Reaching the UnreachedAn annual conference for churches trying to reach out in the hard places of our land

More quotes from Roy Joslin’s Urban Harvest to mark the thirtieth anniversary of its publication …

A striking feature of Urban Harvest is Joslin’s emphasis on the doctrine of creation and the importance of general revelation as a prelude to gospel proclamation.

Tower block estates are not really concrete jungles; they are grey deserts. The homes of the people have no character or individuality about them. They are like a mound of boxes piled high in the sky. Slabs of dull grey concrete reach high and heavenwards. Down at ground level people scuttle to and fro as though surrounded by some ‘technological Stonehenge’. But the visible symbols of the ‘concrete age’ kindle no spark within the soul. They crowd the skyline and hem us in. They restrict our ration of God’s blue sky. (39)

Regrettably, the resident in the big city is still more aware of what man has manufactured than of what God has created. Urban dwellers on post-war high-rise estates are, so it seems, surrounded by monotonous mountains of greyness. This matter exposes a major factor of spiritual deprivation as well. The scriptures teach that before a person acquainted with the truth revealed in God’s Word he has to rely on God’s general revelation in creation for his inner awareness of the Maker to whom he is accountable. (144-145)

We tend to associate the presence and power of God with the glory of the heavens and the beauty of the countryside. But God’s highest creation is more in evidence in the bustling din of a city rush-hour than in the relaxing peace of a rural landscape. ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created him’ (Gen. 1:27). This is the summit of God’s creative achievements. This is God’s marvel of miniaturization. (225)

Urban Harvest is available here from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. In October IVP are publishing my latest book, Unreached: Growing Churches in Working-Class and Deprived Areas, was written with the Reaching the Unreached network.

This article was originally published on Tim Chester’s blog.

More quotes from Roy Joslin’s Urban Harvest to mark the thirtieth anniversary of its publication …

In the early industrial period evangelical Nonconformity was characterized by three particular features: the priority of aggressive evangelism, the importance of itinerant and open-air preaching and the heavy reliance on laymen in the overall evangelistic strategy. In time, however, the early enthusiasm noticeably cooled as the process of social mitigation continued. (26)

A term which has come into the vocabulary of the ‘science of missions’ is the word ‘lift’. It is associated with the phenomenon of upward social mobility, but the term itself describes the social and cultural estrangement of the members of a religious group from the social environment in which they were recruited. ‘Lift’ appeared to trigger a number of unwelcome trends in the realm of evangelism. Aggressive outreach steadily waned. This was replaced by ‘a concentration of evangelistic activity among people already on the peripheries of organized religion’. Lay involvement in gospel witness declined. What had been the general responsibility of all believers gradually became the particular speciality of the minister. The chief area of evangelistic effort changed progressively from adults to children. (25-26)

Urban Harvest is available here from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. In October IVP are publishing my latest book, Unreached: Growing Churches in Working-Class and Deprived Areas, was written with the Reaching the Unreached network.

This article was originally published on Tim Chester’s blog.

Here are the first quotes from Roy Joslin’s Urban Harvest to mark the thirtieth anniversary of its publication. The focus of these quotes is the importance of social class in thinking about mission.

The saving word of the gospel does not come to man in some kind of spiritual vacuum. It confronts him in his own particular circumstances and at a particular point in his earthly pilgrimage. The setting in which the gospel is addressed to a person’s need is something we must examine. The Apostle Paul’s adherence to this scriptural principle is something he spells out clearly (1 Corinthians 9: 19-23). To disregard this requirement because it is ‘not part of the gospel itself’ is to fly in the face of Scripture. (11)

D.M. Lloyd-Jones said ‘The impression has gained currency that to be a Christian, and more especially an evangelical, means that we are traditionalists, and advocates of the Status Quo. I believe that this largely accounts for our failure in this country to make contact with the so-called working classes. Christianity in this country has become a middle class movement; and I suggest that this is so because of this very thing’. (2)

Neither the Christian church nor the working classes start from a position of neutrality. The church is already identified with that social group that possesses ‘power, privilege and prestige’: the working classes are the major social group to whom generally, these things are denied. It is important for us to grasp just how firmly the contrast is there. (286)

Urban Harvest is available here from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. In October IVP are publishing my latest book, Unreached: Growing Churches in Working-Class and Deprived Areas, was written with the Reaching the Unreached network.

This article was originally published on Tim Chester’s blog.

2012 year marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of Urban Harvest, Roy Joslin’s call for evangelical involvement in our largely unreached working-class communities. I was a teenager when it first came out, but I well remember the stir it caused in Reformed circles in the UK. It was perhaps the most significant book on the subject since William Booth’s In Darkest England in 1890.

Roy Joslin was a pastor in Walworth in London so wrote from his own experience. (He also went to Bible college with my father.)

Sadly, even as he was writing Urban Harvest, he was beginning what would be 33-year struggle with Parkinson’s Disease.

Britain has changed radically in the intervening years and Joslin’s analysis of social class feels dated. But there is still much of great value in the book so over the coming weeks I’m going to post some quotes from the book.

In October IVP are publishing my latest book, Unreached: Growing Churches in Working-Class and Deprived Areas. It comes out of a working group conveyed by the Reaching the Unreached network. We hope it will encourage people to get involved in reaching our estates and cities as well as giving people a sense of how they can go about this work. It might not prove to be the last word on the subject, but it will fill the 30-year silence since Urban Harvest.

Urban Harvest is available here from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk.

The story of Roy Joslin’s struggle with Parkinson’s Disease is told by his wife, Valerie, in Rediscovering Roy which is available here from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk.

This article was originally published on Tim Chester’s blog.