This book was published in 2004, and I think has been on the “to read” list for most of the decades since, such that its subtitle “A new approach to Christian Mission” has been overtaken a bit – this new approach is now widely adopted.
That social engagement in your community is a key tool for mission was in reality hardly a “new” idea even then, but the growing need within our communities, since the financial crash in 2008 and accelerating in the wake of Covid, means that Churches are doing more and more to address acute and chronic needs around them.
But while there is a strong advocacy for Churches being on the front line there is also an important reframing of how we engage. There is an opportunity for Churches to not just meet peoples needs, but to empower them, to work with them not for them. Sometimes those in need and those with opportunity to meet needs end up in an unhelpful power dynamic – we meet peoples needs in the ways in which we think are best for them rather than letting them make choices for themselves.
In their chapter on “The Suburban Challenge” Ann notes that “Anxiety is an organizing principle for our lives… Even the reassurance of eternal life, which I rejoice in, does not stop my primitive, animal response of anxiety… The more life is experienced as sorted, the greater the fear that something will come and upset the applecart.” (p100) This might be a simplification, but there is an important need for Churches to have a message for the comfortable.
Overall it was an effective articulation of a message that I subscribed to already.
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