Today, Saturday 12 April 2025 Sir Keir Starmer has recalled parliament for an emergency sitting with the goal of passing an emergency law to take control of the steel plant. The Steel plant upon which the town rises and falls, employing over 2500 people, in a town where 80 thousand people live. The plant directly impacts almost everyone who lives there, and the population waits and worries while our leaders decide what can be done. In some ways Scunthorpe is symptomatic of the ‘past-its-best’ narrative that most Lincolnshire market towns suffer from. Town centres with more empty shops than full ones, and the ones that are there seem to be increasingly barber shops and betting shops. Teenagers who either are full of ambition to go to university and move out of the county, or who seem to have cripplingly little ambition at all. And dare I say it, a church containing folks who are weary of decline and seem to have little hope of the tide turning.
Once great Lincolnshire, full of towns like Grantham who gave the world Isaac Newton, Boston that released the Pilgrim Fathers westwards in the pursuit of the birth of America, and yes, Scunthorpe which has been one of the beating hearts of British industry, which feels a bit like it might be about the be one of the last candles snuffed out as the county falls into greater darkness. Is there a future for the forgotten fens? And what voice can the church have into a period of global instability and local apathy?
A few things must be remembered:
- The Situation is actually far worse than we’re prone to think.
God’s word tells us that the state of humanity isn’t that we were once great and have now fallen on hard times. The Bible teaches that humanity has always been affected and infection with Sin, a far more dangerous condition than a lack of economic stability, a curse than renders us totally unable to save ourselves from anything, and cut off from God’s love.
- The Hope is far greater than we imagine
But sin doesn’t get the final word in the story of Scripture. The great hope of the gospel is that God himself came to the world to save us, to free us from the curse, and gift us eternal life, and abundant life. Whatever our circumstances the wonderful news is that God hasn’t forgotten us and won’t leave us. He is with us. He loves us and if we trust in him our best days are ahead of us.
- God is Sovereign
All the ultimate power in the universe rests with God. He rules everything everywhere always. He ruled yesterday, he rules today, he’ll rule forever. The White House, the Kremlin and the Houses of Parliament are not in charge of this world, or our lives, the Lord is – and he is a wonderfully good and kind leader, who doesn’t fly off the handle, or make emotional reckless decisions. He only makes good decisions, for the good of those who love him.
- The Church has Hope to share
In the context of global instability and local hopelessness, it is time for the Church to wake up. To stop talking about the good old days and step out in faith in the present day. If we define the role of the prophet as one who tells God’s story and speaks God’s word to the society we live in, then its time for the church to rediscover he prophetic voice, by reopening the scriptures and bellowing out the gospel. The gospel that says God doesn’t give up on broken people, that he doesn’t ignore darkness, that he incarnationally steps into the middle of the chaos and pain and despair and has a made a way in his Son to deliver us out of the this world, into a far better more glorious hope. As national statistics speak of a rekindling of faith, the church in Lincolnshire, and the other forgotten places needs to join in. To speak hope, joy, and spiritual optimism about the future into the towns and villages that feel forgotten and stale. Let’s get to it!
