Spiritual Social Services Anyone?

Church As The Spiritual Social Club

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Church As the Spiritual Social Services?

(Why we want to do a Community Audit and why we want to talk about it on the 29th!)

As we have started thinking about what we hope to achieve with our Community Audit, some issues of understanding have arisen that I think could lead to some interesting discussions on the 29th! To kick things off there are 2 stereotypes that I keep coming across that I think are unhealthy for us.

The first is the supposed confrontation (though it appears at least to me to be more in our minds than our actions, thank The Lord) between the alleged competing interests of “The Church Concerned With Worshipping Jesus” v “The Church That Wants To Help Others As Jesus Did”.

The other is a response I get is from non-Christian contacts (including worryingly those also involved in forms of community outreach). They view a Church as an insular group that reluctantly opens its doors to outsiders because we feel guilty/want to covertly evangelise/ we just happen to have a handy Church Hall that we ought to use (delete as per your negative stereotype). Basically what we really want to do is sing a few rounds of “My Jesus, My Saviour”, feel good about ourselves and we tack on the so called “good works ” in a pretty non-committal way

However does this really ring true? For one thing there’s nowt wrong with singing “My Jesus, My Saviour”! For another I do not see the playgroups, parenting classes, elderly activities etc being run in a non-committal way.

But we still worry about how we balance being a “Worshipping Community” with “Serving our wider Community”? And I think part of the role of the Community Audit is to explore where that balance lies.

We are genuinely seeking to find what services Merry Hill & Warstones are crying out for.

We are keen to find the practical ways to provide that service to our community.

But at the same time we want to demonstrate just what it is about being a Disciple of Jesus that makes the difference.

We want to serve our community as Christ’s Servants not as Social Services.

In doing this, we have another excellent model to follow. The early Church community in Acts. They were a worshipping community “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (Ch 2 verse 42).

But they were most certainly not an insular community. They healed, preached, debated and cared for the poor.

They were a distinctive community and a visible community.

They were also a community that might not readily understand our modern distinctions between “worship” and “social outreach”. They had a more integrated view of life. They found themselves for both good and ill with a very different set of assumptions to us regarding Church, the individual, the State etc. Without wanting to over twitter on about “Post Enlightenment Individualism blah, blah, blah….”, we of course do find ourselves in that 21st world, not the 1st century world of the Apostles. That does not mean that we should not be looking to adapt the outlook of the Apostles into our context. After all, don't we see something vital in the worldview of the Apostles and something broken in the worldview of modern Britain?

We seek to be distinctive as the Apostles were distinctive. To demonstrate a vital alternative to broken modern worldviews.

With this in mind it is our prayer that our Community Audit encourages the spirit of the Acts of the Apostles and not the dispiriting acts of yet another committee!

A great way to see what other churches have done is to look through the Faithworks site http://www.faithworks.info/ Particularly if you click on the map and see the regional pages.

Alternatively David Russell Associates who we are working with on the audit has a list of Church projects http://www.davidrussellassociates.co.uk/portfolio.html

Pints of View Is Back!

Firstly we have another night on the 29th of this month. looking at issues surrounding the Church's Community Audit.



See below.

Pints of View- On Sunday 29th between 7.30-9pm at the Merry Hill pub.

Hosted by St Josephs it is an evening of topical discussion at the pub, with guest panellists and a chance to show how the Gospel relates to what's happening in the news. This time we are looking at issues surrounding what role Christianity plays within our communities?

The night is run in a friendly, informal manner and contributions are welcome from everyone. It is also a great way to get friends who are more comfortable in the pub than the church along to something!
For more information email pintsofview@googlemail.com or call Geoff Jellis on 07792 908584



I have also been thinking a lot about the issues surrounding the Community Audit and have written a little article that I will add later.

EvangelicAle

Any excuse to make that dreadful pun.

Whilst the Merry Hill does a very fine pint of Pedigree, sadly it doesn't stock this gem. Which deserves a well deserved plug on this blog and for really good reasons.

Westerham's William Wilberforce Freedom Ale.

Not only does it celebrate William Wilberforce, The Clapham Sect and their wonderful achievements .

http://htc.churchinsight.com/Groups/31509/Holy_Trinity_Clapham/History/Clapham_Sect/Clapham_Sect.aspx

The beer is also in keeping with the ideals of Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect. For instance the beer uses Fairtrade Sugar. Whilst 10% of profits from the beer goes to the Stop The Traffik campaign which fights against the global complacency that has allowed human trafficking to thrive across the world.

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/default.aspx

http://www.westerhambrewery.co.uk/AboutUs.htm

They also are not averse to the odd bad pun either with their other Fairtrade beer Godswallop (something this blog would never...) http://www.westerhambrewery.co.uk/News1207.htm

But most importantly (at least to this fan of beer) it is an extremely tasty beer. Real ale fans will be pleased to know that Roger Protz has given it the thumbs up http://www.beer-pages.com/notes/beer-of-the-month-2007-05.shtml

It's available at most supermarkets including Waitrose on Penn Road. A beer highly recommended by this blog and for all the right reasons! Enjoy. Alelujah (sorry, no more, I promise).

