Tim Challies tells us a story of a new church on a deprived Scottish estate which of course is a story about Jesus too
To tell the story properly, we need to begin in 2004 with a young lady named Sarah.
Sarah loves Jesus and she loves the people he has made, especially the littlest ones. In 2004 Sarah passed through an area called Gracemount, which lies along the south-east side of Edinburgh. Gracemount is actually a scheme, one of many council estates created by the government to house low-income Scots. Like every other scheme, Gracemount has its unique history and its unique issues. Though most of its residents would not want to live anywhere else, it is for many of them a place of poverty of various kinds. According to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, Gracemount ranks as ‘Most Deprived’. It is rife with abuse and addiction, irresponsibility and abandonment. It is a place in desperate need of hope.
