This article is the second in a three-part review of Richard Florida’s book, “The New Urban Crisis: Gentrification, Housing Bubbles, Growing Inequality, and What Can We Do About It?”(The new urban crisis: gentrification, housing bubbles, inequality growth and what we can do about it. )
Last time we talked about gentrification in general terms. What does it look like in Edinburgh? This is what I have seen in our community as gentrification develops (and continues to do so).
- The fact that the cost of living in Edinburgh city center is so high.
- Coupled with a chronic housing shortage.
- Means that local authorities are assessing our urbanization in an attempt to try to get the more educated middle class to buy.
- A property here.
- They built a state-of-the-art library (a clear sign of gentrification.
- According to Florida).
- A shopping mall.
- Supermarkets.
- And new schools.
- “The reality is that things are better for those who can afford it.
- ” Note that none of these things were available to the native population until the wealthy needed a more accessible place to live.
- Over the next decade (possibly very soon).
- Niddrie will cease to be a housing development for the needy and the majority of the indigenous population will have either relocated to other developments or been forced to relocate to places like the Fife region.
- Where of housing and rents are much cheaper.
- The new incoming middle class will know nothing about the traditional history of the region and the old names of houses and streets.
- They won’t even care.
- They will simply invade the community and the ruling class will eventually dominate.
- We tend to be grateful all the time that these policies have made things better.
- However.
- The reality is that things have improved for those who can afford it.
- Those who can’t will be left behind.
- And for the most part.
- Not all.
- Their lives will not have really improved.
One thing Florida certainly preaches in the book is class division in the UK. I want to stop here for a moment, because every now and then I meet the evangelicals of the mainstream (middle class) who think I’m making this up or causing divisions by mentioning it. However, this American sees it as clearly as day. There is a class division in this country that continues to grow, decade after decade. Again, much of the middle-class evangelical church ignores this. However, we are here as working-class (and unemployed) Christian workers asking where all the good and theologically sound churches are in our communities. Where are our leaders represented in British Christianity?Some churches will cite ethnic diversity as proof that they are inclusive, but the presence of some dark-skinned people in our churches does not negate the issue of class division in our country and in our churches.
The problem, as I have observed over the past eighteen years, is that much of the movement to establish and revitalize churches (in the world) has followed global sociological and economic trends, not the Bible; in fact, a lot of this mimics gentrification. Let me explain what I mean. Gentrification involves a top-down approach to social and housing policy (at least in the UK?But this is generally true around the world). it will benefit accordingly. This is called the “runoff effect”. The reality is that while there are improvements in many of these communities, the poorest remain poor and are driven from their homes and communities. Problems are not solved, they are simply mis-solved.
There are also church leaders in the UK, if not around the world, who continue to argue that our evangelism and missionary efforts should be focused on leaders, politicians, artists and culture creators. of our societies. In other words, we’re going to steer our finances and strategies toward the upper and creative class. This, they say, will have a dripping effect on the poor. Some call it “upriver planting. ” In other words, we will plant churches in economically rich communities and, in the future, be able to finance work in the poorest areas. With money and influence. According to reasoning, we can get more results if we plant one of these “fundraising” churches. than in five poorer churches that exhaust resources. Sounds pretty logical. It even seems viable. Except it doesn’t work, and if leaders advocating for this approach don’t know, they should. The reality in ecclesial circles is the same as the reality of gentrification.
There’s no rain effect. Someone recently asked me about it and said that there are, more than ever, evangelical churches in rich communities that are developing a ministry of mercy, so how could I make these claims?My answer is that much of the ministry of mercy is exercised by the richest churches. and the middle class of our communities can be anything but. Click here to see a previous article, where I consider this in more detail.
The fact is, he? Upstream churches don’t really fund the establishment of churches and the British ministry of revitalization. There may be those who have helped with isolated jobs or may have even set up one or two churches (which is rare if this happens). But there is nothing like the scale needed to make a difference in our country. Upward churches with upward budgets fund upward construction projects before funding downstream Christians to establish churches in under-neglected housing communities and social housing neighborhoods. This is the reality, and small churches (50 to 100 members) outside the UK and not by rich churches upstream. We have some examples of large churches that regularly support us financially, one in the UK and one in the United States. Some churches have given us gifts, but nothing is close to funding this kind of ministry for a long period of time.
I can tell you that none of our independent church planters have succeeded in applying for a grant from an evangelical organisation in the UK. This changed recently when we received a large grant from FIEC to renovate a church building in an Edinburgh community. We have also benefited immensely from the generosity of HeartCry, a missionary organization in the United States that funds our work in Glasgow. But in addition to our two Presbyterian brothers (their denominations care for them), most church planters struggle to raise money for their salaries. In short, I don’t know any church planters working in poor housing communities and social housing neighborhoods that have been helped by this low-flow model at the local church level. Siblings in social housing communities and neighborhoods fight for money and volunteers willing to move and help them build teams. Larger churches may even donate a few pounds of food from time to time, but nothing like what it takes to adequately and long-term fund a church planter and his family.
This article is the second in a three-part review of Richard Florida’s book, The New Urban Crisis.
[1] Editor’s note: Gentrification is a process of transformation of urban centers by changing the social groups that exist there, where the low-income community comes out, and where residents of the richest strata enter (Source: meanings)
In recent years, Christians and Christian organizations have increased their interest in helping people who suffer from poverty and misery, but this renewed interest in reducing poverty is doomed if it does not have roots in the local church, which is God’s established way of attracting the wretched. people in a transformative relationship with him.
Emphasizing the priority of the gospel, Mez McConnell and Mike McKinley, both local church pastors in poverty-affected areas, offer biblical leadership and practical strategies for faithfully establishing, revitalizing, and cultivating churches in difficult places, in our own community, and elsewhere around the world. World.
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