Our Core Ethos We want to ensure that across all our franchises we maintain the same, distinct values, approach and flavour to our work. This is what our Core Ethos is all about. The risk for any organisation choosing to franchise their model is a drop in the quality of the work. So, before we ever launched our first franchise, we worked out nine things which must never change and must be found wherever we operate. To work under the Hope into Action banner in any capacity you will need to be fully committed to everything written here. Ethos Comment 1 Every house must be opened in partnership with a church. Close partnership with local churches is at the heart of Hope into Action’s model. The relational support offered by the church is critical. 2 You must share our view and understanding on what ‘holistic outreach’ means. In supporting a tenant, we take the following into account: Their immediate need and the poverty that affects them The underlying factors which hold them captive or oppress them: this may be trauma, regrets over poor decisions, their upbringing, their moral code, their addiction, their education or other factors Their spiritual needs so that their life may be enriched All of this is encapsulated in Jesus’ words in Luke 4:18-19.“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” 3 All tenant-facing staff and volunteers must share in the Christian faith and have a passion for the local church. Everyone working directly with tenants will be a follower of Jesus and be actively committed to the local church. Whilst we maintain this requirement for staff and volunteers, we serve tenants from all backgrounds, from all faiths and none. We will never force or coerce Christian beliefs on anyone or make it a condition for their tenancy. We also collaborate with individuals, groups and other organisations who do not share our faith. 4 You must share our view on rents. We believe that in order to best serve our tenants, rents must be affordable. The reason for this is that we want to encourage tenants, where appropriate, to find work. Too often, supported housing has such high rents that it prevents tenants getting jobs. Therefore, financial objectives obstruct charitable objectives. We set affordable rents and operate a bursary scheme to help tenants in work. 5 You must share our view on quality of homes. We believe in the dignity of all our tenants, that they have worth, and that God wants to bless them. We believe Christ came that they may have life and have it in abundance. We want to demonstrate this in the quality of care and homes we give our tenants. If we show our tenants respect they are much more likely to care for and look after their homes. We have a specification that all Hope into Action properties need to meet. Once this is met, the partner Church adds furnishing and finishing touches which make our houses into beautiful, welcoming homes. 6 You must share our view on treating people equally without discrimination. We believe that God’s actions, through the life, death and resurrection of Christ, are for all people. We treat people equally in line with the protected characteristics enshrined in UK law (currently the Equality Act 2010). We will never discriminate on the basis of these protected characteristics. 7 You must have a desire to honour God through the excellence of your work. Whatever we do for Hope into Action we will do to the best of our ability, believing that this honours God and is one way in which we demonstrate our love for Him. We want our spiritual passion to fire professional excellence. 8 You must respect our Basis of Faith. We work with churches from a wide range of different traditions, theological perspectives and stances on contemporary issues. Our goal is to foster Christian unity amid this diversity. However, we expect our church partners to respect the foundational beliefs which started Hope into Action, which are articulated by the Evangelical Alliance basis of faith (see https://www.eauk.org/about-us/how-we-work/basis-of-faith). 9 On each working day, a time of daily team prayer is an essential element of the life of Hope into Action. At Hope into Action, deliberate and thankful prayer is fundamental to our identity. We therefore prioritise prayer across the Hope into Action network, often in small teams and occasionally one person praying alone. We see this as essential to what we do.