community action

Although many people in the UK may have their basic needs met, e.g. safe water, good sanitation, healthcare and education, it does not always mean they are guaranteed a better life than someone who is born overseas. UK youth in particular, facing difficult situations at home and school, are increasingly suffering from depression, self harm, violent behaviour or substance misuse. As Christians there is plenty we ought to be able to do, but the important questions are what, where and how? Try this quick exercise - draw a rough map of an area of your community, and then mark where:

•    you don’t feel safe
•    young people ‘hang out’
•    people spend their leisure time
•    people work
•    the best places are
•    the worst places are
•    you like to spend your time
•    you would like to see change/improvement

Before you jump in and try and fix the problem/s you’ve identified perhaps you ought to take a leaf out of God’s book and see how Jesus approached needs where he lived.

Jesus sees people’s needs
Mark 10:46 – 52 is just one of many examples of how Jesus takes time to see people’s needs. Although Bartimaeus is blind, Jesus doesn’t assume he wants to see, but instead takes time to find out what he really wants. Rather than tell him ‘what’, Jesus asks ‘What?’ (Mk 10:51). Perhaps blindness was all Bartimaeus had ever known, or maybe begging was how he made a living - even giving this up would need careful consideration. Just because we’re Christians it doesn’t give us a divine right to go around fixing people’s problems without asking or involving them first. Out of 30 healings recorded in the gospels there are just six where Jesus doesn’t to involve people. Three occur on the Sabbath, when religious regulations meant people wouldn’t dare approach a holy man for healing (Mk. 1:21-28; Mk. 3:1-6; Lk. 13:10-17). The other three are also unique: he heals a man possessed by a evil spirit (Mt. 8:28-34), someone in no state of mind to ask for help, the soldier attacked in Gethsemane to demonstrate swiftly that he had no intention of leading a rebellion, and finally raises a widow’s dead son (Lk 7:14-15). The later was so extraordinary that it went beyond anyone’s capacity to ask for it and even Jesus would have struggled to get the son involved. On every other occasion Jesus heals, he shows his immense love and compassion by allowing people to initiate or get involved in their own healing process.  It is essential that we work with others as we begin to identify and then meet local needs.

Jesus meets people’s needs
Once Jesus sees people’s needs, he moves on to meet them (Mk 10:52). The kingdom of God isn’t just about what happens after death but about relieving suffering, recognising mental or physical pain and finding ways to help people to live. Jesus frees people from almost every category of need – the demonised (Mk 1:34), the diseased (Mt. 8:2-3), and as we have seen even the dead. Of course by focusing on the major miracles of Jesus there is a danger of feeling, ‘I could never do that!’ However, it’s worth noting that Jesus finds various ways to meet people’s needs. People you meet in community may feel it’s a minor miracle to find people who are prepared to listen, serve, or encourage their involvement – you could do that! What’s important is to work out what can be done with the resources you have, i.e. people, money and minutes, and not to make promises you’ll never fulfil.

People see their need for Jesus
The third and final lesson to learn from Mark 10 is that when people’s needs start to be met they begin to respond. People respond to Jesus because he first responds to them. Some people respond by joining Jesus (Lk 5:1-11), others leave (Jn 6:60-70), some dramatically change their lifestyle (Lk 19:1-10), others seem to stay the same (Lk 18:18-30), whilst others follow but we’re not told what happens next – like Bartimaeus! One thing is certain, one way or another, action demands a response. As we begin to work through what the Gospel has to say in response to the many needs which face UK communities today, Jesus’ mission model seems as good a place to start as any. It’s simple but effective:

1.    Recognise     - see people’s needs
2.    Restore     - begin to meet people needs
3.    Respond     - provide opportunities for people to see their need for Jesus

A group of Christians in south London tackled a badly graffitied subway in their area by enlisting the support of the local community. Many people had wanted something done for years, but it was the group that took on the role of catalyst, drawing in the local residents’ association, nearby schools, the community art college, and the local DIY shop to get involved in repainting the subway. They were even able to get the youth who had been responsible for most of the graffiti in the first place to help redesign the subways new look - spray painted murals, shapes and numbers. A project that had seemed huge became possible, and has helped to draw the community together.