs a Members Online Resource which provides a manual on how to start a Besom successfully, templates, graphic/digital resources as well as help with setting up and running digital media accounts.
Resources
Depending on the type of activities a new Besom starts with, you will need a dedicated mobile phone number, access to Google Drive Workspace (in order to benefit from Besom’s materials), use of a car/small van for transportation and a small storage space.
People
At its best, a new Besom is formed by 6-8 people from 3-4 churches in a town, city area or community who feel called by God to outwork the Besom vision and mission. Therefore areas with a degree of church unity and cooperation are preferred. If a Besom stays within one church it invariably fails as it becomes overwhelmed by the needs.
The 6-8 people make up a Core Team (acting as a ‘bridge’ between those who want to give and those who are in need). The Core Team enables local Christians to go across that ‘bridge’ to give generously and effectively to those who have been referred to receive help and support. Eventually, they may form as a charity and need trustees.
Replications
The Besom Network has:
Replications
FREE Getting Started Guide
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