Theos Report on the Cost of Living Crisis

A new-ish report from Theos was published a while back, but I am late in catching up:

Hannah Rich, A Torn Safety Net: How the cost of living crisis threatens its own last line of defence (London: Theos, 2022).

Here are some paragraphs from the Theos website:

‘While the cost of living crisis has made life acutely less secure for many people, this level of chronic insecurity has been growing over the longer term…

‘This report is the culmination of a year-long project exploring how insecurity, both economic and social, is affecting churches, faith groups and local communities…

‘The report details the scale and scope of this issue, which we argue constitutes an emerging “social recession”. We argue also that there is a strong theological rationale for taking insecurity seriously as a socio-economic issue, distinct from poverty, rooted in the Old Testament.

‘It is critical that community and faith groups are supported and secured both during and beyond the current crisis, and to this end we offer policy recommendations which focus on systemic as well as individual insecurity.’

More information can be found here, and a pdf of the full report is available here.

Lausanne Global Analysis 11, 4 (July 2022)

The latest issue of Lausanne Global Analysis, from The Lausanne Movement, is available online from here, including pdfs of individual articles as below.

The summaries are taken from the Issue Overview by Loun Ling Lee

Marion L.S. Carson

Working for Freedom in a World of Exploitation and Trafficking

‘Victims of exploitation and trafficking are to be found all over the world. Many have been exploited while escaping religious or ethnic persecution, or [. . .] fleeing war’, like the refugees from Ukraine, writes Marion Carson, who has encountered many such victims through her role as chaplain of Glasgow City Mission. She challenges Christians and the church to first examine ourselves as we tackle the causes of human trafficking – ‘lack of opportunity, capitalism, inequality (racial, social, religious, and gender) amongst others’ – and to be ‘a prophetic voice against the values and norms of the world in which slavery is able to flourish.’ Lessons from history and Scripture are highlighted in the article to guide us as we do our part in preventing ‘the enslavement and exploitation of people.’

Kumar Aryal

A Holistic Approach to Poverty Alleviation in Asia

Poverty is another major problem the world faces today. It is an ‘economic, material, political, social, and/or mental’ and ‘also a spiritual issue,’ writes Kumar Aryal. In his article, he focuses on four interrelated dimensions of poverty – economic, social, psychological, and spiritual. Therefore, to alleviate poverty, the author proposes a holistic approach, first by examining comprehensively the root causes of poverty. Some of the root causes of poverty in Asia analysed by him are widespread corruption, huge population, recurring natural disasters, and lack of education. Then he uses the ‘holistic development framework’, which ‘proposes an intentional integration of economic, psychological, social, and spiritual development.’ Alleviation of poverty ‘requires much effort, intentionality, and resources,’ he concludes.

J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu

Prosperity, Health, and Human Flourishing in Africa

‘How is one expected to understand human suffering, whether it be as a result of the war in Ukraine or poverty, hunger, and squalor in some parts of Africa?’ asks Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu. As he examines the theological implications of prosperity, health, and wellbeing within an African context, he helps us to understand why in Africa, ‘Christian mission and evangelism are seen as fulfilling a divine mandate when they aim to include the alleviation of pain and suffering – whether physical or spiritual– and systemic social injustice in their message of conversion in salvation.’ Beyond Africa, he believes that the reality of suffering across the world challenges the global church to not only preach salvation in Christ, but also to be ‘the salt of the earth and the light of the world,’ bringing ‘hope and flourishing to a world in need of God’s intervention within the difficult circumstances of human life.’

Julie Ma

Why Pentecostalism Has Succeeded Among Animists

Similarly, in Asia and other regions in the Global South, especially among tribal people with animistic backgrounds, many believe that the spirits have supernatural power to heal and bless. By comparing and analysing the religious worldviews of tribal people and the Pentecostal Christians in Asia, Julie Ma discovers major resemblances between the two: ‘The first is the awareness of the existence of the spirit world and its association with the world of the living’, and the second is ‘the belief in the power of spiritual beings to heal and bless; both the ancestor spirits for animistic believers and the Holy Spirit for Christian tribal believers.’ These religious commonalities have contributed to ‘the reception of the Christian message’ and ‘the rapid spread of the Christian faith in the Global South’. This case study illustrates the importance of contextualizing the gospel message, ensuring the relevancy of the gospel to the felt needs of the recipients.

