'I was a stranger and you invited me in' - Stephen Crabb on poverty
July 2001
by Stephen Crabb
published in Conservatism magazine

CCF member, Stephen Crabb, reflects on Matthew 25 and Jesus' challenge to his followers

Stephen Crabb fought Preseli Pembrokeshire at the 2001 Election and achieved a 6.3% swing to the Conservatives; the largest swing in Wales. He is married to Beatrice and has one son.

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"For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me... to the extent that you did it one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me."
Matthew 25:35-36, and 40

Poverty is not easy to define. It is like the famous pronouncement by a US Supreme Court Judge who, struggling to agree a definition for obscenity, said: "I know it when I see it". But do we really know poverty when we see it, and what is our response when we do?

One way of defining poverty is in absolute terms - a lack of basic necessities such as food, clothing and shelter. Using that standard, Keith Joseph claimed in 1976 that poverty had largely disappeared from Britain. The trouble with this notion is that many people instinctively feel that an acceptable standard of living goes beyond biological needs and is linked to social and cultural factors.

The second way of looking at poverty is therefore to see it in relative terms. Poverty becomes not merely a lack of the basics, but a lack of sufficient resources to participate fully in the life of the community: leisure activities, transport, holidays, fashion.

But this definition risks detaching poverty from any wider perspective. It ignores the historical improvements achieved in the living conditions of the poor in our society, and fails to acknowledge the blessings we all enjoy in the West compared to those from the Third World struggling in conditions of enormous need.

The term which has become fashionable in recent years is social exclusion. This notion is not just about a condition of low income, but speaks of a class of people whose lives are often characterized by multiple and complex problems: welfare dependency, 'sink' housing estates, educational failure, substance misuse, criminal activity and lone parenthood.

The debate about this 'underclass' - a term coined by US sociologist Charles Murray - cannot avoid touching on behavioural explanations which invoke age-old discussions about the 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor and personal responsibility.

In late 1997 two books appeared which sought to lift the lid on poverty in the UK. Nick Davies' Dark Heart was a disturbing investigation into the people who inhabit the slums and red-light areas of our cities, prompted by the author's chance encounter with two young boy prostitutes at a Nottingham fair.

Danziger's Britain (Nick Danziger) set out to discover "the huge ranks of the excluded and marginalized people of Great Britain", from inner city to tiny village, from recent immigrants and child drug addicts to single mothers and joyriders. Both books make uneasy reading for Conservatives, because they reveal a world few of us have any direct experience of and one which is far bigger than we dare to imagine.

But Christians should have few problems understanding our duty to take poverty seriously. Scripture is laden with injunctions to show compassion to the poor. Under God's ideal plan for Israel no poverty should have existed at all (Deutoronomy 15:4) yet human nature prevents its eradication - "the poor you have with you always" (Deutoronomy 15:11; Matthew 26:11). Because poverty is so contrary to the divine purpose - i.e. it offends God - there is a special duty to strive to relieve it as far as possible.

How an individual responds to the poor is therefore taken as a measure of their righteousness. This is especially true of kings and rulers (politicians). Speaking about King Josiah, God declared "He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy ... Is that not what it means to know Me?" (Jeremiah 22:16). Tackling poverty and loving God go hand in hand.

The Church's record in serving the poor is second to none. Yet the innovative activities of the Church and charitable organisations have been eclipsed by the growth of state welfare spending. And while absolute poverty has decreased, the rise of an underclass centred largely on social housing developments is proof enough that 'nationalized compassion' has failed.

The state can never be compassionate. There is nothing compassionate about Benefits Agency staff sitting behind bullet-proof screens processing the claims of hundreds of 'clients' per week. The expansion of anonymous state welfare bureaucracies actually serves to snuff out compassion and important social values.

Churches, on the other hand, are rooted in real communities and often have a better understanding of the immediate needs of the poor than the bureaucrats. This is coupled with a powerful motivation to see these needs met. This is the essential dynamic behind faith-based welfare which George W Bush wants to see flourish.

During his campaign last year Bush echoed Disraeli's famous comment about the "two nations" (rich and poor) of the 1800s. In a moving description of an encounter with jailed young offenders, Bush spoke of a wall within American society: "On one side are wealth and technology, education and ambition. On the other side of the wall are poverty and prison, addiction and despair."

Athough 'One Nation' has, at times, been a popular banner for some Conservative policies, the new Compassionate Conservatism is ultimately not about re-discovering slogans. It is about awakening a restless heart of compassion and love for those in need and enabling it to generate practical solutions.

Until God's Kingdom is fully realised, poverty will never be eliminated. But responsible Christians - both in their personal conduct and in helping to shape public policy - must return to the subject again and again.

For further Bible study

Psalm 112 (particularly verses 4 and 5 - how God rewards compassion); Luke 10:25-37 (Parable of the Good Samaritan); and James 2: 14-26 (Faith without action is dead).

For general reading

The Tragedy of American Compassion by Marvin Olasky (published by Regnery): how effective compassion requires us to suffer with the poor and needy - offering them challenge as well as assistance. A related essay by Marvin on compassionate Conservatism in Britain can be read online via www.renewingonenation.com.

Single Parents in Focus (published by Care for the Family - 029 20 811733): written by Tom Beardshaw, Guy Hordern (of CCF) and Christine Tufnell, this easy-to-read book helps churches to understand how churches can help single parents.