For more than a decade the food bank at our Church has given out thousands and thousands of pounds of food to local people disadvantaged through all sorts of different circumstances.
Starting out primarily as a debt relief project the ethos has morphed to include crisis help, especially for people who are caught before their benefits starts to kick in.
All kinds of agencies refer people to us, and we give them enough food for a week.
As food has got more expensive so the food parcels have got more expensive and yet the work still grows, and in this economic climate we can only see it continuing in one direction. 20-30 people a week get around £30 of groceries.
For years it was called "Basics bank" but now we have changed the name to make it easier for people to find and understand what it is.
www.shrewsburyfoodbank.org
A couple of years ago the guy who set it up won a "Pride of Shropshire" award from the local newspaper / council for services to the community.
There is a big bin at the back of our main hall and people bring donations of food every Sunday. We receive all sorts of stuff from Harvest Festivals at other Churches. We go to supermarkets and ask for donations.
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat" jumps out of my Bible and this project gives me a way to live it out.
Showing posts with label Poor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poor. Show all posts
Friday, 20 January 2012
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Cadburys goes Fairtrade
I know I am a bit late to comment on this, but I am still simply amazed by this development.
20 years ago could anyone imagine reading things like this, this or this?
Many people support Fairtrade, but lots of Christian groups and charities have been pioneers in supporting the concept and bringing it into the mainstream.
I remember being amazed when Tesco announced it was doing an own brand teabag a few years back. But Cadbury's going Fairtrade? Cadburys Dairy Milk? In the UK?
Amazing! Now even a publication like the FT is extolling the virtues of Fairtrade? Unbelievable even ten years ago.
From the campaign stalls at Greenbelt to the sale stalls at the back of Churches to the local Fairtrade shops and initiatives to firms like Traidcraft bringing their branding and image to the mass market, forcing supermarkets to offer comparable products to now, one of the pinnacles of the nation's fast moving consumer goods, our favourite chocolate bar, will be Fairtrade.
A "kingdom value" has become rooted in the economic market place and social culture of our nation.
20 years ago could anyone imagine reading things like this, this or this?
Many people support Fairtrade, but lots of Christian groups and charities have been pioneers in supporting the concept and bringing it into the mainstream.I remember being amazed when Tesco announced it was doing an own brand teabag a few years back. But Cadbury's going Fairtrade? Cadburys Dairy Milk? In the UK?
Amazing! Now even a publication like the FT is extolling the virtues of Fairtrade? Unbelievable even ten years ago.
From the campaign stalls at Greenbelt to the sale stalls at the back of Churches to the local Fairtrade shops and initiatives to firms like Traidcraft bringing their branding and image to the mass market, forcing supermarkets to offer comparable products to now, one of the pinnacles of the nation's fast moving consumer goods, our favourite chocolate bar, will be Fairtrade.
A "kingdom value" has become rooted in the economic market place and social culture of our nation.
Sunday, 16 November 2008
Be wise with money...
The last few weeks and months have been full of reports of people and institutions not being wise with money.
What wisdom does Scripture give us?
Well - two passages in proverbs have really spoken to me recently.
From Proverbs 3: "9 Honour the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine."
This is an often misquoted passage by those trying to sell the prosperity gospel. Yes I do mean "sell", because it is almost always accompanied by an appeal for funds. Therefore the promise of blessing is being touted as the return service for the sale. I fundamentally disagree with the way this passage can be used, so let me explain why is struck me as being useful.
This is biblical wisdom, and has so much to tell us about how to be wise with money.
1) Honour God first and foremost - that includes the pay check
2) Give to God first - that means two things. Firstly - priority of God over all else. Secondly - in order to give to God first you have to know what you have and so budgeting becomes part of the process.
3) It implies work - the crops don't arrive by accident. Wealth is the product of hard work, not a short cut cosmic blessing solution.
4) It does not imply status symbols or wasting money - it implies you will have enough of what you need, and more. This is not an excuse for excess, but rather saying you will have what you need. If you remember God He won't forget you. Then you will have enough for you and enough to share or to save. This is not ticking the box that allows you to buy a Ferrari with a clear conscience - this is what you need for now, what others need for now, or what you or others may need for the future. The blessing is for what we need, not for what we want.
Proverbs 23 says:
So as I look at this wisdom and seek to take it on board I can see several themes.
Honour God - not riches
Work hard to have what you need - don't wear yourself out to get rich
We can rely on God - we can't rely on riches
God can and will bless some of us with wealth, for what we need, for what others need, for His work on earth. He comes first because it comes from Him, not because there is an outside chance we may get a bit more. What we do get is for what we need, which in this culture requires restraint. Whatever we have may not last, so we should not hold onto it too strongly.
What wisdom does Scripture give us?
