POVERTY TODAY
51
The Poverty Jigsaw by Beth Waters 1 adults have been hit harder than their parents ’ generation . Children ’ s opportunities have been harmed following the closure of 1,500 Sure Start Centres . Furthermore , 60 % of Bangladeshi-British children , 54 % of Pakistani-British children and 47 % of Black-British children were forced into poverty by welfare spending cuts between 2010 and 2018 . 7
Disabled people have been hit far harder than people without disabilities by austerity policies . The contentious replacement of Disabled Living Allowance with Personal Independence Payments in 2012 led to 160,000 people losing their benefits . Currently one third of disabled people in the UK are living in poverty compared with one fifth of people without disabilities . Austerity is not neutral .
Christian responses to Austerity Age poverty
Christian engagement with poverty is rooted in the teaching of the prophets and the ministry of Jesus . We read in the Bible of a God who has a preferential option for the poor because systemic poverty contradicts the will of the Creator in whose image all people are made . The church ’ s commitment to the common good must embody this preferential option for the poor .
With this in mind , I turn to the different approaches to poverty that we encountered in research for the Life on the Breadline project . The approaches are fluid , not fixed , but they do reflect differing theological , missiological and ecclesiological perspectives .
Caring responses
Caring responses to poverty are the most widespread within the church ( e . g . breakfast clubs , foodbanks or soup kitchens ). These welfare focused responses foreground pastoral care and an ethic of social responsibility .
Campaigning responses
Campaigning responses are often entwined with an ethic of caring . This approach is inspired by a commitment to translating the values of Liberation Theology into a model of Christian activism that ‘ transforms structural injustice ’ ( e . g . campaigns for housing justice , Church Action on Poverty ’ s End Hunger initiative , and local churches involvement in campaigns for a real living wage ).