Solidarity and sacrifice
Reflections from our 9 April online discussions on what it means to be church on the margins during the pandemic.
Opening reflection by Deirdre Brower Latz
The Church needs to change after Coronavirus
- The church needs to be called to account and radically share its resources
- Churches need to be transformed/reimagined/ authentic – not carry on as before
- Some churches are not involved in the crisis response / how are affluent areas responding?
- New collaborations and alliances should be maintained
Solidarity
- Many people are not online, some churches have been delivering resources to people to keep in touch
- Inequalities have been exposed
- ‘God is showing us new things from the perspective of the last and the least.’
- Lack of understanding among decision-makers
- Helping at the uber local level
- Chatting to people in the foodbank queue / checking in with people
- Increase in volunteering / kindness
- Communities are coming together
Sacrifice
- It’s an inconvenience for some, not a sacrifice
- Giving up small foodbank, letting bigger one take over to make sure resources reach people
- Being separated from people and the church building
- Domestic violence / conflicts at home
- Feeling / being powerless
Learning from others
- What can we learn from people who were marginalised before? E.g. some people with autism do not like touch / prefer social distance. What can we learn from this?
Holy Week and Easter
- Solidarity of Jesus / turning the tables
- Foot washing / caring / nursing / healing / self-care
- Receiving, not giving (is ok) – gratitude
- Sadness and joy in Easter
Reaching people
- Some people have no way of communicating at the moment, no phone or internet
- Reaching people who are homeless ?
Voice
- Importance of speaking to society / government about how people are being affected – people to speak out
- Disability activism
- Society has to change
Reimagining
- Solidarity and sacrifice as counter- infections (fighting the virus)
Research and Information Officer
Halifax voices: on housing, hope and scandalous costs
This Neighbourhood Voices story comes from West Yorkshire We’re in Halifax. Queen’s Road to be precise – in a former betting shop that is now …
The UK doesn’t want demonising rhetoric – it wants to end poverty
There have been some political statements that have demonised and divided people in the past week. It’s absolutely not what the UK public needs or …
Sheffield Civic Breakfast: leaders told about mounting pressures of poverty
Sheffield Church Action on Poverty’s first Civic Breakfast since Covid has heard that around 120,000 people in Sheffield are living in poverty, homelessness is the …
Artists perform for change in Manchester
The inaugural event in our Artists for Change programme took place in Manchester on 28 April 2024.
Church Action on Poverty in Sheffield: annual report 2023-24
God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty. ———— Revd Dr Martin Luther King ———— …
SPARK newsletter summer 2024
Read or download the summer 2024 issue of our newsletter for supporters
Church on the Margins reports
Two reports from our research alongside churches on the margins
Halifax voices: on housing, hope and scandalous costs
This Neighbourhood Voices story comes from West Yorkshire We’re in Halifax. Queen’s Road to be precise – in a former …
The UK doesn’t want demonising rhetoric – it wants to end poverty
There have been some political statements that have demonised and divided people in the past week. It’s absolutely not what …
Sheffield Civic Breakfast: leaders told about mounting pressures of poverty
Sheffield Church Action on Poverty’s first Civic Breakfast since Covid has heard that around 120,000 people in Sheffield are living …