A report out this week from Church Action on Poverty and Oxfam showed that half a million people in the UK are reliant on food handouts to feed their family. Over the last three years the number of people turning to food banks to tide them over has rocketed. For Trussell Trust, the largest network of food banks, demand doubled from 2010 to 2011 and then nearly tripled the following year. It is a scandal. It’s a scandal when it happens overseas and a scandal when it happens on our doorstep. Around the world one in eight go to bed hungry, and the G8 meeting next month is a reminder it is time to end food poverty across the world. In the UK this is a scar on our nation’s conscience. It’s not just those out of work who are struggling. In fact 62 per cent of children in poverty live in families where at least one person works, and many of those needing food parcels are skipping meals so their children don’t have to. John Wesley, aged 82, wrote on 4 January 1785: "At this season we usually distribute coals and bread among the poor of the society. But I now considered they wanted clothes as well as food. So on this and the four following days I walked through the town and begged two hundred pounds in order to clothe them that wanted it most but it was hard work as most of the streets were filled with melting snow which often lay ankle deep so that my feet were steeped in snow water nearly from morning till evening. I held it out pretty well till Saturday evening when I was laid up with a violent flux." It’s outrageous that emergency food parcels are needed today in our neighbourhoods. But it is inspiring that the Church is standing up in response. And it is not just about providing immediate relief, it is about caring for all of a person, and it is about campaigning to stop degrading poverty ruining lives. The Evangelical Alliance has been working with Christians in Parliament over the past year and will shortly publish a report on how local authorities work with faith groups. Time and time again we heard reports of the vital work churches were doing, present in every community, reaching the parts others could not, and above all, standing on the side of the poorest. Whether it is through food banks, debt advice centres or taking over a library destined for closure, churches are serving their communities. It’s what churches have always done, and it’s what we always will. Steve Clifford, Director of the Evangelical Alliance and a member of Serve.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Jun 2013 19:14:15 +0000
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