The Disengaged and the Trapped

Adrian Watt has written a tremendous article for emerging church dot info that focuses on the disengaged and the trapped in society:

When people are being trapped by their situation and discounted as apathetic, 'rough & ready', scroungers, poor, disadvantaged, is it any wonder that they become 'excluded'. A sense of self-worth is vital to our lifes; too often this is neglected and undermined by a paternalistic approach that reinforces the gap between the 'helper' and the 'helped'. It can lead to a relationship that disables and dismantles self-worth, 'brick-by-patronising-brick'. Affirmation is the tool to address the needs we find within our communities, not a Victorian-style-charity which keeps the poor, the rough & ready, the scroungers in a prison of benevolent charity. Which serves only to make the 'helper' feel good, and the 'helped' still dependant. This dependency destroys self-worth, reinforcing a sense of helplessness.../

/...If the Church is to express God's love and care then it must affirm the people in our inner-cities, outer-estates, and rural communities. If we try to keep Christ in our churches he will break them down -

'for the Son of Man did not come to be served; He came to serve and give his life to redeem many people'
(Mark 10.45)

Take note!