16 February 2012

Research shows that Christians in the UK are more likely to attribute poverty in this country to ‘laziness or lack of willpower’ than ‘social inequality’, writes the Revd Dave Lawton. I used to think that way too. Have you ever felt like a fish out of water? As a new church community-worker in inner-city Liverpool, I found myself living and working in an area made up of narrow streets with small terraced houses that felt like shoe-boxes all glued together.

Roads were litter-strewn and clogged-up with parked cars, several of which were clearly abandoned. My new neighbours displayed aggression, indifference, suspicion and a hardness towards me that I had not experienced before. I learnt that they were very territorial and hardly ever ventured out of their ‘patch’. Consequently their expectations of life were entirely confined to what they experienced on the ‘patch’ - joblessness, no need for educational qualifications, relationship breakdown, dysfunctional family-life and petty crime.

I had been raised, educated and ingrained in the ‘the ways of leafy Buckinghamshire’ and as such, I had never seen such poverty, nor lived alongside such social exclusion. Initially I thought that the residents were living there because they wanted to, that it was one of their life-choices or that it was simply a consequence of their own approach to either education or employment. It was their problem to sort out, not mine, I felt.

These views were reinforced by media stories about benefit fraud and laziness. However, over the four years that I worked in the area, I got to know the community and heard about some of the factors that kept them where they were.
Illiteracy, innumeracy, lack of self-confidence, addictions to drugs and alcohol, dealing with abusive behaviour, lack of awareness about accessing adult education and funding, fear of institutional authority (be it state, school or church), fear of the unknown beyond their ‘patch’ and a sense that their only real hope for the future, however unrealistic, lay in the hands of the National Lottery.

They still tried to provide for their households, look out for their needy neighbours and fostered a sense of community spirit. They were trying to make the best of their circumstances. I grew to appreciate their frankness, toughness, resourcefulness and indomitable community spirit. The vast majority were not lazy, job dodging, benefit scroungers but genuinely wanted to make a contribution towards society, given half a chance to do so.

I was reminded of my ‘urban priority area learning process’ as I read the Church Urban Fund report on Christian attitudes to poverty in this country. I am not particularly surprised that many churchgoers are unsympathetic to people living in poverty, as indeed I was before my time in inner-city Liverpool.

There is a need for re-educating and re-orientating our church people to have a personal and collective responsibility to help those in poverty as an expression of God’s love for, and identification with, the ‘poor’. I imagine that not many of us have had the opportunity to live alongside the socially excluded for a length of time and be privileged to share in part of their journey through life.

For many of us in the developed western world, there is little exposure to poverty. We tend to think that poverty and social injustice happens elsewhere in the world. We need to be prepared to look closer to home. We need to ask what is poverty? What causes it? How can we listen to the stories of those caught up in it? What would bring real relief to their situations? We need to try and avoid jumping to presumptuous and prescriptive answers, before we have actually listened to the people concerned.

Aylesbury Homeless Action Group co-ordinate a Winter Warmth Project across the town, housing the homeless in different church buildings each night. Each homeless person has a different story to tell about the factors and reasons that left them without a home. One person told of being re-housed but then leaving that accommodation for fear of being drawn into a life of crime by his new neighbours.

He needed not just a roof over his head, but also a network of positive support and encouragement from others. Why not try and learn more about poverty close to your own area? What do you think Jesus had to say about the poor? Does the Bible say much about our attitudes towards poverty and our responsibility for reducing it? Should Christians, churches, deaneries and dioceses have a bias towards the poor, or not? During my time in inner-city Liverpool, I read the Bible with new eyes and uncovered a Jesus who befriended the poor and challenged a system of greed and oppression. He spoke out words of protest and rebellion against social injustice and He calls all of us, both clergy and lay, to do the same. So what will you do? Where does your church stand?

The Revd Dave Lawton is Vicar of the Southcourt Benefice in Aylesbury and invovled with the Aylesbury Homeless Action Group.

Looking after Wycombe's homeless

The Wycombe Homeless Connection project has now been going for five years and grew out of a discussion between two church leaders; one lay and one ordained, writes the Revd Paul Willis. In response to the death of Josie, who died sleeping rough in the stairwell of a town centre car park early on Christmas day 2006, they organised a small group to visit Camden, where seven churches were operating a winter shelter that rotated around their premises each week.