Sunday Night

Firstly a big thank you to everyone involved with Sunday night. Particularly to Tim for hosting and also to Dave, Laura and Robin for giving us the benefit of their pretty substantial experience to reflect upon (and I would also hope for some of us to act upon). But also to everyone who came. The diversity of views, backgrounds and perspectives really made the night fascinating.

Pictures of the night, albeit blurry will be up soon. I can organise a PoV, I can blog about it, but it would appear that I struggle a bit with a camera! Ho hum.

As will details of events we are planning for the new year.

The event also got a write up on the The Stirrer, a site itself which is not backward in coming forward with its points of views http://www.thestirrer.co.uk/pints-of-view-1411081.html

More on Pints of View-Sunday 16th November at The Merry Hill 7.30 onwards

More on Sunday's topic.

Exasperating and Encouraging Young People

“Fathers, do not exasperate your children” Ephesians 6:4

With the economy in nosedive, basing the evening’s discussions on issues surrounding the young may seem odd. Even more, hosting the event in a pub, thus excluding from the audience the majority of young people, again is a decision that from a number of perspectives is highly questionable! But issues surrounding the young relate far more closely to what are considered “adult” matters than we first think.

Take for example the disturbing Unicef research that Britain has the unhappiest young people in the Western World http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6359363.stm. What does that tell us about our culture? Similarly youth crime rates continue to rise http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jun/01/justice.ukcrime. As do teenage pregnancy rates http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1543596/Sharp-rise-in-under-16-pregnancy-rates.html. These things are hardly signs of an entirely confident and socially engaged youth culture. They also tell us something about our wider culture. Each of these issues raises challenging cross-generational questions about our culture.

But what causes this disaffection amongst the young?

Within this, the usual suspects of “consumerism”, “economic changes” and the “decline of traditional values” all play their part. However on their own they can’t entirely explain away why British children are so unhappy compared to children on the continent. It’s not as if the countries at the top of the list Holland and Sweden have a shortage of Wii ownership amongst their young. Or have not also had to undergo the huge social upheaval caused by the decline of traditional industries across Europe. And to put things mildly neither country is famous for social conservatism (though I acknowledge national cliché’s and reality are rarely the same thing).

Also its not as if the UK’s adult population is particularly happy either! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/4771908.stm

The usual left and right wing Bogey Men do not tell the whole story. Other things must also be going on to cause these phenomena. There should be no shortage of areas to explore in the discussion!

However before this blog becomes a council of doom, we should not assume that it is all hopeless. The subject matter is by no means inaccessible or wholly negative. There are lots of positive avenues to explore.

For instance from a Christian perspective there is an understanding that adults have an influence and with that a responsibility to engage and encourage the next generation. Paul wrote to dads in Ephesus in the 1st century something that is equally valid for dads in 21st century Wolverhampton (and mums, uncles, aunties, grandparents, neighbours, teachers, employers and politicians for that matter):

“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord”. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=56&chapter=6&version=31

Paul sees a clear link in how we as adults relate to young people and its affects on their social, moral and spiritual welfare. The key phrase in all this is “Do not exasperate your children”. Do not make them feel useless and isolated from you (and society). What is the opposite of exasperation? Encouragement. We should seek to encourage young people, make them feel wanted and part of society. We have a responsibility to do this.

And it’s with examples of how people are successfully engaging with and encouraging young people that I want to end this blog. There are numerous examples of this. Whether it is employers engaging with young people http://www.eef.org.uk/UK/mediacentre/mediareleases/birmingham/1/Goodrich_employee_wins_Year_in_Industry_award.htm. Vulnerable young people getting protection http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what_you_can_do/donate/other_ways_to_give/West_Midlands_Community_Sponsor/project_perspective/8854.html. Or disaffected young people getting the help they need to boost their confidence and re-engage with a wider community http://www.wolvcoll.ac.uk/princes_trust/index.html. There are plenty of examples of how young people can be successfully encouraged. And perhaps it’s in understanding what works in encouraging young people that we will get to the root causes of what it is about our culture that is currently exasperating so many of our young people?

SEE YOU THERE. Sunday 16th 7.30-9 the Merry Hill

Pints of View Returns!

Pints of View, The Merry Hill, Sunday 16th November, 7.30-9

After Septembers highly successful event on the justice system, we return to The Merry Hill pub on the 16th November.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=WV3%207LB&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

This time the theme will be looking at Young People. With a particular perspective on how government, education, the Church, community, family and the individual are influencing young people. Both for good and ill. But also what should be done instead.

The speakers for the night have a wealth of experience within secondary education, youth work, the police and local government, which will give some good varied and most importantly varied perspectives on what are some very challenging topics. More details are to follow.

It promises to be a lively, thought provoking and enjoyable night. See you there!

http://saintjosephs.co.uk

Restoring The Victims Sense of Justice?

