A review of Good News to the Poor by Tim Chester. Published by Crossway.

Good News to the Poor presents a biblical argument for why the church is called to be involved in ‘evangelical’ social action. The book takes a fresh look at Christian social action with a genuinely evangelical lens.

Many people will have had the experience in a bible study group where the debate about ‘social action verse evangelism’ has arisen. People unwittingly box each other into two groups: the ‘orthodox conservatives’ and the ‘radical social activists’. From the outset, Tim Chester seeks to call out these positions as problematic. “I want to urge conservatives not to marginalise those who uphold the cause of the oppressed and to urge social activists not to go down the blind alley of theological liberalism”. Chester’s goal is to remove the unhelpful polarisation of the debate and present a wholly biblical view.

In his introduction, Chester provides helpful context to what is often an esoteric conversation. Four characters based on real people – Albert, Brian, Catherine and Douglas – are introduced to represent various commonly heard responses to social action. By cleverly putting a ‘human’ voice to an often theological debate Chester subtly reminds us that despite the perceived differences, many Christians are simply seeking to be faithful to the risen Jesus in their daily lives.

The first two chapters Good News to the Poor builds a “strong biblical case” for Christian social action. Chester then frames this social action in light of the redemptive narrative of the Bible. He makes clear that “blessing in God’s future is more important than blessing in this life”. The poor’s greatest need – along with all of humanity – is to be reconciled to God and escape His just wrath. It is from here that he drives home his central and repeated point that, “the proclamation of the gospel must be central to Christian social involvement”. It is through proclamation that the kingdom comes “as people submit to God’s word”.

The question arises for the reader: what form does proclamation take in being ‘central’ to social involvement? Chester recognises that his position “does not mean a commitment to bad, un-contextualised, manipulative, or crass” sharing of the good news with ‘social action on the side’. However his commitment to theological exposition leaves him limited room for examples of how proclamation and social action can work seamlessly together. Chester contends that the message of the gospel is best understood in the context of the church’s loving actions and loving community.

Chester builds a strong ‘case for evangelising the poor’. However he fails to highlight the context within which evangelism takes place. There is a power imbalance between the poor and non-poor that needs to be recognised. Who are the poor and how do they see us – the rich – evangelising them, and what does that mean for our relationships with them? Jayakumar Christian from World Vision India argues that “there is a need to develop a theology of power from within the context of the poor”.[1] Chester fails to be attentive to the subtle but influential power imbalance within ministry to the poor.

The second half of Good News to the Poor explains ‘how’ evangelical social action should occur. Chester helpfully highlights that Christian social action should be characterised by welcoming the excluded and strengthening the powerless.

However when talking practically about global efforts to reduce poverty Good News to the Poor is out of date. The book was originally published in 2004 and the statistics Chester uses to argue that there has been a lack of progress in reducing world poverty have not been updated. If only Chester had highlighted United Nations reports on progress towards the Millennium Development Goals! These indicate that since 1990, the child mortality rate has dropped by 47 per cent. That means 17,000 fewer children are dying each day. His scepticism appears unfounded.

I find it problematic that Chester argues that the poor should be “patient” and “wait for the Lord’s coming”. This leads him to the conclusion that “we must contend with the fact that most of the poor will remain in poverty throughout their lives”. He says that “it is worse to offer people hope for the imminent future that cannot be sustained in the reality of a world marred by sin”. But could we really stand in front of a family who has just lost a child to a preventable disease and declare such sentiments? Perhaps then Chester would choose to use different words.

It appears in Good News to the Poor that this sense of an inevitable failure to reduce poverty originates from a concern that Christians might run the risk of expecting the new creation now and misunderstanding the redemptive future of Jesus’ return. But there is no risk of this if we understand that what we are talking about in social action is the good consequences of loving people who are in extreme, preventable poverty.

We must recognise that there will always be inequality and poor people in a world corrupted by sin. However we also know that the gospel can work in our lives and lead us to witness to and proclaim Christ through acts of generosity and service. This can break the cycle of poverty and help the poor come to know who Jesus through his people.

While Chester sets out not to pit word against deed as if they were mutually exclusive, by the end of Good News to the Poor there is a confusing sense that this tension has not been resolved.  Despite this Chester would agree that if we take a holistic approach to serving the poor, people will “praise God for the obedience that accompanies” our confession of the gospel and for our “generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else” (2 Cor 9:13).

[1] Jayakumar Christian (2011), God Of The Empty-Handed: Poverty, Power And The Kingdom Of God (Revised)

Jacob Sarkodee is National Manager of Youth at World Vision and has a Masters in Human Rights. He lives and goes to church in Melbourne with his wife Kate and baby Anna.