Back in Wycombe an open meeting was held to assess interest in doing something similar. More than 100, mainly lay Christians attended. Encouraged by the reaction, the two church leaders set to work to recruit host churches, signed up an army of volunteers and employed a project manager to anchor the work. Things only fell into place at the last moment – faith was certainly tested! - but Wycombe Winter Night Shelter opened its doors in January 2008. It has opened each year since then, and hundreds of people have passed through.

I give this history to focus on the importance of the reaction of members of a number of churches to the success of the project. Initial interest came, and continues to come, not only from the urban setting of High Wycombe, but also from across the outlying, more prosperous rural areas around our town and indeed from further afield.  That we were able to convince people in town centre churches to open their doors as homelessness shelters (one night a week each) was largely due to the support of members of congregations, who in some cases (at least initially) had to convince clergy and church councils alike that the project was absolutely necessary, manageable and sustainable.

The main strength of the WHC project comes out of the fact that it is owned by the seven participating churches, who remain deeply committed to an ecumenical partnership that offers a coordinated response to the issues presented by the growing problem of homelessness. In addition, our army of more than 250 volunteers give a real sense of sustainability, and without the financial support of churches we would not be able to maintain the project in its current, year round, form.

Strength also comes from a broad based multi-agency approach, where the skills of sector professionals, and volunteers from other faiths and none, complement our work, clearly understanding the necessity for it.
More importantly, the ethos of the project has faith at its centre. Bringing good news to the poor, and healing the broken hearted is at the core of everything we try to do.

The Revd Paul Willis is Vicar of St Anne’s Wycombe Marsh and St Peter’s, Micklefield.

What the Bias to the Poor research found:

There are sharp differences between the views of the clergy and congregations. Three quarters of clergy said they thought poverty was mainly due to social injustice but only one fifth of regular church goers agreed.
There is an apparent lack of awareness of poverty among the laity; only 37 per cent of regular churchoers think there is ‘quite a lot’ of child poverty in Britain, compared with 78 per cent of clergy. This is in stark contrast to the latest UK poverty figures, which show that up to four million children – or nearly one in three – are living in poverty.
Possibly more surprising is the finding that churchgoers’ attitudes to poverty are little different to those of non-churchgoers. Churchgoers are no more aware of poverty and no more likely to attribute it to social injustice than non-churchgoers. In another question only 36 per cent of regular churchgoers said they think large income differences are ‘morally wrong’ - the same proportion as for non-churchgoers and substantially lower than 74 per cent of the clergy who agree with this statement.
Churchgoers are somewhat more sympathetic to benefit claimants than non-churchgoers, being less likely to believe that most unemployed people could find a job if they tried and also less likely to think that most people on benefits are fiddling the system. However, churchgoers’ attitudes have been hardening over the past two decades in line with the views of wider society, which has become much less sympathetic to people living in poverty.
All in all, attending church appears to do little to change people’s underlying attitudes to poverty and inequality. If, as we believe, tackling poverty is at the heart of the gospel message, then there is a clear need for churches to do more to raise awareness and understanding of poverty among their congregations.
To download the full report go to www.cuf.org.uk/research. Church Urban Fund has produced a free course for churches to help congregations understand the impact and causes of UK poverty. Download a copy at www.cuf.org/resources-churches/ or call 020 7898 1667.

How Church Urban Fund is helping in the Oxford Diocese:

THE Church Urban Fund has supported numerous charities in the Oxford Diocese. In the last three years alone it has funded more projects run by Christians in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire than there are space to list here, but below are a few.
Last year it provided £3,370 towards the Wycombe Night Shelter’s plans for a day centre to provide year-round mentoring for homeless people.
It has provided £3,500 for Art Beyond Belief, an interfaith project run with Anglican Church support which aims to help marginalised people and those with mental health issues or disabilities through art.
Citizens MK, which has been featured in the Door when it was launched in 2010, has been given a £4,800 grant towards its work to empower and equip 450 peole in 30 community groups to create stronger communities, promote active citizenship and be a channel for working together for social/economic justice in Milton Keynes. The Revd Tim Norwood, Area Dean of Milton Keynes, along with other clergy were involved in setting up Citizens MK.
Oxford’s The Gatehouse, an ecumenical charity that provides food and shelter for the homeless, is moving to St Giles Church Hall this year. The CUF grant for £5,000 towards equipment for the new centre, which is being renovated and where disabled access and office space is being provided.