Hidden Voices

What could it look like for churches to join together to raise awareness of modern slavery, protect those who are vulnerable, and welcome the survivors into their communities?

Hidden Voices is designed to help churches and communities respond to modern slavery.

It's a brilliant resource created by Mosaic Creative for The Clewer Initiative.

Some people might ask, what can churches and communities do about modern slavery? The truth is local people are key to solving this puzzle. For starters they can spot the signs of modern slavery and help the police to find victims. They can prevent vulnerable people they work with, like the homeless, from being trafficked or exploited. And they can support the survivors of modern slavery, and help them to overcome the trauma they have experienced.

Hidden Voices is based on an existing resource call Stories on the Street - produced by Mosaic Creative to awaken in churches a passion for working with their communities and responding to the needs of the vulnerable and marginalised. It describes a simple process that helps to build community, with the church acting as a catalyst. Hidden Voices takes the spirit of Stories on the Street, and adapts it to the specific context of responding to modern slavery.

Hidden Voices is written in four modules:

  • Setting the scene for action
  • Detection
  • Prevention
  • Action planning.

All of the modules include biblical reflections and practical tools and activities to help churches work alongside their community. There are also case studies that help people to see how they might already be coming across modern slavery without knowing it. We hope that churches who do the Hidden Voices resource will feel inspired and ready to start a project of their own by the end. They might not have all the answers, but they will certainly know where to start.

Please contact us at clewerinitiative@churchofengland.org if you would like to run a Hidden Voices course in your church.

Hidden Voices

How can I join in?

Hidden Voices and the principles behind it are not complicated, but they do require some training, and careful thought. The training takes two days and can be run as a residential, or over a couple of weekends.

If you are interested in exploring whether Hidden Voices could be the right approach for you and your church, then do get in touch with us.

Get in touch

Download resources such as posters and leaflets to raise awareness.

Learn More

The Clewer Initiative owns the intellectual property rights of all training materials which are available through attendance on one of our courses, or downloadable from our website, including but not limited to: text, artwork, drawings, designs, video and audio.

Whilst materials are primarily designed for church use, we allow groups and organisations to use our materials as freely as possible subject to the following conditions: use and copying of the materials is for non-commercial purposes; you acknowledge that The Clewer Initiative owns the intellectual property rights in all use of the materials; you do not copy, develop or modify any materials without the express written permission of The Clewer Initiative via clewerinitiative@churchofengland.org.

We reserve the right to withdraw or withhold permission to use, copy, develop or modify our materials at any time.

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