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Last month Rhondda Ministry Area hosted a Cost of Living Conference in partnership with Rhondda based charity People & Work. Like many Christians, Rhondda Ministry Area fee called to respond to the cost of living crisis. Here, Fr Philip Leyshon, Ministry Area Leader, tells us more about the biblical imperative to help those who need us the most.

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At that time prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine over all the world; and this took place during the reign of Claudius. The disciples determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the believers living in Judea; this they did, sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.’Acts 11 v 27-30.An in-tray is an important touch stone for working life in any organisation or community. In today’s world the physical tray has been replaced by the email inbox. with emails marked as High Priority for todays world that speaks with a red exclamation mark.Listening to the news yesterday correspondents were constantly using the term in-tray to identify the clear needs that the new UK Prime Minister will need to address as urgent and a priority. Amongst many contending issues to be dealt with (none of which are easy so to do) is that of the cost of living crisis. For many people, of course, the crisis began long before now and it is a case of deepening for them not beginning. The rise in demand for food banks and food share schemes to those struggling has been pronounced. In the period between October 2021 and the end of March the Trussell Trust network distributed 1,208,674 emergency food parcels. More than for the entire period of 2016/17 for the trust when 1,2021, 286 parcels were distributed.As individuals and families we also know that the impact will confront everyone within our society. People on restricted income (such as pensions) or whose work income is being tested, and will go onto be further tested by the soaring costs of energy and food. As congregations we will see the cost of heating our churches rise, with many of our churches very large buildings which already claim a great deal from our budgets.For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 1 Corinthians 12 v 12.As Christians we are confronted by the reality of the world around us and we seek to confront that reality with what moves us in faith to be who have been called to be in Christ Jesus. It is in this way that we deal with the Crisis in the Cost of Living by addressing each of those words as the Body of Christ, the Church. I believe the two New Testament references at the above help us Biblically to meet the crisis ahead of us and to do so with strength, hope and courage.CrisisThe Christians of Judea were going to find themselves in a crisis situation. Famine would bring devastation. Hunger, and poverty would spring up from famine just as it does for so many parts of our world today. Food prices would rise and need become more than apparent. The reading from Acts 11 tells us, that the Christian community saw the need and moved toward meeting it in Judea. Not standing at a distance and offering prayer alone but practical help. For as Paul so clearly identified in 1 Corinthians 12 v 12 as the body of Christ we are one in that body with Christ and each other.CostThe Christian community outside of Jerusalem would not be untouched by the famine to come. All ‘the world’ would be affected by the crisis and it would cost them as well. But the cost that they were prepared to pay was a sacrificial cost - reflecting the reality of that sacrificial reality that was in Jesus himself. To the Christian sacrificially giving is often hard and costs us in so many ways but it is the reality of faith that we live our lives in Christ in. Again, as Paul’s image of the body of Christ speaks to, each part of the body has its weight to share, its responsibilities to fulfil for the good of whole.LivingThe promise of Jesus to each one of us is encapsulated in the words of John 10 v 10, ‘I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.’ That is a life in the full meaning of the word. An experience that is in reality love, and hope, peace and justice, light and warmth. A life that leads into its eternal nature in Jesus that is eternal but experienced both then and now. The calling of the Christian life is to acknowledge the truth of John 10 v 10 and allow that truth to become manifest to those who wish to ‘live’ in their lives not ‘exist’ alone. That is why as Christians we have a biblical imperative to help people to live. Let us support food banks. Let us give the assistance we can at church level and in those organisations that we belong to outside of our church family. Let us work across the board with all who seek the dignity of human life and move themselves to uphold as God so wishes. Let us recognise that every human being is made in the image of the living God. Often, tragically, the Church down through the centuries has often failed to see clearly this reality, despite Jesus clear admonition to do so constantly (Matthew 25 vs 31-45).In recognising the cost of living crisis we move forward together in confidence and hope. In so many ways our Ministry Area is already giving the support we are called to provide, the Cost of Living conference organised by People & Work in St. Peter’s Church, food bank collection points and the distribution point of the Rhondda Food Share Scheme at St. Matthew’s. Yet, there is more we can look to do and we will continue to work alongside fellow Christians and all who seek to uphold the dignity of human life. As has been noted it maybe hard, perhaps very hard, but with the pattern of Christ ahead of us and the unity of the body of Christ uniting us we move forward in confidence and solidarity.

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Watch: Rhondda Cost of Living Conference

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