Listening for God’s Heart: Walking with a Family in Crisis

Ok... I know... this is an AI created image (even the logo is a bit wrong!), but it's hard to include pictures in the blog (which is publicly available resource) which shows the actual work, as we want to maintain the dignity and integrity of the work. 

In our Safe Families work, we are continually reminded that responding to poverty and crisis is not just about action, but about listening. That’s listening first in prayer, then to the families He places before us.

Recently, a new family was entrusted to the Safe Families team at Bradford Church. With so many families living in deep poverty, the needs can feel overwhelming. It is often hard to know who to help and how to help well. Rather than rushing ahead, our social worker brought several referrals to the newly formed team and invited them to pray, asking God to lead them to the family He was calling them to walk alongside.

After prayerful discernment, the team chose one family and took their first step of faith. They visited the family in their community and shared a simple meal together at Jollibee. In that small act of presence, eating together, listening, and learning names and stories, relationship began to grow. On the newly created Safe Families group chat, they discussed their anticipation and ideas of how they can help.

The family lives in a congested slum area where four people share a single room. Poor sanitation and the absence of privacy make daily life exhausting and fragile. This kind of poverty quietly wears people down, affecting not only physical health but also emotional and spiritual well-being. Yet this reality is all too common, and when families reach a breaking point, there is often little government support and uncertainty within churches about how to respond.

Safe Families exists to meet families in these moments. Not with quick fixes, but with compassion, humility, and partnership. We believe God is already at work in each family, and our role is to come alongside, listen carefully, and discern together what hope and support can look like.

For this family, the mother does not have a regular income, leaving the father to carry the full weight of providing. Without a financial safety net, every day is lived on the edge, where one emergency can push the family deeper into crisis. It is a heavy burden, and one that calls for prayerful, thoughtful support rather than short-term solutions alone.

The Safe Families team will gather again to pray, reflect, and seek God’s wisdom on how best to support this family in the short to medium term.