One of the concerns I have expressed in this blog is the fact that the Church has not been the champion of community change that it ought to be. I have argued that the Church has not been involved significantly in helping to transform the lives of our people from despair to hope, at least in significant ways. It is true that many who come to Jesus find themselves transformed – their lives taking on new meaning and impetus. But what about those who do not come? Does the Church have a responsibility to them also?
It has been my point, that as the bastion of hope and life, as the institution which most celebrates the fact that man is created in the image and likeness of God, the Church cannot ignore anyone in society. Instead, she should pamper that image, even in the worse outcast, and should do all to reverse the effects of sin, which threatens to denigrate God’s image in man. Sin threatens man in obviously spiritual ways, and the Church is right to call man to repentance as he sets himself on the path to renewal in God. But sin also threatens man in the other areas of his life – physical, social, emotional, etc. As such, the Church must be involved in ministries which will seek to reverse trends in these areas that are detrimental to man.
Take the area of the social. I believe that the Church’s involvement in the social dimension of man has been token at best, when looked at generally. That the Church is involved in much social action is not in doubt, but I believe that this had not been in a significant way to help in the transformation of the individual, except in minority cases. Let me try to explain.
Perhaps the greatest act of social involvement on the part of the Church in Jamaica took place with the creation of the Baptist Free Villages, just after Emancipation. These villages provided not only property for ex-slaves, but also a sense of responsibility and livelihood, as the newly declared freed-men sought to make a contribution to a new society. For the first time the ex-slave was his own man, farming his own land, building his own home and saving for tomorrow, in short determining his own future. He was released from the shackles of depending on the welfare offered by someone else, if and whenever such was offered. Whereas he was previously tied to the goodwill of others, now he was in the place of being able to largely determine his own and his family’s future. Church’s today offer a lot of social help, but not in the same way as the Baptist Free Villages did, at least not in the main.
Two examples from Jamaica’s more recent history (and as far as I know the only two that exist) continued in the tradition of our illustrious Baptist counterparts, and sadly, one struggles for survival. In 1940 a Methodist minister by the name of Hugh Sherlock established a project in a part of Trench Town to help transform the lives of poor black boys who lived there. Boys’ Town was created, and largely through sports and entertainment, Father Sherlock helped give hundreds an opportunity for advancement that they otherwise would not have. The significant Jamaicans that passed through Boys’ Town are too numerous to list, but include names such as the Late Collie Smith (West Indian Cricketer), Carl Brown (Jamaica’s Former National Football Coach) and Lyndel Wright (Manager, Jamaica Cricket Team). Unfortunately, Father Sherlock’s dream has not survived as a church based idea. Thankfully other social agencies are attempting to replicate some of what he did but apparently with the significant disadvantage of the absence of a certain essential morality that is a part of the church ethos.
The second example still exists in the form of Alpha Boys’ Home. Alpha Boys’ is an institution that caters to boys from economically deprived backgrounds, many homeless. As a boarding facility, the boys are nurtured in a Christian environment, where they are given an education and taught necessary values for life. But Alpha has become best known for the musicians it has produced. Boys are taught to play musical instruments, and the Alpha Boys’ band is of national renown. Many of its graduates have gone on to become world famous, and have escaped the poverty to which their backgrounds threatened to condemn them. The most famous Alpha graduates from yesteryear were Don Drummond and Roland Alphanso, but today Dwight Richards and a slew of others carry on the tradition of excellence that the school has become known for. The Alpha experience has not only met their social need for schooling, but it transformed them into men who command their own destinies as well as that of their families. Along with education it gave them a way up and out of a lifestyle of poverty and aimlessness.
Perhaps other such initiatives do exist in the Church, but they are not well known and are definitely not the norm. They should be. And it’s not about the Church blowing her own trumpet; it is about promoting life and hope…about showing an increasingly desperate populace that God has created them for achievement and progress. The life of being a noose around society’s neck and a dagger in the heart of others is not a given, especially when the Church becomes involved in promoting the full humanity of all, as this is the only way to fully preserve the image of God in which we are created.
What do you think?