Matt Williams on Money and Family Relationships

Matt N. Williams, Money Can’t Fix Everything: The Impact of Family Relationships on Poverty (Cambridge: Jubilee Centre, 2020).

The Jubilee Centre has published a new report, this one by Matt Williams, arguing that ‘family dysfunction is a key driver in poverty and, because of this, healthier families are a big part of the solution’.

Here are some paragraphs from the Jubilee Centre:

‘If you look at the manifestos of political parties on both the left and the right, you’ll see a pattern emerge; in many cases, tackling poverty is seen as a left-wing concern, whilst strengthening family is the sole province of the politically right. This separation of key social and economic issues along political lines is all too common. But what if, after taking a holistic look at the ugly wound of poverty, we find that it’s not just unhelpful, but impossible to talk about poverty without the family?

‘This booklet starts by painting three pictures of contemporary poverty, covering public consciousness of poverty in both Africa and the UK. In part II, it explores how we can recover the overlooked economic reality of family, arguing that the Scriptures give us a holistic perspective on family as part of a wider socio-economic vision. Finally, part III brings this biblical perspective to bear on today’s world. It suggests ways in which these ideas can be applied to face the contemporary challenge of poverty in three key areas: households, churches and government policy.’

The booklet is available as a pdf here, in exchange for an email address.

Poverty in the Early Church and Today

Steve Walton and Hannah Swithinbank (eds.), Poverty in the Early Church and Today: A Conversation (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2019).

Thanks to Bloomsbury T&T Clark, the above book has been made available as a pdf free of charge, here, on Knowledge Unlatched.

The book grew out of a conference on ‘Engaging with Poverty in the Early Church and Today’ held at St Mary’s University, Twickenham (London) in December 2015.

Here are some paragraphs from the editors on ‘How the Book Works’.

‘Poverty is one of the most significant challenges our world today faces, and it is a particular challenge for Christians, who follow the Jesus who urges giving to the poor and who includes people in poverty among his highest concerns. The essays in this book offer a fresh angle on debates about poverty by bringing together people who have expertise and experience in alleviating poverty today with people who have expertise in the ancient worlds of the Bible. We bring them together in order to have a conversation about how Christians today might think about and act on poverty issues, informed by the way our ancestors-in-faith responded to poverty in their places and times.

‘We are not simply interested in holding up modern practices to a supposed early Christian example. Rather, we are interested in the complex ways in which the early Christian ideas and practices relate to modern ideas and practices and vice versa. In other words, the conversation in this book aims to address both continuities and discontinuities between the ancient world and today. We are most interested in coming to grips with the full complexity of the matter, in order to inform and engage our readers, whom we hope will include church leaders, people working in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) concerned with poverty and thoughtful people, both Christian and not...

‘The body of the book is a series of sets of four essays, in which we pair an expert in early Christianity in its Jewish and Graeco-Roman settings with an expert in modern strategies for addressing poverty and benefaction. They each address the same topic from their respective areas of expertise in a substantial essay, and then each author responds to their partner much more briefly, identifying points which are mutually informing and stimulating. In this way, we hope we shall both model and encourage profitable conversation between those primarily engaged in today’s world and specialists in the biblical world.’

Proverbs #5: A Wisdom That Prays

Two things I ask of you, LORD;

do not refuse me before I die:

Keep falsehood and lies far from me;

give me neither poverty nor riches,

but give me only my daily bread.

Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you

and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’

Or I may become poor and steal,

and so dishonour the name of my God.

