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Darkest England - and the way back in

Go and live there!

DARKEST ENGLAND - AND THE WAY BACK IN
By Gary Bishop
Authentic Media. 136 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978-1-85078-834-8

Gary Bishop’s book sets out as a 21st-century adaptation of William Booth’s famous book about poverty in 19th-century England, entitled Darkest England and the way out. The writer does this by re-visiting the principles of Booth’s book as well as drawing lessons from his own involvement in church planting and community work in some of Manchester’s toughest estates.

You can’t read the book without admiring Bishop for the work that is being done in what is doubtless a dreadful situation where alcohol and drugs perpetuate a cycle of poverty and crime. Some of the statistics he uses to describe these problems are shocking. Positively, Bishop manages to write both very humbly and generously, reflecting carefully on the impact of his work and the lives of people in the community.

The book is at its best when it calls for Christians to live among these challenging communities. He rightly berates an unthinking acceptance of our consumer culture which prevents us from being generous towards or even seeing people who are ‘struggling to make their lives work properly’ (p.53). He also brilliantly unpicks the idea of a ‘friendly’ church where you get a warm handshake and a brief conversation before walking out the door. He helpfully shows us that church should really be a place where people find genuine ‘friendship’ among a community of people who care for one another.

Unfortunately, not all of the book is as brilliant as that. Bishop’s handling of the Bible when it comes to the issues of poverty, salvation and restoration are not as clear as they could or really should be. This especially comes through in the use of the Old Testament, where his arguments are frequently too simple and fail to reflect the complexity of the Bible’s teaching, particularly the place of the return of Christ. Granted the book is not meant to be a theological treatment of the issues of poverty, but I still think more care could have been taken here.

All that said, the book is definitely helpful and challenging and worth a careful read.

Steve Palframan,
pastor, Aigburth Community Church, Liverpool