New Book: Christian Social Action
In today’s blog post Martin Charlesworth (founder of Jubilee+) reviews Christian Social Action: Making a Difference Where You Are, a recent e-book authored by Jubilee+ trustee, John Evans.
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It is now eight years since Natalie Williams and I first collaborated to write The Myth of the Undeserving Poor; a book followed by the release of A Church for the Poor in 2017 and A Call to Act in 2022. More recently Natalie has teamed up with long term supporter of Jubilee+, Paul Brown, to bring us Invisible Divides which came out earlier this year and has already made a significant impact, casting fresh light on the complex issues surrounding class, the church and the implications for reaching those living in poverty.
Now it is the turn of one of our charity trustees, John Evans, to make another excellent contribution to help equip the church for social action and mission to the poorest in the UK. John’s e-book Christian Social Action – Making a Difference Where You Are is hugely stimulating. I had the privilege of reading a draft before publication and immediately realised the fresh contribution that this book brought.
John successfully highlights the urgency of our situation in the UK, where successive economic and social crises have created an ever-wider divide between rich and poor. He rightly focuses on the impact of the Covid pandemic which has had such devastating social consequences. Yet even since the book was published the current cost of living crisis has underlined again the critical role of church-based social action.
His writing draws inspiration from the noble history of evangelical social action especially in the nineteenth century. This story is worth retelling. Too few Christians today know about the remarkable work of Dr Barnardo, Elizabeth Fry, Lord Shaftesbury, George Muller, William Wilberforce and so many more. They should be a huge inspiration to us as we seek to reimagine effective social action in a very different but very needy Britain today.
John is passionate that social action needs to be integrated into the heart and life of every local church. Such integration is not often achieved as social action is so often separated from evangelism, activists are so often marginalised and under resourced. 'Integrated mission' is the biblical and practical answer – and this book makes a very good case for it.
Understanding the practicalities of social action and the real challenges of making it effective and longlasting, John offers practical advice which church leaders and trustees, in particular, will benefit from.
Thank you, John, for a great new resource which deserves a wide readership.
To order your copy of Christian Social Action – Making a Difference Where You Are please click here.