Proverbs 30:7-9

Apart from what we glean from the sayings in Proverbs 30, we know nothing of their author, Agur son of Jakeh. But he gives us the only prayer in the book – a two-fold request describing how he wants to live his life before he dies.

First of all, having declared that God’s word is ‘flawless’ (30:5), he expresses a desire to be a man of truth and integrity in his own words – ‘keep falsehood and lies far from me’.

His second request also begins with a negative petition – ‘give me neither poverty nor riches’ – which is then stated positively – ‘but give me only my daily bread’. The prayer goes on to reflect that life at either extreme of the socioeconomic spectrum might lead to faithlessness. The self-sufficiency that results from wealth might lead to a denial of the Lord. The insufficiency that results from poverty might lead to crime, profaning God’s name in the process.

It’s easy to see why the Bible has been claimed to be on the side of both the rich and the poor. The sheer breadth of its teaching on riches means a wealthy Abraham or Job over there can be set against the warnings of an Amos or the letter of James over here. The book of Proverbs itself recognises that money brings undeniable advantages even while it also carries inevitable drawbacks. Proverbs encourages neither prosperity nor austerity; it allows us neither to idolise a life of luxury nor to idealise a ‘simple life’.

Agur’s ‘just enough’ principle is reiterated in different ways throughout Scripture. His request calls to mind God’s provision of manna in the wilderness, sufficient for the needs of the day (Exodus 16), and it reaches forward to the petition for ‘daily bread’ in the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:11). Raising financial help for those suffering a famine, Paul calls churches to give generously of their ‘plenty’ so that others who are hard pressed might be relieved (2 Corinthians 8:13-15).

Agur’s prayer also provides a model for us as followers of Jesus today. Alongside an awareness of his own weakness is a recognition of God’s power to make poor or rich, a concern about the consequences of sin, and a desire to stay faithful above all else. This much, at least, we know about this ancient follower of the Lord God.

The Accidental Social Entrepreneur

Grant Smith, The Accidental Social Entrepreneur (Edinburgh: Muddy Pearl, 2019).

I was asked to provide a commendation for the above book, and did a long and a short version for the publishers – both are pasted below. In the interests of full disclosure, Grant is a personal friend, but the commendation is from the heart and not out of duty.

Longer version

You’ll hear Grant Smith’s voice in these pages. It’s straight talking, painfully honest, and it’ll make you smile. More than that, you’ll hear his heart. It’s the heart of someone who is comfortable with his own company but who knows the significance of relationships to make things happen. It’s the heart of someone who recognises there are no guaranteed outcomes in business but who goes with a mixture of trust in his gut and faith in God. Above all, it’s the heart of someone who is not only bothered by injustice but is determined to do something about it. Grant does so not primarily by rattling the equivalent of a collection tin, but by seeking to alleviate poverty through business: by building houses, putting boots on feet and hard hats on heads in the process; by paying workers above the minimum wage, allowing them to support their families and pay school fees and medical bills; in a way that’s environmentally responsible and which treats people as made in the image of God rather than as commercial commodities. In an account that’s part business memoir, part theological reflection, part spiritual journey, Grant takes us through his adventures in mechanical sweepers, used petrol pumps, agriculture, and housing. There are perhaps more lows than highs along the way, but shot through it all is the perspective that ‘Christianity is a way of life, not an insurance policy for what comes next’. If that resonates with you, read on.

Shorter version

You’ll hear Grant Smith’s voice in these pages. It’s authentic, honest, and it’ll make you smile. More than that, you’ll hear his heart. It’s the heart of someone who is not only bothered by injustice but is determined to do something about it – through business done well, in a way that makes a social difference but still makes money. In an account that’s part business memoir, part theological reflection, part spiritual journey, Grant takes us through the lows and occasional highs of his adventures, all from the perspective that ‘Christianity is a way of life, not an insurance policy for what comes next’. If that resonates with you, read on.

