A Church for the Poor: Transforming the church to reach the poor in Britain today

I gladly commend this book to you because it has something urgent and important to say to the UK church that we desperately need to hear. More than theory alone, this comes from their heart, is biblical and offers meaningful ways forward. They are practitioners of what they preach. Be prepared to be deeply challenged!

Roy Godwin, author of The Grace Outpouring and The Way of Blessing.

Wanting a church for the poor is easy. Knowing how to build one requires wisdom and skill. Martin and Natalie are helpful guides for anyone who wants to move beyond desire and into action.

Phil Moore, leader of Everyday Church, London, author of Gagging Jesus and the Straight to the Heart Bible commentaries.

Praise God for a book profoundly rooted in biblical principles and filled with shining and authentic practical application. Thoroughly inspirational.

Terry Virgo, founder of Newfrontiers.

Jesus told us that he had been ‘anointed by the Holy Spirit to bring good news to the poor’. We constantly need to ask ourselves whether the way we live, speak, and act meets that high threshold; whether we use our gifts, voices, and privileges in the service of the most vulnerable—for whom the news is rarely good and for whom life often goes from bad to worse. This wonderful book points us in the right direction.

Lord David Alton, cross bench peer.

This insightful book serves as a timely wake-up call to church leaders and members everywhere that just as the gospel is good news for the poor, so surely our churches must be the same. With a powerful blend of compassionate concern and careful attention to biblical principles, Martin and Natalie write honestly from both the heart and the head.

Livy Gibbs, conference speaker and part of the leadership team at Emmanuel Church, London.

This book is both inspiring and deeply practical. Pointing out the recent surge ‘in church engagement with the poor’, and reminding us that revival ‘almost always starts with the poor’, it observes that our churches remain largely middle class. But there’s real encouragement here about the possibility of change, and practical advice about how to bring it about.

Rt. Hon. Stephen Timms MP.

With startling statistics, profound insights, and biblical truth, A Church for the Poor educates and illustrates about the reality of poverty in our society. It challenges the church to fulfil its God-given mandate and eradicate poverty in all its expressions.

Pastor Tope Koleoso, Jubilee Church London.

We are very fortunate to have this excellent book to help us integrate people from all walks of society among us as the church. I highly recommend you read it; devour it; put it into practice; and put a copy in as many hands as possible. Let’s be good news to the poor, restoring dignity, hope and love in this next season. It is time!

Angela Kemm, international speaker and evangelist.

When it comes to social transformation, nothing carries more potential than the local church. But so often we fall short. This brilliant and ruggedly practical book could make all the difference. Tackling tough questions and offering robust answers, the authors provide us with a wealth of arguments, ideas and examples in favour of a church for the poor. This book isn’t simply another ‘must-read’ Christian text. Reading it won’t be enough. This book demands more attention. This is ‘must-study’ stuff: leaders and congregations will have to grapple with the issues. That is what it will take to build the church for the poor that society and the future so desperately needs. 

Chris Mould, Chief Executive of the Foundation for Social Change and Inclusion; former Chief Executive of the Trussell Trust foodbank network.

A CHURCH FOR THE POOR

Published by David C Cook

4050 Lee Vance Drive

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

Integrity Music Limited, a division of David C Cook.

David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form without written permission from the publisher.

The website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These websites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of David C Cook, nor do we vouch for their content.

Names have been changed throughout to protect identities.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV®. Copyright © 1979, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

ISBN 978-0-8307-7213-1

eISBN 978-0-8307-7259-9

© 2017 Martin Charlesworth and Natalie Williams

The rights of Martin Charlesworth and Natalie Williams to be identified as the Authors of the Work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

The Cook Team: Ian Matthews, Jennie Pollock, Jo Stockdale.

Cover Design: Mark Prentice, beatroot.media

Cover Image: Adobe stock

First Edition 2017

CONTENTS

Foreword

Acknowledgements

About the authors

About Jubilee+

Introduction

Chapter 1: Who are we?

Part One: A church for the poor—setting the scene

Chapter 2: Who are the poor? And why should we care?

Chapter 3: Poverty and the New Testament church

Chapter 4: The church, the nation and the poor an historical perspective

Chapter 5: British culture: dividing walls

Chapter 6: British culture: materialism, individualism, cynicism

Chapter 7: Heart response

Part Two: A church for the poor—the practicalities

Chapter 8: Building a church for the poor—calling

Chapter 9: Building a church for the poor—culture

Chapter 10: Building a church for the poor—strategy

Chapter 11: Building a church for the poor—keys

Chapter 12: Building a church for the poor—capacity

Chapter 13: Building a church for the poor—counting the cost

Chapter 14: Conclusion—where do we go from here?

References

FOREWORD

The church that Jesus planted was a church for the poor. He described his vision for the church when he told his disciples in Matthew 26:11 that, ‘The poor you will always have with you.’ The question is therefore quite sobering: Do we? Do we actually have the poor among us in our churches today?

For many churches, the answer is a definite no. Somewhere along the way, those churches became a respectable haunt for the middle classes instead of a radical haven of hope for the poor, the oppressed and the marginalised. Churches are closing down across the Western world and, by and large, the poor aren’t noticing because the poor are not among them. Those churches checked out of Jesus’ mission many years before they closed their doors.

