What does it mean to seek the welfare of our city?
Bishop Pete Wilcox
‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare’.
Jeremiah 29.7
This is a Bible text which is precious to many of us who are involved in Arise! and in Together for Sheffield. It’s the subject of a fantastic mural created at St Thomas’ Church, Philadelphia recently: if you haven’t seen it yet, you must look it out!
But what does it mean for the people of God to seek the welfare of the city? In my opinion, two things.
First, it means real engagement with its civic and political leadership, because those are the institutions which, under God, have primary executive responsibility for the welfare of our city.
So I wonder, for example, if you know the name of the new Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council? (It’s Kate Josephs).
Do you know which political party currently has the balance of power in our City Council? (It’s the Green Party).
Or, who is the elected Mayor of Sheffield City Region? (That’s the Barnsley MP Dan Jarvis) And what is the three word strapline for his work? It’s ‘stronger, fairer, greener’.
To seek the welfare of the city, means knowing this stuff, because only then can the church contribute reactively and proactively, as pastors and prophets.
Secondly, it means being reactive, because the church of God is pastoral and we know the needy at first hand, or we should. We know the neediest individuals in our communities by name (or we should) because we are right there in the schools and community associations and community development projects across the city.
Our grass roots involvement in neighbourhoods gives us a privileged place to see the need, so that we can be quick to address the need. This is why the vast majority of the food banks which have sprung up across the city in the last four years, are run by churches. We react well.
But the church of God is not just pastoral – it’s also prophetic.
I mean by that, we are people of vision. We have a vision of human dignity, and a vision of human destiny: of human dignity, because we regard every person as made in the image of God, created to enjoy life in all its fullness; of human destiny, because we regard this world as the factory of God’s coming kingdom.
That ‘double vision’ gives us a glimpse both of what every human being was created to be – what every human society was created to be – and the hope to fuel our work. It gets us on the front foot, ready to propose policy to local government that we think will promote the welfare of the city.
Seeking the welfare of the city requires the church of Jesus Christ to be first engaged and second, both reactive and proactive, pastoral and prophetic.
