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Five links for Friday

Some end-of-the-week reading: five interesting links we came across this week.

819086Building a culture of justice in your church

Video of a speech by US pastor Nancy Ortberg, with lots of resonances for our Church of the Poor work:
“What’s true now in our postmodern society is that serving the poor, the marginalised, and the oppressed may be the single most significant form of both spiritual formation and evangelism.”

1485022162_846725_1485026737_noticia_normal_recorte1El Pais interview with Pope Francis

The Pope speaks more about his vision of a “poor church, for the poor”:
“A Church that is not close to people is not a Church… The hallmark of the Church is its proximity. We are all the Church…When Jesus tells us how are we going to be judged, in Matthew chapter 25, he always talks about reaching out to your neighbor: I was hungry, I was in prison, I was sick… Always being close to the needs of your neighbor. Which is not just charity. It is much more.”

clean-for-good-blueMaking London a fairer city

The Centre for Theology and Community is tackling inequality and injustice – by setting up a cleaning company!
“We will pay the London Living Wage to all of our staff, all of the time, provide decent working terms and conditions, guarantee minimum working hours and invest in our people. Because cleaners matter too.”

whatwouldyoudoFeeling the pinch: what would you do?

End Child Poverty have launched their new campaign with an online game that asks you to make some of the difficult decisions faced by low-income families very day:
“Your cooker breaks. You don’t have any savings so can only afford to use a rent-to-own company, which will end up costing you considerably more in the long run.
DO YOU BUY A NEW COOKER OR GO WITHOUT HOT MEALS?”

3500Poverty  jeopardising children’s health

A landmark new report shows the terrible impact of poverty on children’s life chances (one of the main concerns of End Hunger UK):
“What is particularly shocking is that although we’ve known these things for a long time, we are still in a situation where there is such wide health disparity between the most advantaged and the least advantaged.”