Resource Hub
This hub brings together an online collection of resources from across the Together Network and beyond, ready for you to use when engaging with your communities.
Here for You
All the resources here are free for you to use and made available to equip you to make the change you want to see in your communities.
If you have any questions about the resources you find on this page, please contact Amy at amy.page@cuf.org.uk.
Watch Anytime Webinars
We run an ongoing programme of webinars to inform, inspire and equip churches around a variety of topics. All the webinars are recorded and are available to watch back anytime here.
- An Introduction to Social Enterprise for Churches
- Recruiting, managing and retaining good volunteers
- Adapting to our communities: church beyond walls
- Resilience for leaders and volunteers of church-based social action projects
- Getting your church online and improving your church's online presence
- Starting and running a Place of Welcome
- Getting to Know Your Community Better
- How to Build Financial Resilience in Your Community
- Monitoring and Evaluating small church projects
- Welcoming and Supporting Refugees
- Bringing the Mental Health Conversation to the Heart of the Church
- Creating Spaces for Mental Health in the Church
- Growing Good: Joining the dots between Social Action, Discipleship and Growth
- Heating Your Church Sustainably This Winter
If you'd like to be informed about future webinars please email amy.page@cuf.org.uk to sign up to our newsletter.
Know Your Church, Know Your Neighbourhood
Newly updated for 2023, Know Your Church, Know Your Neighbourhood (KYCKYN) is a facilitated process to help churches think about themselves in relation to the local communities they seek to serve, and make prayerful and informed decisions about their mission in those communities.
The process gives a small group of church members the tools to reflect on how their church is seen by others, to listen to the wider community, celebrate its strengths and have a deeper understanding of its needs. Sharing their findings with the wider congregation, the church is then able to make prayerful and intentional decisions about how it wants to respond. The course is adaptable to the needs of a church and neighbourhood, but it usually consists of five sessions of two hours, delivered over a six month period.
Growing Good Course and Toolkit
The Growing Good Toolkit, developed by CUF, is designed to help churches connect the dots between social action, discipleship, and growth. Our aim is to equip churches to be faithful and fruitful in their communities. The toolkit is based on the insights of the GRA:CE project, a three-year in-depth study of churches across England.
Growing Good consists of six interactive sessions for churches to explore themes like presence, hospitality, and participation. Each session includes a biblical reflection, a short film, a group activity, and space for prayer.
Places of Welcome
Developed and grown through the Together Network, Places of Welcome is a network of local community groups providing their neighbourhoods with places where all people feel safe to belong, connect and contribute. A Place of Welcome offers your neighbourhood a place where everyone can go for a friendly face, a cup of tea and a conversation if and when they need it. It's easy to join the network and become a Place of Welcome, whether you already have an existing drop-in style activity or you would like to set up a new Place of Welcome in your community. Our Together Network Members support Places of Welcome all around the country and help people to set up new ones.
Small Project Evaluation Tools
In partnership with the Benefact Trust (previously Allchurches Trust), CUF have developed an Impact & Evaluation Toolkit for churches and small Christian charities.
This simple, easy-to-use toolkit is designed to help you think about the impact you want your project to have, consider realistic ways to assess your impact, select the right evaluation tools for your project, and reflect on and use the information that you gather in fruitful ways.
Find the tools here and watch a webinar about monitoring and evaluating small projects here
Grief and Loss Workshops
This workshop, developed by Core Member Transforming Notts Together, offers an opportunity for those in your church to understand more about Grief and Loss and its impact, particularly as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is not designed for those currently experiencing grief and loss directly, but rather for those who will be able to support them. Areas covered include what to do, what not to say as well as looking ways that you could support those in your community, further resources and signposting suggestions.
The workshop is typically delivered in two parts, with a break in between. You will find notes for the facilitator within the 'notes' section of the slides.
Money Help Hub
The Money Help Hub is a reimagined community finance programme from The Just Finance Foundation that aims to be an accessible resource to explore financial pressures and issues. The Toolkit is designed to enable you to build your own course around the Money Help Hub guides, so that you can best serve your community, your way.
CUF parish deprivation lookup tool
Ever wondered about the makeup of your parish community, and how it compares to others locally?
The Church of England Research and Statistics Unit, in collaboration with CUF, has created two different ways to view really detailed information about your parish's demographics, poverty level, life expectancy and more.
You can look up your parish individually with the CUF Lookup Tool.
Alternatively, there is a map version of the tool here
Volunteering Resources
CUF have produced a comprehensive collection of resources to assist you in working well with volunteers.
From taking on volunteers, to managing formalities, clarifying tasks, tackling difficulties, risk assessments, and encouraging development, there is an extensive guide alongside template documents.
Living Theology Fourm
The Living Theology Forum is a meeting place for the mutual exchange of shared theological ideas about Christian social action. This forum is dynamic rather than static, one that can be built on, added to, developed, critiqued over time, where the theology can flex according to context, audience, perspective, or critical moments.
If theology is the yeast that activates and animates our work and identity, this forum can become an interactive ‘laboratory of ideas’ exercising influence on all we do and how we operate.
Vision Development Toolkit
Whatever your project’s activity is, the people who run, manage and fund it will need clarity on what you are trying to achieve. This toolkit produced by our friends at Near Neighbours aims to help you develop a clear vision for your project and engage with different stakeholders while developing it.
A Short Guide to Group Facilitation
Facilitation is an essential skill in community activism - the process of supporting a group to imagine and then produce the outcomes they collectively want to see. Developed by our friends at Near Neighbours, this thought-provoking and practical guide is ideal for group leaders looking to host productive conversations on social action with their own groups or partnering with new groups.
Project Reflection Workshop Toolkit
From our friends at Near Neighbours, a guide for facilitators/project managers on how to prepare and run a project reflection workshop online and in-person.
Fundraising Resources
Near Neighbours have produced a suite of guides to help with fundraising for community projects.
Writing for Grants - Making Grant Applications for Community activity