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Good news to the poorSharing the gospel through social involvementJubilee communityGOOD NEWS TO THE POOR Tim Chester writes simply and clearly to create a biblical case for integrating evangelism and social action. He attempts to do more than merely justify evangelical involvement with the poor and marginalised: the aim is a gospel-shaped approach to social action. Does he succeed? For the most part, definitely. He is particularly good at clearing away woolly thinking about the Kingdom of God and, later, in the way he undermines Christian consumerism. Here is a message our churches urgently need to hear. Rather than the familiar approach of telling us we must simplify our lifestyle and cut out our excesses, he points out how satisfaction with God - true Christian contentment - will free us from our obsession with lifestyle. I found this ('Good news to the rich') the best chapter in the book. Caveats? Well, a few quibbles about Scripture apart, only one. Yes, we need to recognise the end of 'Christendom' (when the Church ruled the world) and we should not mourn it. But please can we beware of throwing out the baby (defending what remains of a Christian social order) with the dirty bathwater of Christendom! Chester concludes with the powerful and inspiring picture of the church as the 'jubilee community', welcoming the poor and excluded and, of course, where the gospel we speak can therefore be clearly heard. Thus we will be 'the place on earth where God's future can be seen'. Don't you want to be part of a church like that? Steve Wilmshurst, © Evangelicals Now - February 2005 |