Mission Frontiers 41, 1 (January-February 2019)

The January-February 2019 issue of Mission Frontiers, published by the U.S. Center for World Mission, contains a number of articles responding to the questions: ‘Is the end of extreme poverty in sight? What’s working?’

According to the introductory blurb:

‘This issue takes a closer look at extreme poverty and examines the problems as well as potential worldwide solutions. Extreme poverty is a state of life for many that warrants significant concern, but this issue looks at ways to address that poverty globally that could potentially make it a thing of the past. You may be challenged to rethink some of your own ideas about poverty, foreign aid and financial assistance as you delve into this issue about what works and what doesn’t. Could we see the end of extreme poverty in our lifetime? Our January-February 2019 issue addresses that hopeful possibility.’

Individual articles can be accessed from here, and the whole issue can be downloaded as a pdf here.

Theos Report on Debt

The latest report from Theos has just been published:

Nathan Mladin and Barbara Ridpath, “Forgive Us Our Debts”: Lending and Borrowing as if Relationships Matter (London: Theos, 2019).

Here are some paragraphs from the Theos website:

‘Over 16 million people in the UK have less than £100 in savings. Personal debt is now at 90% of GDP. Debt is clearly a serious economic issue – but it is also a profoundly moral one. How should we distribute the risks and responsibilities inherent in debt? How should we treat people with severe debt problems? Should there be limits on borrowing and rates of interest?

‘This report draws on the wealth of Christian thought on the subject to highlight the moral and relational dimensions of debt and suggest practical ways to address some of its problematic aspects at the personal, corporate, and public levels in the UK today.’

A pdf of the full report is available here.

Walter Brueggemann on Money and Possessions

Walter Brueggemann, Money and possessions (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016).

Since I saw it announced, I’ve been looking forward to seeing this volume by Walter Brueggemann in the ‘Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church’ series.

Westminster John Knox has made available a pdf except here.

Here are some paragraphs from the Preface:

‘The purpose of this book is to exhibit the rich, recurring, and diverse references to money and possessions that permeate the Bible. While we might conventionally assume, as we do in practice, that economics is an add-on or a side issue in the biblical text, an inventory of texts such as I offer here makes it unmistakably clear that economics is a core preoccupation of the biblical tradition.

‘In writing the book I have, in ways that have surprised me, come to the conclusion that the Bible is indeed about money and possessions, and the way in which they are gifts of the creator God to be utilized in praise and obedience. In such a frame of reference, money and possessions are of course intensely seductive, so that they can reduce praise to self-congratulations and obedience to self-sufficiency. Whatever is to be made of this expansive inventory of texts, it is clear that the economy, in ancient faith tradition, merited and received much more attention than is usual in conventional church rendering.

‘It is my hope that this exhibit of textual materials might evoke in the church a greater attentiveness to a keener critical assessment of the extractive economy around us in which we are implicated and a more determined advocacy for an alternative neighborly economy congruent with and derived from the gospel we confess. It is clear enough that voices that may champion and legitimate such alternative policy and practice are minimal in our society; the voicing of such alternative urgently requires the recovery of the tradition of neighborly money and possessions that has been entrusted to us.’

Evangelical Alliance on Poverty

The latest report in the 21st Century Evangelicals Series from the Evangelical Alliance UK highlights research about poverty.

The full report – Good News for the Poor? – is available as a pdf here.

This is what the EA says:

‘Our latest research contains fascinating details on what evangelicals think are the causes and potential solutions for poverty, and how they and their churches are personally responding to the realities of poverty both at home and abroad.

‘Our survey of more than 1,600 evangelicals found that many are directly involved in tackling poverty; donating to food banks, volunteering with poverty projects or supporting people they know who are struggling financially.

‘But others admit that they or their churches are not really living out their beliefs; often being too concerned for their own needs or treating poorer people differently. In fact, two thirds think that churches in the UK are not very good at discipling and sharing their faith with the poorest...’

PowerPoint presentation and discussion questions for churches are linked to from this page.

