Transforming Communities through the local church

Why does Tearfund work through the local church?

Extreme poverty impacts every aspect of a person’s life, devastating families, destroying local businesses, and draining communities of their resources and hope. This overwhelming reality is not God’s plan for our world.

We work through the local church in the world’s poorest countries because they know their communities best. The local church is best placed to recognise challenges and release people’s God-given potential to overcome them.

Transforming Communities is not about giving short-term aid. We train local churches to identify the resources they already have so that they can develop lasting solutions to the problem of poverty. This approach supports communities to rewrite their own stories and build a future filled with hope and opportunity.

Envisioning and mobilising churches

Our vision is bigger than changing a life. We want to establish a lasting, hope-filled future for all. Working through local churches, we aim to:

• break the cycle of poverty and hunger
• restore broken relationships
• champion sustainable local businesses
• support people to challenge unjust systems, laws and attitudes

We believe ‘life in all its fullness’ is not just a distant dream but an achievable reality for every person around the world experiencing the overwhelming effects of extreme poverty.

Will you transform communities with us?

Poverty is devastating lives around the world, but we don't wait for change to come. We’re acting now, training local churches and partners worldwide to lead their communities out of extreme poverty and into a sustainable future.

So far, we’ve partnered with more than 30,000 churches worldwide to help communities lift themselves out of poverty for good. As more churches get involved and more lives are impacted, we know we need to dream bigger. Our vision is to work with 250,000 churches by 2030, and your support is vital in making this vision a reality. Will you join us?