Many of us care passionately about this. We long to see the church return to the initial vision that Jesus described to his disciples. We feel as passionate about it as the apostle Paul when he returned excitedly from visiting the other apostles in Jerusalem: ‘All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along’ (Gal. 2:10). Like Paul, many of us are eager to create churches for the poor—places where the least and the lost and the lonely can find the love of Jesus Christ in the eyes and the arms of his people.

The problem is that most of us don’t really know where to begin. We don’t know how to turn our deep desire into concrete action on the ground. That’s where this book comes in. Martin Charlesworth and Natalie Williams have produced a manual that will help you turn your desire into action. They draw upon their own experience in cutting-edge church ministry to the poor to inspire and equip you to take wise steps forward in your own context today. I have been to both of their churches and seen some of what they write about in action. I commend them to you wholeheartedly as guides for your journey towards turning your own church outwards to embrace the poor.

Martin and Natalie draw on a wealth of personal experience, but they also draw on a deep understanding of the Bible’s teaching about helping those trapped by poverty. They recognise the principle of Job 29:16, that eager desire needs to be accompanied by thorough research of the problem. Job was able to tell his friends that ‘I investigated the case of the person I did not know.’ Martin and Natalie also recognise that helping those in need requires a wise and concrete plan. Their book embodies the principle of Proverbs 13:4, that ‘The lazy person eagerly desires yet gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.’

So well done for picking up this book. You have already started out on the journey towards transforming your church into A Church for the Poor. Read on and let Martin and Natalie guide you forward in your journey. Highlight, underline and scribble notes in the margin—do whatever it takes to turn their wisdom into concrete action on the ground.

One day Jesus will return from heaven to ask his followers whether they built churches for the poor. He prophesies about that day in Matthew 25:34-36, 40

Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was ill and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me … Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

On that day, we will not regret our efforts to respond to the vision Jesus has for his church. May this book help you to rejoice on that day that you worked with him to create A Church for the Poor.

Phil Moore

Everyday Church, London, UK

May 2017

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There are many people who have played a part in this book being written and published, often quietly but resolutely supporting the authors behind the scenes. As always, special thanks is due to the other members of the Jubilee+ team—Andy Biggs and Pete and Sue Lyndon—for your prayers and support, to our wonderful administrator Sheena Gardner and to the Jubilee+ directors.

Thank you to Annmarie Moran for assisting with research in the early stages and to Ben Lindsay for invaluable insights. Thank you to Annmarie, Phil Moore, Katherine Blessan, Karen Williams, Geoff Knott and Paul Mann for valuable feedback on the draft text.

We have greatly appreciated the support, prayer and advice of the Jubilee+ consultation group, especially Angela Kemm, Dave Fellingham and Ginny Burgin.

Jeremy Simpkins continues to provide us with steadfast oversight and passion for what we are doing. Thank you.

We are so grateful to the team at David C Cook for your commitment to this book, especially to Ian Matthews for your passion for publishing it and to the gifted and helpful Jennie Pollock for editing that enabled us to say what we really meant.

Martin would also like to thank his wife Jane, his family and the leaders and members of Barnabas Community Church in Shrewsbury for the many ways they have supported him in this project and released him for the work of Jubilee+.

Natalie would also like to thank the amazing friends who have supported her through the process of this book being developed and written: Dorothy Bourdet, Santino and Emma Hamberis, Caner and Joanna Mutu, Sarah Owen, Nic and Hannah Beaney, Richard and Anna Wilson, Paul and Hazel Woods, Paul and Chloe Mann, Claire Lockwood, and too many others to mention. Natalie thanks her wonderful King’s Church Hastings family. And as always, she would like to thank her incredible mum.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Martin Charlesworth

Martin lives in Shrewsbury with his wife Jane and has three grown-up daughters. He holds degrees in history and theology, and worked as a teacher and in business before becoming a church leader. Martin led Barnabas Community Church Shrewsbury from 1994 to 2014 and helped develop its strong emphasis on social action and community engagement.

In his spare time, Martin enjoys cycling, squash and mountaineering. He is an enthusiastic traveller, having previously lived in Pakistan and South Africa.

Martin leads Jubilee+.

Natalie Williams

Natalie grew up in a working class family in Hastings, one of the most deprived areas of Britain. She was the first person in her family to go to university. After graduating, she worked as a journalist in London and Beijing. She has an MA in Political Communications.

Natalie now works for King’s Church Hastings, where she oversees communications and social action, and for Jubilee+ as communications coordinator.

She is passionate about Christians and churches being a force for good in their communities and actively demonstrating the mercy of God to those in need.

ABOUT JUBILEE+

The Jubilee+ vision is to see the church in the UK be a champion of the poor and a means to healthy communities across the nation.

This is a big vision. It’s based on the fact that we believe we serve a big God whose heart is especially inclined towards the poor. We also believe that his church has a responsibility not only to care for and empower those in need, but also to speak up on behalf of the voiceless.

Our vision goes beyond