Andy Horvath on Matthew 25:31-46

Continuing with the gentle debunking tone of the previous post, Christianity Today carries a short piece from Andy Horvath on ‘What You Probably Don’t Know about “The Least of These”: A more biblically accurate understanding of Jesus’ words in Matthew 25’.

Following R.T France (and many other commentators on Matthew, as it happens), Horvath maintains that ‘the least of these’ in Matthew 25:31-46 are neither Jews nor poor people in general, but Jesus’ messengers. Here, as in Matthew 10:40-42, people’s willingness to receive the message and provide for the disciples is the equivalent of their response to Jesus himself.

Of course, this doesn’t let us off the hook when it comes to issues of social justice:

‘While Scripture doesn’t identify “the least of these” as the poor and needy, in no way does it diminish the biblical mandate to care for the marginalized and underprivileged. Our actions matter. Biblical teaching about justice is comprehensive and does not rest on any single text.’

In addition:

‘While “the least of these” does not refer to the poor and powerless, a proper understanding of the text nevertheless underscores the centrality of compassionate actions to the gospel.’

9Marks Journal 11, 1 (January-February 2014) on the Prosperity Gospel

The latest issue of the 9Marks Journal, available here as a pdf, is devoted to the prosperity gospel.

In the Editorial, Jonathan Leeman writes:

‘Here’s a prediction: as Western culture increasingly turns against Christianity, the prosperity gospel will keep growing, at least for a time...

‘The goal of this Journal is to increase awareness and educate evangelicals concerning the prosperity gospel for the sake of diagnosis and prevention. As a couple of the articles will suggest, this globally-popular American export exists on a spectrum between soft and hard, more evangelical and less. Indeed, you and I can probably find some of it in our own hearts, as one piece observes. This issue concludes with a meditation on biblical theology, because it’s in the storyline of Scripture that we find the real antidote to all proof-texting reductionist gospels. The Bible is all about the glory of God in the face of Christ. Beholding him is the pathway to the truly blessed life.’

Business as Mission Global Think Tank

The Business as Mission Global Think Tank – whose goal is ‘to accelerate the movement of  business people getting involved in God’s mission to the world’ – has started publishing the first few in a promised series of 30 plus reports from various working groups.

The reports are available from here, and include these ones so far:

• A Business Takeover: Combating the Business of the Sex Trade with Business as Mission

• Business as Mission in Mongolia: BAM Think Tank Regional Group Report

• Business as Mission and the End of Poverty: BAM at the Base of the Pyramid

• Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done... In Business: Biblical Foundations for Business as Mission

The Joint Public Issues Team on Myths About Poverty

The Joint Public Issues Team (the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church, the Church of Scotland, and the United Reformed Church) has published a report on ‘Truth and Lies About Poverty’.

The report – The Lies We Tell Ourselves: Ending Comfortable Myths About Poverty – is available here as a pdf. It seeks to lay bare ‘six myths about the poor which enable the majority to live with the comfortable assumption that both poverty and wealth are deserved’.

Here are the six myths:

Myth 1: ‘They’ are lazy and just don’t want to work

Myth 2: ‘They’ are addicted to drink and drugs

Myth 3: ‘They’ are not really poor – they just don’t manage their money properly

Myth 4: ‘They’ are on the fiddle

Myth 5: ‘They’ have an easy life on benefits

Myth 6: ‘They’ caused the deficit

And here’s a paragraph from the Executive Summary:

‘The myths exposed in this report, reinforced by politicians and the media, are convenient because they allow the poor to be blamed for their poverty, and the rest of society to avoid taking any of the responsibility. Myths hide the complexity of the true nature of poverty in the UK. They enable dangerous policies to be imposed on whole sections of society without their full consequences being properly examined. This report aims to highlight some comfortable myths, show how they have come to prominence and test them against serious evidence.’

