Big Society, big opportunity... #end

 

The Chinese definition of the word 'crisis' is 'dangerous opportunity'.  That definition offers a more positive and hopeful view of the difficult times we face, giving scope for something good to come out of something hard.

 

In the last few weeks the coalition government has begun to lay a foundation for our communities to turn this crisis into an opportunity.

 

The crisis is that finances are tight, and so public services are under threat.  The opportunity is for voluntary groups to step in and fill the gap.  The government's stated aim is to devolve power to local communities to run local services.  There is even talk of funding this from the billions of pounds lying in 'dormant' bank accounts.

 

As well as encouraging greater volunteering and philanthropy, the Prime Minister said he wants to enable "some of the most dynamic" charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises to take over the running of public services.

 

The buzz word for all of this is 'big society'.  Views on this vary depending on the colour of your politics, but this column isn't a place for a party political broadcast for any party.

 

From the perspective of the Christian faith, David Cameron's 'big society' ideas echo the words of Jesus, to 'love your neighbour as yourself'.  Love is more than a feeling, it is worked out in action, and there are hundreds of volunteer organisations that do that on a daily basis.

 

A Faith Action Audit, being carried out right now in the city, is recording just how many hundreds of thousands of hours of volunteer time are put into supporting the life of the city of Plymouth by faith groups.  The Prime Minister's 'big society' is actually already taking place.

 

The pressure of the economic crisis may the catalyst that empowers all of us to 'own' how we meet the needs of the vulnerable people in our city in a more sustainable way.

 

Along with the opportunity comes a challenge – 'people power' is another buzz word in the government's presentation of big society, and with power comes responsibility.   The more power we have to impact our society, the more responsibility we have to make sure that impact is for the good.

 

As a Christian, I believe that we are all made in the image of God, and we all have the capacity for great acts of courage, kindness and compassion.  But we also have free will and what the Christian faith calls a fallen nature (in other words, we made wrong choices and we've broken that perfect image of love).  So what lies before us is a great opportunity where we can truly 'pull together', for the good of our communities.  We'll need to lay aside our own desires sometimes to achieve that, and that is where the real challenges will lie.

 

I think a quotation from Charles Dickens, writing over 130 years ago, really sums up our own times of 'dangerous opportunity':

 

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way."  (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)

 

The hope we have in this time of 'dangerous opportunity' is that, together, we can truly forge the best of times out of difficult circumstances, drawing on the inheritance of Christian faith and good character that has built the best aspects of our nation over hundreds of years.