Well - two passages in proverbs have really spoken to me recently.
From Proverbs 3: "9 Honour the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine."
This is an often misquoted passage by those trying to sell the prosperity gospel. Yes I do mean "sell", because it is almost always accompanied by an appeal for funds. Therefore the promise of blessing is being touted as the return service for the sale. I fundamentally disagree with the way this passage can be used, so let me explain why is struck me as being useful.
This is biblical wisdom, and has so much to tell us about how to be wise with money.
1) Honour God first and foremost - that includes the pay check
2) Give to God first - that means two things. Firstly - priority of God over all else. Secondly - in order to give to God first you have to know what you have and so budgeting becomes part of the process.
3) It implies work - the crops don't arrive by accident. Wealth is the product of hard work, not a short cut cosmic blessing solution.
4) It does not imply status symbols or wasting money - it implies you will have enough of what you need, and more. This is not an excuse for excess, but rather saying you will have what you need. If you remember God He won't forget you. Then you will have enough for you and enough to share or to save. This is not ticking the box that allows you to buy a Ferrari with a clear conscience - this is what you need for now, what others need for now, or what you or others may need for the future. The blessing is for what we need, not for what we want.
Proverbs 23 says:
4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
have the wisdom to show restraint.
5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,
for they will surely sprout wings
and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
This is the point where ambition and aspiration overcome calling and rob us of joy and peace. This is the point where status symbols and purchasing decisions move well beyond our needs and what the item does for us and into what owning the item says about us.
Verse 5 must be one of the most important verses in post credit crunch Britain. Not only is it wisdom, but it is prophetic, and it is prophetic that has proved true. The problem with giving ourselves for riches is twofold. Firstly we wear ourselves out to get them and secondly when we get them we can lose them. That is not just "You can't take it with you when you die" wisdom, but actually - that pension, that house, those investments - what happens if they go up in a puff smoke? What next? Where does our security lie? Many millions of pounds of money has flown off like an eagle into the sky.So as I look at this wisdom and seek to take it on board I can see several themes.
Honour God - not riches
Work hard to have what you need - don't wear yourself out to get rich
We can rely on God - we can't rely on riches
God can and will bless some of us with wealth, for what we need, for what others need, for His work on earth. He comes first because it comes from Him, not because there is an outside chance we may get a bit more. What we do get is for what we need, which in this culture requires restraint. Whatever we have may not last, so we should not hold onto it too strongly.
I love the way scripture is littered with clear, wise counsel for life.
Sunday, 3 August 2008
5 sermons that changed my life NUMBER 4
Jackie Pullinger To - "Doing the Stuff" Conference April 2000 - Vineyard UK
Jackie Pullinger To should need no introduction, but just in case she does you can find a three stage explanation here, here and here.
Before we get to the talk itself the woman herself was most of the power. She really has walked the walk. She has given up everything for the sake of her Lord and brought love and life to hundreds of people.
Look at this for a selection of quotes:
"I went up to a man and said 'Jesus loves you' …but I realised that it didn't mean anything unless I did it." "I banked my life on a miracle." "Jesus is everything. If it weren't for him, I'd have no goodness at all."
So up steps this woman, this white, middle class, well spoken, home counties, middle aged lady who then started to speak at a conference full of white, middle class, well spoken, home counties type people (and I was one of them). Everything about it could have been scones and spongecake Christianity - but it wasn't. This was life changing, career destroying, "take up your cross and follow me" radicalism that literally stopped me in my tracks.
There was biblical exhortation, there was encouragement, and it was wrapped in a life story of courage and endeavour that no other British Christian I can think of can equal. "Chasing the Dragon" is the "Cross and the Switchblade" for UK Christians of a certain era. She just oozed grace, passion, determination and asked questions too uncomfortable to ask within huge tranches of UK Christendom.
She spoke of her passion to reach those in poverty with the gospel, and spoke of her total angst that there were so few Christians in the inner cities. She stopped, silent, and lent over the lectern. Then asked the gathered thousands in the state of the art auditorium in a voice hushed to barely a whisper but with a deep, 30 years in the mission field type of sincerity...
"You aren't all still living in the suburbs are you?"
You could have heard a pin drop. She was not actually technically suggesting no-one should live in the suburbs, or to reach people in those classes, but she was chastising a Christendom that has got so interested in being respectable that we have given up on being near millions of the lost.
The talk was a total affront to safe and secure British Christianity, and even though I have yet to fully work out how to live it all out, it left me in a place where if He says to "go" then I know I have to.
Jackie Pullinger To should need no introduction, but just in case she does you can find a three stage explanation here, here and here.
Before we get to the talk itself the woman herself was most of the power. She really has walked the walk. She has given up everything for the sake of her Lord and brought love and life to hundreds of people.
