After over ten years, Jonathan Lee reflects on his time at inHope – a time that has included a global pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis, a rebranded charity and a major refurbishment of the Wild Goose, amongst many other things. 

There is so much to reflect on from the last ten and a half years as I write my last article for Streetwise as CEO of inHope. The first thought that comes to mind is the contrast in this publication itself. Streetwise has gone from a monthly struggle for Project Leaders to carve out time to write their updates, printed and stapled in-house, to a professionally curated quarterly collection of focused articles, still drafted by staff but with graphic design and professional printing. Perhaps this publication itself serves as an illustration of the transformation that inHope has seen over those 10-years.

I applied to join what was Crisis Centre Ministries because I felt prompted by God to do so. I very nearly didn’t, had it not been for the wise words of a local Vicar who said to me ‘unless you push the door, God can’t close it’. I’m so glad that I did and I remain grateful to the trustees of that time and those on the interview panel who put their faith in me at what was a difficult time for the charity.

I speak with genuine honesty when I say that the charity as it is today, was not at all in my mind when I joined. My approach throughout has been to sense what we’ve needed to do, to plan in faith, give direction and lead the team into the next season. There was never a master plan in the background except the one that God would reveal and guide the charity through as and when He saw fit. Over my time, I believe that God has given me opportunities to ‘recognise the times and know what should be done’ (a phrase which comes from a book in the middle of the Old Testament of the Bible).

The approach I describe applied in times of challenge; standing up at my first AGM in 2015 and revealing how short of money the charity was; facing the announcement of the national Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020 and handing the keys of Carpenter House to a building contractor to that very same day; and again in 2024 when we recognised that our costs outstripped our income.

The same approach also applied in times of innovation, future planning and growth. We changed the name from Crisis Centre Ministries to inHope to reflect our faith as a charity.  We have invested into more efficient systems to enable clearer financial accounting, volunteer management, HR management, IT and telecoms, supporter and fundraising management and more recently, collection and use of data related to our work with clients/service users. The development of Theories of Change within each service led us to see more clearly what inHope was really about, resulting in a clear charity level Theory of Change; this in turn is driving how the teams now work and how they will be able to develop that work into the future.

My departure comes as another recognition of the times and knowing what I must do. A piece of my heart will always remain with inHope, and I will watch with interest (from a distance!) as the team and my successor lead the mission onwards. The journey for the charity, its staff, trustees and faithful volunteers, has been from crisis to hope, a journey that we pray might be realised in the lives of all those who need us most.

Thank you and God Bless.