The Church Has Left The Building

The Church Has left the Building

31 July 2009

Over coffee a friend said to me this morning: "I didn't recognise that city'.

We were of course speaking of the Secret Millionaire programme on Channel 4 last night which showed Dundee through a perspective we don't often see or perhaps want to see.

What came across so clearly that it is the church is often the first one responding to these needs of our communities. This response is rarely because the church is best placed financially, but because it has the heart and compassion to reach out to do what it can.

I just discovered that Stoke (a city with many parallels to Dundee including its size and social issues) has carried out a Faith Action Audit which showed Faith groups to be contributing some £4.4 million to the local community per annum.

I believe a similar audit of work by Faith communities in Dundee would hold a few surprises for many both within the faith sector and more widely across the public, private, voluntary and community sectors.  

I enjoyed the programme, was challenged by it and wanted to write to the Press & Journal to highlight that while media headlines may suggest that faith is in decline, and minority faith communities are to be viewed with distrust, the truth is very different indeed. Our faith communities are important stakeholders right across the city, from urban to rural, from the deprived to the affluent. They have a part to play in encouraging community cohesion, delivering the strategy for economic development and have to be engaged with as vital and equal partners in our city's future prosperity and quality of life.

Ian Black | Press Officer | Evangelical Alliance Scotland

i.black@eauk.org