Christmas is a time to open our doors a little wider – more squeezing round tables, into churches, extending welcomes – like the innkeeper in the Christmas story, we go out of our way to offer hospitality to friends and strangers. Please fundraise to help us extend that wide welcome to thousands of people in need. From holding a community-themed service to organising a bake sale, you’ll be extending hospitality to strangers, and contributing to the needs of saints.

Places of Welcome are bringing people in from the cold

This Christmas our appeal features Colin, who was helped by a CUF-supported Place of Welcome at his local church. It’s a great example of local people using their skills, time and resources to build a wider welcome. Down on his luck, Colin had been living in a tent for a year and had felt very judged by society. “I only told one or two people at work that I was homeless, and they almost didn’t believe me. I wasn’t scruffy and dirty like they expected.” But a friend told him about a local Place of Welcome, which was so different: “It’s welcoming, warm, and friendly, and everyone here is nice. The foodbank in particular has been a Godsend.”