Stepping Up & Stepping Out

"If I can’t afford to pay all of my bills this winter, which should I stop paying first?"

I was asked that question by a friend in church as the cost of living crisis started to really bite in the autumn. This is not a question I ever expected to be asked by someone in my church family, but sadly, this is the reality of the impact of the cost of living crisis. I’m sure you’re seeing it in your churches too.

For those of us who are involved in social action projects in our churches, it doesn’t seem that long ago that we were talking about people having to choose between heating and eating.

Who would’ve suspected, just a year or two ago, that a choice like that would seem like a luxury? But that’s how it feels at the moment to people like my friend, who struggled to pay for either during the winter.

I’ve just come off a Zoom for Jubilee+ Partner Churches with the Shadow Minister for Local Government and Faith. Though she doesn’t have a faith of her own, Luton North MP Sarah Owen is well acquainted with the work of churches and faith groups in their communities to tackle poverty.

Poverty in our communities is increasing. Many of our churches are at capacity when it comes to what more we can do. Yet at Jubilee+ we firmly believe that God is calling us to keep stepping up, not shrinking back. He cares, and He provides.

What does that look like in a crisis?
First of all, God provides for us through work. We were designed to work – it brings us dignity and purpose. But there are many reasons why people are unable to work – injury, illness, childcare, to name just three.

As well as this, sometimes we want to work but can’t find a job. I’ve been through two long spells of unemployment in my life, when I couldn’t seem to catch a break. There’s currently a third group – those who are working flat-out and it’s simply not enough to make ends meet. I know a woman who is working three jobs, but is still being referred to a foodbank because she doesn’t make enough money to pay the bills.

When work doesn’t work, another way God provides in a crisis is through His people. We see it in both the Old and New Testaments, but nowhere is it more evident than in the Early Church in the book of Acts. Here we see astonishing provision for the people of God,by the people of God, that overflows into the communities around.

In Acts 2 and 4 we read about the believers – those who have seen Jesus crucified, buried, risen and ascended – and see that one of the practical outworkings of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit is that they live radically generous lives. In fact, there was not a single person in need among them (Acts 4:34).

Historians and sociologists tell us that in most Roman or Greek cities at that time, around half of the population would have been in poverty, or on the edge of it. So in a society where it was common for 50% of those in any community around you to be in need, imagine how astonishing it would be to see not a single individual in the church in any need at all.

How did this happen? Simply by sharing. The early followers of Jesus didn’t subscribe to the “what’s mine is mine” mentality that is pervasive in our culture today. They shared what they had so that no one in the church would be in need. They even sold what they had, so they could provide for others. This was hugely counter-cultural.

I believe that God is calling His church to live like this again – that in the cost of living crisis, we are to rediscover the radical, biblical generosity that holds everything we have and own with an open hand and an open heart. Christians are called out of selfishness, greed, materialism, and individualism. We are called to be distinctive from the world around us, and part of this is by sharing what we have so that there will not be a single person in need among us.

There’s another way God provides during a crisis, though: supernaturally. Our God is a miracle- working God. Jesus took a packed lunch and turned it into food for thousands. God brought drinking water out of a rock, made manna fall from heaven, poured meat from the sky like dust (see Psalm 78:15, 24-29). Through the prophet Elisha, God provided water for armies, an abundance of oil for a widow who was on the brink of selling two of her sons into slavery, and bread for one hundred. He also restored an axe-head to a man cutting down trees to make a home for himself. Whether it’s food, drink, or work tools, when all hope is lost, God provides miraculously.

These are real events – they’re not just stories, they actually happened. And God is the same supernatural God today as He was then. Just as God is calling His people to step up in radical generosity as we share what we have with those in need around us, I believe He is also calling us to step out in faith to see supernatural provision.

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This article was written by Natalie Williams for the Catalyst Magazine (available here), and is shared with permission.