"Prosperity with a Purpose: Christians and the Ethics of Affluence" is a glossy 60 page booklet published by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. This is an important subject but I am disappointed by the way it has been treated. There are too many platitudes, too many restatements of arguments generally accepted by most people of good will and too few new or distinctive proposals for action. But my chief worry is that it betrays an outdated top-down "we church leaders know what's best for you" attitude. What communities and churches need is guidance and encouragement for Christian congregations and individual Christians to get involved in their local communities.
Examples of what arouse my suspicions about attitude are a discussion about subsidiarity and a polemic about marketing and consumerism.
My understanding of subsidiarity – akin to devolution - is that decisions should be taken at the lowest practicable level, if possible by those who are affected by the decisions. This seems to be accepted (on page 33 of the booklet). But on the next page subsidiarity seems to stop at national government level: "No function should be performed by the European Union that cannot equally well be performed by member governments." Does this not smack of little Englander Euroscepticism!
Now marketing and consumerism. The development of marketing as a discipline has led to a fundamental shift in the balance of power between producers and consumers. Formerly, businesses decided what, how, where, for whom and at what price they would produce. Those who organised production best made the biggest profits. Marketing, however, starts at the opposite end, asking who is the consumer and what does she want; then working out how her wants can be met. It's subsidiarity again (and marketing principles can be applied to social affairs and to life and worship in churches). But "Prosperity with a Purpose" seems not to like this, summing up all that it dislikes about modern society as consumerism: "Consumerism values only what can be consumed. Consumerism emphasises passivity, thus isolating individuals from their communities. Consumerism measures people by what they possess …" Lip service is given to freedom of choice, but only if those choices confirm what the elite think is best.
As I said I am disappointed. But the booklet "Prosperity with a Purpose" is to be accompanied by a volume of more substantial essays. When that becomes available, perhaps I will reconsider my verdict. I really hope so.