Rotherham – a call to mission
by Andrew Symes.
The Rotherham scandal issues a challenge to secularism, policies of multiculturalism, and the Church – but it provides an opportunity for a new commitment to build missional Christian communities in the forgotten areas of our nation.
I listened this morning to the phone-in about the Rotherham scandal on Five Live. Although the Jay Report clearly names the main problem: men from an enclosed and un-integrated community preying on working class white girls who they regarded as scum and fair game, this was hardly mentioned in the phone- in. Although political correctness was directly blamed for the failure of authorities to tackle the serial grooming and rape by men from Pakistani background, the BBC and the panelists continued to be unfailingly PC, turning all the attention on the failings of certain individuals in authority as if their resignation would atone for the wrong and solve the issue. “Tighten up the laws on reporting child abuse” was the cry – but where were the voices talking about reasons for the problem of character deficit and criminality in the perpetrators of abuse, and how to address them? There was discussion of why people didn’t follow the much vaunted policies and procedures and who should be punished, but there seemed to be no questioning of how the culture of spinelessness, of “jobsworth” turning a blind eye to what was going on had developed, and what was behind it.
What this shows is the failure of secularism to confront and overcome evil and injustice. Secular people find it difficult to deal with evil – they don’t believe in it because it is spiritual in origin. Jesus taught clearly that crime and character failure such as has occurred in Rotherham is not confined to certain racial, religious or secular groups and philosophies. Nor can it be explained away by reference to government cuts: it starts where sin in the heart of all human beings links up with rebellious spiritual powers. Violence and lust, cowardice and deception lurks below the surface of all of us, in people of all cultures. It can ultimately only be controlled and transformed not by man made laws but by a miraculous transformation of the heart of individuals, and by the defeat of Satan, both of which have been provided for at the Cross.
Does this mean, then, that Christians can’t expect anything to change in society until many more individuals are converted? That people of faith should be secular when doing their jobs in the world, and only teach and model the ethical implications of the Bible’s teaching within and on the fringes of church, to followers of Christ and their children? Myriad examples in history and in the present show that where the church is in communities, preaching the supernatural good news of the Gospel and demonstrating care for people in practical ways, people do come to faith, but the influence goes far beyond the numbers in church on Sunday.
Even in my limited experience as a vicar on a council estate, we saw how a small struggling church can have a great effect outside its walls. Police and social services used to remark to us that the area became more peaceful and behaviour had changed, not just among the young people who came to the youth clubs and heard the message, but generally on the estate. This is “salt and light” – not just foodbanks or evangelistic meetings, but a change in the spiritual and moral atmosphere of a place which comes as a result of the back-breaking task of prayer, faithful Gospel preaching, pastoral and practical care in the power of the Spirit, over many years, inside and outside the church building in difficult communities. So Christians need to recover the confidence to talk about the importance of good character, truthfulness, courage to do what is right, respect for other cultures, the value of each person, sexual self control, and faith in God, to everyone in the parish and the nation, not just to each other. That’s what Anglicans have always done.
Which leads us to the question: what about the churches in the council estates of Rotherham? Are there churches there? How are they doing, do they have a vision for mission, and if so, are they getting enough support in prayer and encouragement and finance? As one text in this morning’s phone-in reminded us about the misery in Rotherham: “This is going on somewhere near you, now”. If we are in a relatively comfortable middle class church, have we considered mission into the nearby council estate, perhaps supporting what is already there? Might some missionaries from the relatively well-supplied churches in the south of England consider going “up north”? And are we involved in prayer for the nation, now that the façade has slipped and we know something of what we are up against?
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