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    Good news to the poor: The Gospel Through Social Involvement
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    Good news to the poor: The Gospel Through Social Involvement
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    Good news to the poor: The Gospel Through Social Involvement
    Ebook301 pages4 hours

    Good news to the poor: The Gospel Through Social Involvement

    By Tim Chester

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    About this ebook

    How do we respond to the silent appeal in the dark eyes of the child in the charity catalogue, or the blanketed figure in the cold shop doorway? Should we share the gospel with them, or a bowl of soup?
    Throughout history, men and women such as Wilberforce and Shaftesbury, Carey and Booth have recognized a call to help the needy. Others have argued that our first task is evangelism, that Christians should not meddle in politics, that social action is a distraction. Do we serve Christ through preaching his Word, or should we use words only when necessary?
    Tim Chester argues passionately that evangelism and social action are inseparable, as two arms of the church's mission. He presents a biblical case for truly evangelical social action, that is shaped and inspired by the gospel. He shows how social activity is a response to evangelism, a bridge and a partner to it. He urges conservatives not to marginalize those who uphold the cause of the oppressed, and those involved in social action not to neglect the preaching of the Word.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIVP
    Release dateDec 17, 2012
    ISBN9781844747214
    Unavailable
    Good news to the poor: The Gospel Through Social Involvement
    Author

    Tim Chester

    Tim Chester is a pastor of Grace Church in Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, and a faculty member with the Acts 29 Oak Hill Academy. He was previously research and policy director for Tearfund and tutor in missiology at Cliff College. Tim is the author of over thirty books, including The Message of Prayer, Closing the Window, Good News to the Poor, and A Meal with Jesus.

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    • 3/5
      To rephrase Bishop Tutu "When people say that the Bible and social action don't mix, I ask them which Bible they are reading." Yet it seems that many evangelicals are reading different Bibles. Evangelical attitudes to social action have always been mixed. Some see it as a capitulation to the social gospel others as an integral part of the gospel. Chester in this introductory book helpfully examines this relationship.

      The book begins by outlining four ways in which evangelicals in general have responded to the relationship and poses a number of key questions:
      Is social involvement something we do as well as evangelism? Is there another way of doing evangelism? Is it a distraction or the real job of proclaiming the gospel?
      Is social involvement a legitimate activity of Christians? Does it have biblical support?
      The book attempts to explore these important issues. He provides a good case for evangelical social action but has some pertinent criticism too and he wants to see social action that is truly evangelical. He sees proclamation of the gospel message as being central to Christian social action and the need for social action to be shaped by the gospel. He argues that evangelism and social action are distinct but inseparable activities.

      In the first chapter he looks at three biblical reasons for involvement: the character of God, the reign of God and the grace of God. He maintains that social involvement is rooted in the character of God and that "Our understanding of poverty is fundamentally related to our understanding of God". This focus on the centrality of God is to be welcomed.

      One of the reasons for the lack of involvement is that Christianity is too often considered to be a private with no public ramifications. This misconception is investigated in Chapter 2. Calvin, Kuyper, Elizabeth Fry, Wilberforce, William Booth are all cited of examples of Christians whose faith has made a public difference. The privatising effect of human reason on through the Enlightenment and human experience on faith through Romanticism are briefly - albeit oversimplified - examined.

      Chester focuses on poverty as a key social issue, but he sees it including social marginalization and powerlessness. He advocates a relational approach to poverty. Tackling poverty is much more than feeding the hungry, poverty is more than a lack of income. The root of poverty is alienation from God, poverty is economic and social: it is "about marginalization, vulnerability, isolation and exclusion." This is obviously an area in which Christianity can help.

      Chester makes a good case for social action that precedes, accompanies and follows evangelism. What he doesn't do is to show how social action and social reform relate. Does social reform need to follow social action?

      Chester provides good reasons for the need for evangelicals to be involved in social action. He also provides some useful suggestions and ideas for involvement and includes some pertinent warnings: social action doesn't mean doing something for the poor, it is more than providing solutions. More effective ways include helping people to help themselves: "Good social involvement is helping people o find their own solutions." Participation is key.

      The book includes some thought provoking poems by Stuart Henderson, a number of vignettes that help focus the issues on real situations, a useful list of further reading and a bibliography.