Early in 2023 I was asked to write a paper on Privilege, Class and Poverty for the CEEC with my good friend Tim Buckley, and what started as something straightforward slowly evolved into something much bigger. In fact, it has taken the form of a new book, which launched just this week – Sowing Seed with Songs of Joy, Growing God’s Garden in Forgotten Places.
In July 2024 I said at General Synod: “Churches with the fewest resources face the highest and most complex needs.”
It is that complexity that I want to draw on.
In an interview (this book is not just abstract theory but also practical reality on the ground explored), the term “multiple-overwhelmings” was used.
Think about that…MULTIPLE OVERWHELMINGS.
There is a tendency to try and separate out problems, isolate them and then think you can deal with them one by one until everything is, if not solved, then put in reasonable enough order to cease to be the issue it once was. But that is like saying you can dodge an avalanche stone by stone and rock by rock. Great theory but in reality … well, it isn’t reality, is it? Avalanches steam-roller over everything in their path, leaving little standing in their wake.
What might comprise this avalanche?
- Basic infrastructure problems.
- Poor Housing.
- Poor schools and educational attainment.
- Broken families.
- Lack of community cohesion.
- Poor health outcomes.
- Lack of opportunity, especially in work and education.
But this is not just “a community” – this is the community that the local church draws its congregation from (be it rural, coastal or urban). The form of ministry therefore can look very different from middle-class areas, which means the resourcing required too is different.
It is very apparent that this level of complexity cannot be solved simply by politics, resource injection, empathy or sympathy, or proper ministerial formation – all of which are undoubtably important. It needs the Gospel – the full-fat version.
Our Gospel is inherently vertical and horizontal – love God and love your neighbour. Both of these are required for the full flourishing of the single psychosomatic unit that God has created a human being to be. The Gospel preached must be one that addresses the whole of the human condition, and not only addresses but has practical workable answers. As General Booth said, there is no point in preaching a Gospel of self-fulfilment if the basic needs of life are just not being met. Cold and hungry people are often taken up by issues other than their personal standing with Christ. The answer is soup, soap and salvation – all of these together, these are the full Gospel.
My prayer is that this book will help all who read it, not only rethink the poverty on their own doorsteps, but also what they can do for those under-resourced churches elsewhere who are drowning in complexity.
About the book
Most books about church in areas of deprivation focus on urban and estate contexts, however this book understands the catchment area extends to rural and coastal areas, recognising that a key demographic of these areas is those with a disability. Using a mix of personal anecdote, interviews with church leaders and social research, alongside extended reflection on Scripture, this book aims to help those with few resources see who and what God has given them and build from there. It commends the reader to look locally, plough their field, throw on fertiliser, and see what grows. The challenge is to let the church reflect what appears, not prune on the assumption of a preconceived vision. Leaders must not be slaves to a system or structure, but servants of the people God has given them, growing them to His glory and service. Where this happens one sees that while you need more skills to lead this kind of church compared to a larger one, God is with you and does provide.
The book can be purchased via Amazon – here
