Confidence on a council estate II

Through the gospel and for his glory, God transforms the places and people we would never choose.

It appears that our constituency is frightened of social work, or perhaps, more accurately, of having their ministry labelled as ‘social work’.

It is true that we are not social workers, we are gospel workers, but it seems to me that the gospel directly addresses the social needs of our communities — of all communities — but it becomes so obvious among the ‘urban poor’.

Urban regeneration

In recent years the estate where I work has been on the receiving-end of some urban re-generation (thanks to a huge EU grant). I’m very pleased that we have a nicer environment to live in — council homes and public areas have all been improved. But the people are exactly the same — just living their dysfunctional, messed up lives in refurbished homes!

What our community needs above all else is spiritual regeneration — it needs Christ. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ — of living with him as Lord and Saviour — that transforms lives and communities for good. It is good news to know him as Saviour and it is good news to live under his Lordship, for he is a good King to live under.

Every issue

As I think about people’s lives, every issue is addressed through the gospel. These are deep issues but let me just touch on a few.

1. People have low self-esteem. Inevitable, when you have been unemployed for decades and have no qualifications. But through the gospel we see how valuable we are: that God loves us so much that he sent his Son to die for us so that we may know him and be forgiven. The gospel tells us that we are valuable and loved despite our personal circumstances.

2. Relationships are in disarray. Children don’t know who their father is; many live with grandparents; husbands and wives (or, more commonly, partners) often exist under the same roof, but it looks like a nightmare. Parents have lost control of their kids and frankly don’t know how to be parents (partly because they have had no decent model themselves). But the gospel tells husbands to love their wives (sacrificially) as Christ loved the church and wives to submit to their husbands. That’s how marriages will work. And the Scriptures also teach us how to relate to our children, parents, neighbours and even our enemies! The gospel turns lives and communities upside down (or, I should say, it turns them the right way up!).

3. People’s finances are horrendous. There is huge debt, often being paid back to loan sharks at the door. But the gospel addresses our idols and issues — there is nearly always some kind of materialism and greed behind debt — and, of course, the gospel helps us to see where true wealth really is. Where I live we are seeing a number of people who have been saved now addressing their materialism and debt. They have realised that, in Christ, not only are they eternally rich beyond compare, but also they are suddenly financially better off as the Lordship of Jesus directly affects the choices they make with their money — and are even beginning to give some away!

All change

For those who have been saved and are living under the Lordship of Jesus, it’s all change. One man who has been saved is now addressing all sorts of issues. He is addressing the kind of father and husband that he is. He is getting counselling for his alcohol addiction — wanting to rely on God rather than booze to get him through life. He has stopped stealing and is looking for work for the first time in over a decade — because God’s word tells those who have been stealing to steal no longer but do something useful with their hands so that they may have something to share with those in need (Ephesians 4.28).

And, of course, this bring glory to God and directly affects and improves society at large: less debt, less money stolen in fraudulent benefit claims, less tax lost through knocked-off goods, relationships beginning to get sorted, children growing up to respect authority and not join in with anti-social behaviour. These and other things are what governments across the world want, but can’t do, because, despite billions of pounds, dollars and euros being spent on social regeneration, only God’s power in the gospel can save those who are perishing and really regenerate lives and communities.

It’s the middle class that’s hard

May we have confidence to take the gospel to the ‘hard’ places of Britain! The truth is they are not that hard. In fact, middle class places, where people’s lives appear to be sorted and respectable, are much much harder! People think they’re OK, and that they don’t need God. But, when ‘the wheels are coming off’ (as they very obviously are in some communities), there are lots of opportunities for the gospel, and often openness to find out — and the change that comes to those who turn to Christ is incredible.

John writes: ‘Whoever lives by the truth come into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God’ (John 3.21).

When lives are so radically turned around in places of social difficulty, it is very striking and obvious that only God could do such a thing. God chooses the places and people that we would never choose and, through the gospel, transforms them. All glory be to him!

Confidence on a council estate II

Urban regeneration

Every issue

All change

It’s the middle class that’s hard

Peter Jackson

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