On privilege

The church has been very privileged and still is very privileged right across the world, in any and every community, whether we are dealing in places like America, or across Europe, or other parts of the world. But when we exercise that power, and the church exercises privilege at the expense of the poor, at the expense of the marginalised, we fail in our witness to the good news about Jesus, which is spiritual, and material, and political added benefit to community.

And so we fail the James test – what is true religion which God calls us to, to look after the poor, the widow, and the orphan, and to keep ourselves unpolluted by the world. And I think the two things work together. The pollution of the world is about materialism, it is about egotism, it is about power play. And the true message of the gospel says, even if you are in a position of power, that is always power for the benefit of those without it. When we lose sight of that, we have lost sight of our mission and our calling.