Centre for Public Christianity (December 2012)

The most recent newsletter from the Centre for Public Christianity contains links to several video interviews

• Mike Bassous (adjunct Professor of International Studies at Taylor University and General Secretary of the Bible Society of Lebanon) on what the Arab Spring means for the Middle East and the effects of the Syrian civil war

• Darrell Bock (Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary) on the purpose of Jesus’ miracles and why Westerners struggle to accept them

• Richard Burridge (Dean of King’s College London) on the New Testament attitude towards wealth and the revolutionary impact that such understanding could have on contemporary society

• Michael Schluter on the importance of families for healthy communities and what governments should be doing to foster healthy family relationships.

There is also a review of After Capitalism: Rethinking Economic Relationships, by Paul Mills and Michael Schluter.

MEDA and The Marketplace

MEDA, in this case, stands for Mennonite Economic Development Associates. I stumbled across their website in the course of doing some work on looking at business from a Christian perspective.

Their website describes MEDA as ‘creating business solutions to poverty’.

‘For more than 50 years, MEDA has been designing and implementing innovative and effective market-driven economic development programs that improve the livelihoods of millions of people living in poverty around the world.

‘Founded by a small group of service-oriented business people, MEDA has grown to become a large, dynamic international organization comprised of thousands of members and supporters across North America and Europe. MEDA believes its work is not done until it is proven to be sustainable, replicable, scalable and measurable.

MEDA produces a magazine called The Marketplace, which carries some interesting-looking pieces I’ll be reading more closely. The archive, with downloadable pdfs, is here.

Just Enough

[I contributed today’s ‘Word for the Week’, a weekly email service provided by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity; it’s probably the final contribution to what has been a fairly unsystematic series on Proverbs.]

Two things I ask of you, LORD;

do not refuse me before I die:

Keep falsehood and lies far from me;

give me neither poverty nor riches,

but give me only my daily bread.

Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you

and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’

Or I may become poor and steal,

and so dishonour the name of my God.

Proverbs 30:7-9

Apart from what we glean from the sayings in Proverbs 30, we know nothing of their author, Agur son of Jakeh. But he bequeathes to us the only prayer in the book – a two-fold request describing how he wants to live his life before he dies.

First of all, having declared that God’s own word is ‘flawless’ (30:5), he expresses a desire to be a man of truth and integrity – ‘keep falsehood and lies far from me’.

His second request also begins with a negative petition – ‘give me neither poverty nor riches’ – which is then stated positively – ‘but give me only my daily bread’. The prayer goes on to muse that life at either extreme of the socioeconomic spectrum might lead to faithlessness. The self-sufficiency that results from wealth might lead to a denial of the Lord. The insufficiency that results from poverty might lead to crime, profaning God’s name in the process.

It’s easy to see why the Bible has been claimed to be on the side of both the rich and the poor. The sheer breadth of its teaching on riches means a wealthy Abraham or Job over there can be set against the warnings of an Amos or the letter of James over here. The book of Proverbs itself recognises that money brings undeniable advantages even while it also carries inevitable drawbacks. Proverbs encourages neither prosperity nor austerity; it allows us neither to idolise a life of luxury nor to idealise a ‘simple life’.

Agur’s ‘just enough’ principle is reiterated in different ways throughout Scripture. His request calls to mind God’s provision of manna in the wilderness, sufficient for the needs of the day, and it reaches forward to the petition for ‘daily bread’ in the Lord’s prayer. Raising financial help for those suffering a famine, Paul calls churches to give generously of their ‘plenty’ so that others who are hard pressed might be relieved (2 Corinthians 8:13-15).

Agur’s prayer also provides a model for disciples today. Alongside an awareness of his own weakness is a recognition of God’s power to make poor or rich, a concern about the consequences of sin, and a desire to stay faithful above all else. This much, at least, we know about this ancient follower of the Lord God.

Recent Articles from Q Ideas

After a few weeks away from internet access, I’m catching up on a few items from the world of Blogdom, including the following from Q Ideas:

Matthew T. Dickerson

Pseudo Salvation: When Science Can’t Save Us

Our advances in science and technology have overcome many of the challenges that our forebears were unable to meet. Our lives are paved with unthinkable convenience, and we expect our engineers to continue providing solutions for the world’s problems. Matthew T. Dickerson, however, says that we must be careful where we place our hopes of redemption.