A blog to get us started! Thinking about what to include in the press release I became very aware that the needs and views of crime victims are rarely addressed compared to other aspects of the criminal justice system (for instance Google “victim support” then Google “criminal punishment” and see the difference in responses!). Which got me thinking about ways in which this can in part be redressed.

Listen to any public debate on crime in this country and you quickly sense something strange and contradictory about how we address (or often don’t address) the needs of victims. On one hand you are never far from an anxious and highly understandable complaint along the lines of “the rights of the criminal are greater than the rights of the victim”. On the other hand the response to this dilemma nearly always seems to revolve around what is deemed to be a harsh enough sentence for the criminal. Rarely it would appear are ways of supporting and recompensing those who suffer at the top of the agenda.

In recent years a concept that has slowly began to emerge into the light of discussions on crime and justice has sought to redress this balance where possible. It’s called Restorative Justice. The Home Office describes Restorative Justice in this way:

Restorative justice brings victims, offenders and communities together to decide on a response to a particular crime. It’s about putting victims’ needs at the centre of the criminal justice system and finding positive solutions to crime by encouraging offenders to face up to their actions.

Now the cynic may fear that this is yet another of a long line of well meaning, politically correct, fashionable but soon to be abandoned ideas in criminal justice. However Restorative Justice has its origins from the ideas of an ancient leader generally not currently considered to be fashionable, let alone politically correct! Moses.

Moses? “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Surely not? However within the Old Testament law there is an important principle regularly used that if a crime is committed the victim should be recompensed. So for instance, in our society theft might result in imprisonment. In 21st Century Britain our first instinct is often to look at ways in which we can deny the offender liberty. Compare this for instance with Exodus 22 verse 1 "If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.” The first instinct is to see how the victims interests can be restored. Its not just a matter of repaying the victim its repaying with plenty of interest. You could almost imagine an ancient Jew down on his luck praying for an incompetent thief!

And this idea was clearly important to the Jewish people of biblical times. We don’t for instance have any recorded instances of people swapping teeth after a fight (mankind had to wait until the invention of Rugby for that kind of thing to happen on a regular basis). Let alone any retributive eye gouging. However we do have examples of this idea of compensating the victim.

For instance the story of Zacchaeus the Tax Collector in Luke 19;1-9 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2019&version=31).

Now as the story goes Zacchaeus was the Chief of the Tax Collectors in Jericho. And it would appear as the top Taxman in the city Zacchaeus wasn’t above over-charging or dipping his fingers into the coffers. Now something happens to Zacchaeus when he meets Jesus. He suddenly understands the nature of the corrupt way he makes money, his crime. What does Zacchaeus do to publicly declare his guilt?:

He doesn’t for instance ban himself from being a company director for a few years.

Neither does he decide to pay a fine to a bureaucracy.

Both very modern ways of dealing with crooked business practice.

No, Zacchaeus says “…and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." (verse 8).

Zacchaeus understands that at the centre of his concept of Justice is the need to make amends to his victims. The need of the victim is paramount.

But how can these ideas work in the world we live in now? Restorative Justice is being used increasingly as an option influencing criminal sentencing. There are 2 main ways in which this idea is being used. Firstly, through face-to-face meetings between the offender and the victim (including in many instances the victims friends and families). Secondly, through financial restitution. The Restorative Justice aspect of the sentence may at times be combined with a more traditional punishment also e.g. prison. The point being that these are ways of dealing with punishment that takes into account the needs and views of the victims.

Does it work? Well, it is not suitable for all types of crime and the face-to-face version is clearly only appropriate if the victim is comfortable with the process. However there is mounting evidence that this idea is effective in a number of ways. For instance studies have constantly shown positive correlations with reducing re-offending rates (this is borne out in the September 08 Ministry of Justice figures).

More importantly participation in Restorative Justice programs seem to work in the interest of the victim. For instance they have been shown to reduce instances of post traumatic stress and desire for violent revenge amongst victims. They have also increased the victims sense of satisfaction with the process in comparison to conventional criminal justice proceedings (see Esmee Fairbairn Foundations Restorative Justice: The Evidence report).

When the victims experience of the criminal justice system is often one of being overlooked and overwhelmed in the proceedings, then underwhelmed with the outcome, then any process which challenges this status quo has much to say to us. As celebrated criminologist Jerry Lee says “No other policy I have seen would put the victim so clearly ‘at the centre’ of a larger community of which we are all interdependent”.

Restorative Justice is by no means the answer to all our prayers regarding criminal justice in Britain. But used in the right circumstances it is certainly a step in the right direction.

For more information on:

Restorative Justice visit http://www.restorativejustice.org.uk/

Esmee Fairbairn Restorative Justice: The Evidence report visit http://www.esmeefairbairn.org.uk/docs/RJ_exec_summary.pdf

Victim Support (UK’s major victim support charity) visit http://www.victimsupport.org.uk/