This article was first published in Touchstone in September 2020.
If the church disappeared tomorrow, what would be missing from our community?
This is a challenging question and one that we need to ask ourselves if we want the church to remain relevant, caring and showing God’s love in action. Churches are strategically placed to be community hubs and to serve the communities in which they sit. They need to be outward looking and responding to the needs of their community.
“Naku te rourou nau te rourou ka ora ai te iwi”
The literal meaning of this whakataukī is: With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive. It encapsulates the notion that if we work in isolation we might survive, by working together we can go beyond survival and onto prosperity – we can all thrive. This is what we need for our communities throughout Aotearoa.
Covid-19 has highlighted inequalities in our welfare system and created more. The economic effects of the virus will be felt far into the future. There is going to be greater need in our communities and we will need to consider how we as a church will respond to them.
The Methodist Church has a strong heritage of social justice. John Wesley tells us that everything belongs to God, and the resources God has placed in our care are to be used as God sees fit, which is to meet our necessities of life and then to help others in need. One of MCNZ’s principles is “to work for any who are oppressed in Aotearoa New Zealand, keeping in mind the implications of the Treaty of Waitangi. To share resources with the poor and disadvantaged in Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond.”[1]
As Methodists, we need to ask how we are going to use our resources to help others in need? How are we going to respond as a church? What is our dream for Aotearoa? The Methodist Alliance’s vision is for a just and inclusive society in which all people flourish.
At the Methodist Alliance Forum in November 2019, a working group was established to campaign to address poverty in Aotearoa. We are asking the government to immediately increase benefits, the benefit abatement thresholds, and to implement the Welfare Expert Advisory Group recommendations to support the poorest New Zealanders. The current benefit regime and abatement threshold do not support people who receive benefits to move into sustainable employment.
Recently I watched Professor Peter O’Connor’s address to the NZ Principal’s Conference in 2018.[2] Peter grew up with seven siblings and loving parents. He talked about growing up in poverty when there was often not a lot of food on the table. Peter’s father would say that he wasn’t hungry because your taste buds stop working when you get older. His father was paralysed in his forties and lost his job. Taking care of his children meant that he did not take care of himself as well as he could have. Peter remembers his father telling him that when people get older they can stop dreaming. It seemed to Peter that it was the saddest loss of all to lose your ability to dream.
Peter’s story reminded me of many families & whānau in Aotearoa that have insufficient income coming in to the household, where there is a constant struggle to put enough food on the table, pay rent, electricity, school fees etc. This intense pressure leaves no energy to dream and hope for a better future.
We as a church have a responsibility to give a voice to those without a voice and to dream for those who have lost their ability to dream. We know the benefit does not provide enough income for people to flourish and thrive.
The amount of money people can earn before their benefit is decreased equates to just under 4.8 hours per week of the minimum wage. When the abatement rate was first introduced in 1986, it amounted to 15 hours per week. The abatement rate now acts as disincentive to work.
Eliminating poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand is an important election issue. Increasing incomes for people receiving benefits will immediately stimulate the local economy, especially in the communities with the highest needs. More importantly, it will provide an opportunity for people who receive benefits to contribute to the post-COVID recovery throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.
We, as a church, need to be active in our communities, to share our resources and use them to benefit everyone - so we can all thrive.
Carol Barron, National Coordinator
03 375 0512 | 027 561 9164 | Carol@MethodistAlliance.org.nz
[1] http://www.methodist.org.nz/administration_division/mission_statement [2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prQjm9RIErU&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR28KYzYF3DQJyeNajC1acNtgoYAIWE0b2NQj0eoViwXL87KTv5VEHBxtrE