Look at this for a selection of quotes:
"I went up to a man and said 'Jesus loves you' …but I realised that it didn't mean anything unless I did it." "I banked my life on a miracle." "Jesus is everything. If it weren't for him, I'd have no goodness at all."
So up steps this woman, this white, middle class, well spoken, home counties, middle aged lady who then started to speak at a conference full of white, middle class, well spoken, home counties type people (and I was one of them). Everything about it could have been scones and spongecake Christianity - but it wasn't. This was life changing, career destroying, "take up your cross and follow me" radicalism that literally stopped me in my tracks.
There was biblical exhortation, there was encouragement, and it was wrapped in a life story of courage and endeavour that no other British Christian I can think of can equal. "Chasing the Dragon" is the "Cross and the Switchblade" for UK Christians of a certain era. She just oozed grace, passion, determination and asked questions too uncomfortable to ask within huge tranches of UK Christendom.
She spoke of her passion to reach those in poverty with the gospel, and spoke of her total angst that there were so few Christians in the inner cities. She stopped, silent, and lent over the lectern. Then asked the gathered thousands in the state of the art auditorium in a voice hushed to barely a whisper but with a deep, 30 years in the mission field type of sincerity...
"You aren't all still living in the suburbs are you?"
You could have heard a pin drop. She was not actually technically suggesting no-one should live in the suburbs, or to reach people in those classes, but she was chastising a Christendom that has got so interested in being respectable that we have given up on being near millions of the lost.
The talk was a total affront to safe and secure British Christianity, and even though I have yet to fully work out how to live it all out, it left me in a place where if He says to "go" then I know I have to.
Thursday, 31 July 2008
10 reasons I hate prosperity teaching...
Yes "Hate" is a strong word.
to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest:
Yep - that covers it!
1) HEAVEN OR EARTH?
It focuses on earthly treasure - not treasure in heaven. (We have been warned about that)
2) GENEROSITY
It makes the goal of generosity the return we get - not selfless compassion and love.
3) POSSESSIONS
It focuses on "outward things" like possessions, not fruits of the spirit, like grace, love, humility.
4) STEWARDSHIP
It makes our "stewardship" about our "accumulation", not our "distribution". Thus it replaces generosity with greed. It makes "ownership" and "receiving" the prize - not sharing, that does not sound like Acts 2.
5) FAITH
It implies those with more "faith" get more "wealth". It therefore ignores:
- economic factors (such as industry declines etc)
- educational background & the opportunities provided
- family background & the expectations / opportunities given
- choice of career (Teacher vs Investment Banker)
AND it implies or accuses those with LESS that they somehow LACK faith that would have redeemed a blessing from the great cosmic bank account.
6) CONTENTMENT
It makes us dissatisfied. God's provision does bring some level of contentment and joy for the believer and leads us to worship Him. But the idea that more stuff = more blessing leaves us never satisfied. It is the spirit of consumerism marketed in a christian sweet wrapper. I need to give more, to receive more, to have more, to give more, to receive more, to have more, to give more is a symbian circle of greed that chokes faith. Suddenly "more" is better, and once "more" is master you are never satisfied.
7) JESUS & THE APOSTLES
Mark Driscoll said... "How can any teaching say "If only you have more faith then you won't be like Jesus""
Add in any of the disciples to that quote. Do we suggest that the apostle Paul lacked faith. Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-33 and then tell me faith = blessing = provision.
8) SELF RELIANCE
If YOU give and if YOU have more faith then God will bless YOU. Nope - our Father in heaven gives good gifts to his children and provides for our needs. Our needs are internal and external, spiritual, emotional and practical, and the answer is in God not us.
It is from Him, it is for His purposes, it belongs to Him, and with Him we can use it to honour and bring glory to Him.
9) EXTERNAL FACTORS
It ignores the following (a small example):
- international markets and trading (where we are told to seek justice for the poor)
- seasonal changes like drought (where we have an example to help the poor)
- wars, conflicts, the displacement of people (where we have an example to help those fleeing hardship, war or slavery)
This makes it an easy option for wealthy, educated "first world" Christians wanting success in their consumer culture. But it is a gospel of death to other believers around the world, who just happen to be our brothers and sisters in Christ, who we have a responsibility to help - both in terms of their humanity, and their place in God's kingdom.
In short, if you believe "faith = financial blessing" then go to a starving village in Ethiopia and tell the local pastor that.
10) HYPOCRISY
It means we talk about generosity and helping the poor, even though we already have more than we need, and give less than we can, and are dissatisfied! We are dissatisfied even though we have more than we need, as we want even more than we need, even though with more we will still give even less than we are able to, in order to sustain a lifestyle beyond what we need, which we remain dissatisfied with, while the poor we wanted to help stay poor.
