Urban Leadership Foundation
A hub for leadership training in cities and among the world's 1.4 billion slum-dwellers
1. Poverty in the West
(1) Very different to poverty in the third world
(2) The poverty of the working poor vs. destitution
(3) The emergence of a permanent poor class in New Zealand is part of
a global phenomena.
i. Who are the Poor of New Zealand?
(1) The dispossessed Maori
(2) The migrant Indian or Samoan
(3) The unemployable handicapped
(4) The dishonored elderly
(5) The kicked out of State housing
(6) The unemployed middle executive
(7) The enslaved addicts
(8) The refugees
(9) The emotionally damaged
(10) The rebellious teenagers
(11) The single mothers: the best way to poverty is through divorce.
(12) The lazy poor
(13) The poorly paid laboring poor
(14) The unemployed and under-employed
(15) Communities of poverty (often ethnic) who share with each other
(16) The temporarily unemployed, sick.
ii. Coping strategies
(1) The double family home
(2) The long-term welfare check
(3) The bus system or a friend
(4) The old lady stacking firewood
(5) The extendible credit card
(6) The unregistered old bomb
(7) The new live-in
iii. Why is a permanent poor class emerging?
Centralized governments are not highly adaptive to human need. Initially they can put large sums of money into certain needy areas of society. Within 30 years they become inefficient in those same areas.
In a globally unregulated economy, the rates of growth of the Western
economies cannot continue with the rapid upsurge of other economies.
As societies move into info-societies, manufacturing and farming can
produce the same with much less human labor, resulting in a contraction of
the job market except in the high-information levels. In the process even
laborers now need qualifications to obtain jobs.
The increasing breakdown of the family unit in the West brings with it
high social costs. We become a shell-shocked people without the capacities
to be entrepreneurs.
In Western nations that have over-committed themselves to social
services, they have sought to cut back social spending. One aspect of this
has been the de-institutionalizaton of the mental health facilities. It has
resulted in many mentally disabled being out in society and not able to
cope, but with no-one to care for them. It has also resulted in the
government moving out of state housing, with numerous elderly people being
unable to live in their own homes.
The governments insistence on a policy of low inflation ignores the
concurrent policy of high interest rates which push the cost of housing
beyond the reach of the poor.
iv. Ministry Responses
Most churches have some response to the poor. Often in seminars I find
that they are not aware that that is what they are doing, and need
encouragement.
Some responses:
(1) Alcoholic anonymous
(2) Christian Love-link
(3) Every church has a food basket
(4) Leave the edges
(5) The Inner City Missions
A. Case Studies of Inner City Ministry in the West
1. David Claerbaut develops a number of themes about ministry in the inner city of America looking at issues of interest to the inner city pastor, such as youth, insecurity as a way of life, minorities, institutionalized poverty.
2. Clifford Green et al analyzes urban ministry approaches from denominational perspectives in the U.S. from 1945-1985
3. Bruce Kenrick tells a moving story of attempts by a team in Britain to plant an urban poor church.
Connecting Rich and Poor Churches
There was not a needy one among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds from the sales and laid it at the apostles feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need (Acts4:34,35).
This should be the case across the city.
© Viv Grigg & Urban Leadership Foundationand other materials © by various contributors & Urban Leadership Foundation, for The Encarnacao Training Commission. Last modified: July 2010Previous Page |