It has been my point, that as the bastion of hope and life, as the institution which most celebrates the fact that man is created in the image and likeness of God, the Church cannot ignore anyone in society. Instead, she should pamper that image, even in the worse outcast, and should do all to reverse the effects of sin, which threatens to denigrate God’s image in man. Sin threatens man in obviously spiritual ways, and the Church is right to call man to repentance as he sets himself on the path to renewal in God. But sin also threatens man in the other areas of his life – physical, social, emotional, etc. As such, the Church must be involved in ministries which will seek to reverse trends in these areas that are detrimental to man.
Take the area of the social. I believe that the Church’s involvement in the social dimension of man has been token at best, when looked at generally. That the Church is involved in much social action is not in doubt, but I believe that this had not been in a significant way to help in the transformation of the individual, except in minority cases. Let me try to explain.
Perhaps the greatest act of social involvement on the part of the Church in Jamaica took place with the creation of the Baptist Free Villages, just after Emancipation. These villages provided not only property for ex-slaves, but also a sense of responsibility and livelihood, as the newly declared freed-men sought to make a contribution to a new society. For the first time the ex-slave was his own man, farming his own land, building his own home and saving for tomorrow, in short determining his own future. He was released from the shackles of depending on the welfare offered by someone else, if and whenever such was offered. Whereas he was previously tied to the goodwill of others, now he was in the place of being able to largely determine his own and his family’s future. Church’s today offer a lot of social help, but not in the same way as the Baptist Free Villages did, at least not in the main.
Two examples from Jamaica’s more recent history (and as far as I know the only two that exist) continued in the tradition of our illustrious Baptist counterparts, and sadly, one struggles for survival. In 1940 a Methodist minister by the name of Hugh Sherlock established a project in a part of Trench Town to help transform the lives of poor black boys who lived there. Boys’ Town was created, and largely through sports and entertainment, Father Sherlock helped give hundreds an opportunity for advancement that they otherwise would not have. The significant Jamaicans that passed through Boys’ Town are too numerous to list, but include names such as the Late Collie Smith (West Indian Cricketer), Carl Brown (Jamaica’s Former National Football Coach) and Lyndel Wright (Manager, Jamaica Cricket Team). Unfortunately, Father Sherlock’s dream has not survived as a church based idea. Thankfully other social agencies are attempting to replicate some of what he did but apparently with the significant disadvantage of the absence of a certain essential morality that is a part of the church ethos.
The second example still exists in the form of Alpha Boys’ Home. Alpha Boys’ is an institution that caters to boys from economically deprived backgrounds, many homeless. As a boarding facility, the boys are nurtured in a Christian environment, where they are given an education and taught necessary values for life. But Alpha has become best known for the musicians it has produced. Boys are taught to play musical instruments, and the Alpha Boys’ band is of national renown. Many of its graduates have gone on to become world famous, and have escaped the poverty to which their backgrounds threatened to condemn them. The most famous Alpha graduates from yesteryear were Don Drummond and Roland Alphanso, but today Dwight Richards and a slew of others carry on the tradition of excellence that the school has become known for. The Alpha experience has not only met their social need for schooling, but it transformed them into men who command their own destinies as well as that of their families. Along with education it gave them a way up and out of a lifestyle of poverty and aimlessness.
Perhaps other such initiatives do exist in the Church, but they are not well known and are definitely not the norm. They should be. And it’s not about the Church blowing her own trumpet; it is about promoting life and hope…about showing an increasingly desperate populace that God has created them for achievement and progress. The life of being a noose around society’s neck and a dagger in the heart of others is not a given, especially when the Church becomes involved in promoting the full humanity of all, as this is the only way to fully preserve the image of God in which we are created.
What do you think?
1 comment:
This article exactly represents my ideas on the role of the church in society. The point you made on man being created in God's image is all the reason why the church needs to respect the humanity of people first before even considering the sins of the individuals she is attempting to reach. I am of the view that the worth of the individual who bears God's image not his/her sinfulness is why we should be motivated to share the Good News. I am convinced that Salvation exists, for the sins of man but more so because of the worth of man. Maybe our idea of salvation needs reformation and it leads me to ask these questions: what is salvation and is "Jesus" sufficient or is there a sense in which we need to do more to ensure society experiences a "full" salvation (if there is such a concept).
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