Simplistic views of poverty do more harm than good.
Mez McConnell is the senior pastor of Niddrie Community Church and director of 20schemes. He is the author of numerous books, including The Creaking on the Stairs: Finding Faith in God Through Childhood Abuse (Christian Focus) and Is There Anybody Out There?: A Journey from Despair to Hope (Christian Focus). He's married to Miriam and has two daughters. You can follow him on Twitter.
Simplistic views of poverty do more harm than good.
20schemes Equip is a new website that exists to resource churches in the world’s poorest communities. I (Ben Hansen) asked Mez McConnell and Matthew Spandler-Davison about the history of 20schemes, what kind of content we’ve released to this point, and what we hope this new site will achieve. When was 20schemes started? Matthew: We launched […]
This sermon was preached on 24 July 2018 at Niddrie Community Church as part of their baptism service.
This is an adapted excerpt from Mez McConnell’s new book The Creaking on the Stairs: Finding Faith in God Through Childhood Abuse. Please pre-order the book through 10ofthose. Every purchase made through 10ofthose helps to support the work of 20schemes. I remember walking home from school with the envelope in my hand. I held it […]
Let me tell you a story about a pastor called John who lives in a small town in Scotland. You’ve never heard of him and you’ve never heard of his community. Where he lives unemployment is high, drug abuse is off the charts, and life is hard and short. John was saved about 10 years […]
This is the final section of a three-part series on Theodore Dalrymple’s book Life at the Bottom, which explores the lives of the ‘underclass’ living on schemes. In the chapter ‘Choosing to Fail’, Dalrymple strikes right at the heart of the problems we face in the schemes. Commenting on the many excuses that people have […]
This is the second in a three-part series on Theodore Dalrymple’s book Life at the Bottom, which explores the lives of the ‘underclass’ living on schemes and council estates in the UK. Dalrymple’s chapter ‘Goodbye, Cruel World’ is particularly helpful in catching the underlying social pressures of living on a council estate. He talks of […]
Described as a book that is a classic of our times, Life at the Bottom was first published in 2001. The book informs us that: ‘The majority of the British underclass is white, and that it demonstrates all the same social pathology as the black underclass in America – for similar reasons of course’ (pviii). […]
20schemes is five years old this month (although the idea was birthed over a decade ago while church-planting in Brazil). Personally, I am entering my nineteenth year of pastoral ministry. During that time, I have worked in council estates in the UK, the slums of Brazil, and now in Scotland with 20schemes. We currently have […]