Steven Garber

The Legacy of John Stott: On Listening to the Word and the World at the Very Same Time

The late Reverend Dr. John Stott will be remembered as one of the most influential religious leaders of the 20th century. From evangelical think tanks to third world activists to the world’s leading newspapers, there have been many who celebrated his intellectual prowess, his tender kindness, and his insistence that faith must be both theologically orthodox and socially engaged for the common good. Steven Garber reflects on a few of his personal memories and the legacy this great man has left.

Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

Community in the Time of Culture Wars

Disagreements continue to fracture the Church’s relationships. How do we balance diverse opinions without breaking with biblical orthodoxy and without causing disunity? Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma suggests that we humbly “pursue the love that is the beginning and end of all things” and live out our allegiance to Christ as the head of the Church.

Byron Borger

Help the Poor, Help the World: A review of The Hole In Our Gospel and Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger

Is our faith more than going to church, feeling God’s love, and telling others about the forgiveness offered by Jesus? Here are two books that emphatically say, “Yes.” Byron Borger reviews The Hole in Our Gospel and Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger.

Tim Keller

The Gospel and Sex

If we can demonstrate healthy sexuality as a Church, what unlimited redemption is possible for our starving, sex-crazed culture? Tim Keller outlines a compelling and orthodox sexual ethic, and the proper role of singleness and marriage within the Church.

Josh Reinders

The Book Industry is Fine

Borders bookstore is closing all of its doors – does that mean that we are closing all of our books? Josh Reinders reexamines the industry’s numbers and finds that the e-book apocalypse may be false prophesying the print world's doomsday.

The Centre for Social Justice on the First Year of the Coalition

The Centre for Social Justice has published a ‘report card’ for the first year of the Coalition Government – Building a Social Recovery? A First Year Report Card on the Coalition Government.

Gavin Poole, CSJ Executive Director, writes:

‘Our report card reveals that the Government’s first year of action has been mixed. Pioneering progress in pursuing welfare reform and an encouraging new direction for drug and alcohol policy have been undermined by poor implementation of bold education plans, and compromise-driven inaction in tackling our devastating culture of family breakdown... Ministers have made a promising start in key areas, but other important commitments risk proving nothing more than rhetoric. If the Coalition is serious about building a social recovery alongside an economic one, there is much more to be done next year.’

They score the Government on the five key areas identified as pathways to poverty: family breakdown, economic dependency, serious personal debt, drug and alcohol addiction, and educational failure.

Here are the marks they award:

Family breakdown – 2/10

Economic dependency – 8/10

Educational failure – 6/10

Addiction – 7/10

Serious personal debt – 6/10

10/10/10 Global Prayer

Micah Challenge is ‘a global coalition of Christians holding governments to account for their promise to halve extreme poverty by 2015’, seeking to establish ‘a global movement to encourage deeper Christian commitment to the poor, and to speak out to leaders to act with justice’.

This prayer for Micah 2010 will be used in churches around the globe on 10/10/10:

‘O Lord, our great and awesome God, loyal to your promise of love and faithful to all who honour and obey you, hear our prayer. We pray for those who live in poverty, we cry out for those who are denied justice and we weep for all who are suffering. We confess that we have not always obeyed you. We have neglected your commands and have ignored your call for justice. We have been guided by self-interest and lived in spiritual poverty. Forgive us. We remember your promises to fill the hungry with good things, to redeem the land by your mighty hand and to restore peace. Father God, help us always to proclaim your justice and mercy with humility, so that, by the power of your Spirit, we can rid the world of the sin of extreme poverty. As part of your global church, we stand with millions who praise and worship you. May our words and deeds declare your perfect goodness, love and righteousness to both the powerful and the powerless so that your Kingdom may come on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.’