We recognised that there is a growing need in the local community for Christians to provide unbiased, impartial information and advice for people who were facing crisis in their lives.
Often the situations people find themselves in seem too difficult to resolve and yet with advice, support and above all compassion and empathy people can find their way back to being able to live a normal life and have their lives back in balance. As well as providing information and advice, tCAS aims to go further and undertakes case work and provides longer-term support. More than that there is intention to praying for or with the client. Consequently, it is our desire to express that God loves the person and wants to be part of their lives.
The ‘Parable of the Sower’ came to have a special meaning:
The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away….19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Mark 4 : 15,19
We saw this parable being as much about ‘Stones’ as about the sower. We recognised that the enemy doesn’t want people to be able to find God and he thrives on putting barriers in their path to prevent them seeing and finding Jesus. We also came across references in the OT that the tactic of an enemy was to strew stones and rubble in the fields to prevent people ploughing and growing crops. We wanted to remove those ‘stones’ and show people that God loved them. If that was through us giving them information, advice, on-going support then we wanted to be in that place.