A Generation in Desperate Need – What are we Doing?

Former Spice Girls’ pop singer, “Mel-B”, tells how she recently spent a week on a run-down Council Estate for an ITV programme. She had to live with a family of five headed by a single mum, on £264 weekly Benefits. The house and area were vermin-infested, but what most struck her was the lack of any hope that she observed among these people. The 18-year-old son was so uninterested that he didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning even to sign on at the Jobcentre. She called the place, Apathy city, and recalls the time when she grew up in an area close by:

“My younger sister Danielle and I were given chores, such as setting the table at meal-times, and we did them. There was also a real sense of community where we lived – we all looked out for each other… My father Martin went to work every day and, at one stage, my mother held down three jobs. Danielle and I learned from watching them that we could have better lives by earning our own money… When I was younger I was a Girl Guide and attended Sunday school. I looked forward to going every week…”

A strong work ethic, Guides, Scouts and Sunday School used to be a key component of growing-up in Britain. Today these are replaced, among vast swathes of our population, by the kind of apathy and indifference described by Mel-B. The tragic spiral of family break-down has added further fuel to this apathy, especially among young boys. As Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, put it: “Family breakdown and the devaluation of marriage produce a generation of children with no concept of right and wrong.”

What should we, as Christ’s Church, do about this tragic and shameful situation in our nation? Jesus commanded us to be “salt” and “light.” In the past our forbears created the Sunday School movement precisely to reach out to generations of children who had no hope in life – it became a part of the 19th-century transformation of our nation! How can we, the Ambassadors of Christ today, respond to the need of our generation?

With loving greetings from all the Revival team,

Ian Milmine

“There is surely a future hope for you, and your
hope will not be cut off. Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path.”

(Proverbs 23:18-19)

“Let your light shine before men, that the may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven”

(Matthew 5:16)