We then wonder why those outside the Church think we are hypocrites...
For balance, I do believe that,
a) God blesses people as he chooses and some times with overwhelming wealth and power - Abraham, Job, Solomon etc. It is not wrong to be rich, to do a well paid job.
b) We do need to work hard to seek a return, especially if we have responsibility to provide for people and we should invest wisely to seek a return
c) God does bless us with nice things and let's us have nice things. It is from Him, it is for His purposes, it belongs to Him, and with Him we can use it to honour and bring glory to Him.
There is no shame in being very very rich, and there is no shame in being very very poor, and we get both cases within the body of Christ and both have enough when we share.
So while I love the provision of God and believe that wealth is a wonderful blessing from God I believe that the idea that guaranteed financial prosperity is part of our inheritance in the gospel is a lie and I hate it.
What we need is a balanced view.
to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest:
Yep - that covers it!
1) HEAVEN OR EARTH?
It focuses on earthly treasure - not treasure in heaven. (We have been warned about that)
2) GENEROSITY
It makes the goal of generosity the return we get - not selfless compassion and love.
3) POSSESSIONS
It focuses on "outward things" like possessions, not fruits of the spirit, like grace, love, humility.
4) STEWARDSHIP
It makes our "stewardship" about our "accumulation", not our "distribution". Thus it replaces generosity with greed. It makes "ownership" and "receiving" the prize - not sharing, that does not sound like Acts 2.
5) FAITH
It implies those with more "faith" get more "wealth". It therefore ignores:
- economic factors (such as industry declines etc)
- educational background & the opportunities provided
- family background & the expectations / opportunities given
- choice of career (Teacher vs Investment Banker)
AND it implies or accuses those with LESS that they somehow LACK faith that would have redeemed a blessing from the great cosmic bank account.
6) CONTENTMENT
It makes us dissatisfied. God's provision does bring some level of contentment and joy for the believer and leads us to worship Him. But the idea that more stuff = more blessing leaves us never satisfied. It is the spirit of consumerism marketed in a christian sweet wrapper. I need to give more, to receive more, to have more, to give more, to receive more, to have more, to give more is a symbian circle of greed that chokes faith. Suddenly "more" is better, and once "more" is master you are never satisfied.
7) JESUS & THE APOSTLES
Mark Driscoll said... "How can any teaching say "If only you have more faith then you won't be like Jesus""
Add in any of the disciples to that quote. Do we suggest that the apostle Paul lacked faith. Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-33 and then tell me faith = blessing = provision.
8) SELF RELIANCE
If YOU give and if YOU have more faith then God will bless YOU. Nope - our Father in heaven gives good gifts to his children and provides for our needs. Our needs are internal and external, spiritual, emotional and practical, and the answer is in God not us.
It is from Him, it is for His purposes, it belongs to Him, and with Him we can use it to honour and bring glory to Him.
9) EXTERNAL FACTORS
It ignores the following (a small example):
- international markets and trading (where we are told to seek justice for the poor)
- seasonal changes like drought (where we have an example to help the poor)
- wars, conflicts, the displacement of people (where we have an example to help those fleeing hardship, war or slavery)
This makes it an easy option for wealthy, educated "first world" Christians wanting success in their consumer culture. But it is a gospel of death to other believers around the world, who just happen to be our brothers and sisters in Christ, who we have a responsibility to help - both in terms of their humanity, and their place in God's kingdom.
In short, if you believe "faith = financial blessing" then go to a starving village in Ethiopia and tell the local pastor that.
10) HYPOCRISY
It means we talk about generosity and helping the poor, even though we already have more than we need, and give less than we can, and are dissatisfied! We are dissatisfied even though we have more than we need, as we want even more than we need, even though with more we will still give even less than we are able to, in order to sustain a lifestyle beyond what we need, which we remain dissatisfied with, while the poor we wanted to help stay poor.
We then wonder why those outside the Church think we are hypocrites...
For balance, I do believe that,
a) God blesses people as he chooses and some times with overwhelming wealth and power - Abraham, Job, Solomon etc. It is not wrong to be rich, to do a well paid job.
b) We do need to work hard to seek a return, especially if we have responsibility to provide for people and we should invest wisely to seek a return
c) God does bless us with nice things and let's us have nice things. It is from Him, it is for His purposes, it belongs to Him, and with Him we can use it to honour and bring glory to Him.
There is no shame in being very very rich, and there is no shame in being very very poor, and we get both cases within the body of Christ and both have enough when we share.
So while I love the provision of God and believe that wealth is a wonderful blessing from God I believe that the idea that guaranteed financial prosperity is part of our inheritance in the gospel is a lie and I hate it.
What we need is a balanced view.
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