We need to turn our back on past failure, where we have let ourselves and others down - I understand that this is the essence of Christian grace - and we must engage the challenges and we all know about them.
There are opportunities locally that we engage in, most never hitting the headlines but motivated by the Faith that says people matter. Things are being done. Solutions are being found and while they may not be entirely adequate they are making an impact. Let me give some examples:
Opening the doors of the church, giving children a breakfast before going to school, getting them to school, and back in the evening to a homework club then a youth club.
Providing a programme for children excluded from schools.
Providing debt advice.
Offering parenting classes and life skills seminars.
Facilitating access for parents who do not have custody of their children in a safe and stimulating environment.
Addressing the poverty of relationships, social skills, the poverty of opportunity and moral direction.
All this and better is required. The need and demand always outstrips what is provided.
At every level we need to work toward stronger partnerships, to open doors and provide seats at the table.
None of us can do everything, but we can acknowledge the areas which are best achieved by state, or church, or charity and empower these different agencies and release resources to get the job done.
Poverty, however, is a relative term. We all understand that internationally we belong to a global village, and we all recognise the effects of migration and the associated responsibilities on us all.
There is an endless need for investment in communities overseas to build capacity and infrastructure that is fair and just. This is a balanced focus of Christian ministry to the whole person, to the whole community and to the whole world.
From my own denomination - The Salvation Army - our Internationalism is a strength. Our first hand knowledge of the plight of other nations convicts us to respond to the results of poverty - hunger, Aids, pneumonia, tuberculosis, malaria, measles - and to work towards preventing them. Sadly, too, there is the emerging degradation and wickedness of human trafficking.
All of this has resulted in increased investment in income generation schemes, micro-credit, education and rehabilitation projects to alleviate poverty.
In terms of human trafficking, where we can, we are sprearheading prevention, protection and advocacy, as well as calling for prosecution of those who would seek to exploit others.
This, of course, is only a fleeting reference to the depth and span of poverty. The Christian Gospel never sweeps the reality under the carpet.
With the gathering of minds and hearts together we can acknowledge and analyse
What we each do best.
What we must do in partnership with others
What we can trust others to do.
Together we make poverty history.
[Re-printed in Christian Today with the kind permission of The Salvation Army]
