Steve Chalke

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Steve Chalke MBE
Born Steve Chalke
17 November 1955 (1955-11-17) (age 54)
Croydon, Surrey
Education Spurgeon's Theological College
Occupation Charity Founder
Height 6' (183 cm)
Religious beliefs Baptist
Spouse(s) Cornella (1980—)
Website
http://www.oasisuk.org

Steve Chalke (MBE, UN.GIFT Special Advisor on Community Action against Human Trafficking) is a prominent, and often outspoken, Christian leader and social activist based in the UK, and an ordained Baptist minister. He is best known as the founder of Oasis Trust, Faithworks, Stop the Traffik and Church.co.uk. He is the author of numerous books and articles as well as a regular presenter and contributor on television and radio programmes. In 2004 he was awarded an MBE for his services to social inclusion by the Queen.[1]

Contents

[edit] Introduction

Steve Chalke was born in South London in 1955. As a teenager he became a Christian and decided to spend his life working to end poverty and specifically to set up housing, healthcare and educational projects to that end. After graduating from Spurgeon's College in 1981 he spent four years as assistant minister at Tonbridge Baptist Church, in Kent, before setting up Oasis Trust[2] in 1985. Over the last 24 years Oasis has developed into a family of charities now working on five continents and 11 countries around the world, to deliver housing, education, training, youthwork and healthcare. Oasis is now a significant voluntary sector provider, delivering services for local authorities and national governments, as well as self funded initiatives aimed at providing opportunity to people across the globe. Steve is also the founder of Church.co.uk, a growing network of Christian communities around the country who share the same values as the initial church.co.uk[3] which was established in Waterloo, London. He is the author of more than 40 books and a regular presenter and contributor on television and radio programmes.

[edit] Educationalist

From its early days Oasis has been involved in the provision of education not only in the UK but also in South America, Asia and Africa. As a development of this, in 2004 Chalke set up Oasis Community Learning[4] as part of the Oasis Group of charities, in order to deliver secondary education through the government’s Academies programme. Three Oasis Academies, in Enfield Lock, Grimsby and Immingham, opened in September 2007, with six more in Southampton (x2), Bristol (x2), Salford and Coulsdon (Croydon) in September 2008. September 2009 saw the opening of Oasis first All-through (3-19) school, to be known as Oasis Academy Shirley Park, in Croydon as well as a second academy in Enfield. Other projects are planned for future years.

According to Oasis, the goal of their academies is to serve its students as well as to provide a centre of life-long learning for the entire community, including adult learning courses, community workers, fitness suites, healthy living programmes, sports courts and out-of-hours youth activities.

[edit] Church Leader

Steve was ordained as a Baptist Minister in 1981, having studied at Spurgeon's Theological College in London, and was a local minister of Tonbridge Baptist Church in Kent for four years before setting up the Oasis Trust. More recently Steve founded Church.co.uk,[5] a developing network of community churches around the UK which began with the formation of Church.co.uk in Waterloo, central London in 2003 and now includes Church.co.uk Salford, Enfield and Bristol.

[edit] Writer and Broadcaster

Chalke is the author of more than 40 books. He also writes monthly columns for Prima Baby on fatherhood and for Christianity magazine on Church leadership. His latest book "Apprentice" [6] – Walking the Way of Christ was published by Zondervan in April 2009. Steve has hosted his own television series' for ITV and BBC as well as presenting a regular show on BBC Radio 4. He is a regular commentator and contributor to television and radio programmes.

[edit] Guinness World Record Holder

In 2005 Steve became the official holder of the Guinness World Record for the largest amount of sponsorship money ever raised by an individual through a single event. He broke this record by raising £1.25 million for Oasis' work with schools in disadvantaged communities, through running the London Marathon. His record was beaten at the following year's marathon by Sir Steve Redgrave, who officially raised over £1.785 million. However in April 2007 Chalke recaptured his title, as well as becoming the fastest money-generating sports person in history, by raising over £1.855 million in 3 hours 58 minutes 40 seconds.

[edit] Campaigner

[edit] Faithworks

In 2001 Chalke founded Faithworks[7] a movement for Christian social action. Faithworks resources and supports churches of all denominations across the UK as they engage with their local communities. He has become a spokesman for the church in the ongoing national debate about the provision of public services by faith-based groups.

[edit] Stop The Traffik

Chalke is the Chair of Stop the Traffik,[8] a global coalition of over 2000 charities in 60 countries that is working to stop the buying and selling of people. Since early 2007 he has been criticised by many producers within the chocolate industry for his stance on their policy of harvesting cocoa from farms in West African countries where, they claim, it is impossible to guarantee that no 'chocolate slaves' or bonded child workers are forced to serve.

However, over the last year a number of significant victories have been won by Stop the Traffik in this area. In July 2008, under pressure from Stop The Traffik Netherlands, Royal Verkade, a Dutch household name announced that they would be using 100% Fair Trade cocoa and sugar in their products from autumn 2008 onwards. In February 2009 Swiss Noir, a Dutch upmarket chocolate manufacturer, announced that they will be switching to Fair Trade cocoa beans on their chocolate bars from March 2009. In the UK, on 4 March 2009, Cadbury announced that Cadbury's Dairy Milk - their best known product, is to receive Fairtrade certification by late summer 2009.[9] In April 9 Stop The Traffik were delighted to announce that only one month into their 'March on Mars' campaign, Mars had already committed to 'certifying its entire cocoa supply by 2020' and that as a first step, one of Mars' leading brands, Galaxy, in the UK and Ireland, will be certified 'from early 2010, through the Rainforest Alliance as, 'free from trafficked and exploited labour'.

Chalke said that "We congratulate Mars on taking this significant step towards rectifying the travesty of human rights that is people trafficking within the chocolate industry." But, he added, "together the consumers of world must now hold Mars and the other manufacturers account to ensure that they deliver on their promises in the agreed time scale or even sooner." Chalke's challenge relates to a similar promise made by Mars and others within the chocolate industry eight years ago to end forced child labour by summer 2005. Stop The Traffik and other grass root activists are, this time determined that life will change for the better for cocoa farmers and the children of West Africa.

Chalke added “Attention now turns to Nestlé to see if they have any response to their competitors pledging to end child exploitation in their supply chain.”[10] Steve was appointed Special Advisor on Community Action to the UN GIFT, following STOP THE TRAFFIK’S delivery of 1.5 million signatures in support of a global declaration against human trafficking at a UN conference in Vienna in February 2008. March 2009 saw the publication of “STOP THE TRAFFIK" [11] – "People should not be Bought and Sold" which Chalke co-authored with Cherie Blair and looks at the worldwide issue of people trafficking and our response to it

[edit] Controversialist

[edit] The Lost Message Of Jesus

In 2003 Chalke co-authored, "The Lost Message of Jesus",[12] with Alan Mann. (Zondervan). This book provoked considerable controversy within evangelical Christian circles. The debate rose mostly because of Steve Chalke's rejection of a conventional evangelical theological understanding of the atonement, known as penal substitution. Chalke's views were a departure from this doctrinal position and drew much criticism as well as support, with numerous articles, blogs and books being written on both sides of the debate – this, in spite of the fact that. Indeed, Chalke’s position was also held by a number of other leading evangelicals. Jonathan Stephen, the director of Affinity, spoke out against Chalke in an address at the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches conference in 2005.[13] And the American theologian John Piper claimed Chalke's words on the cross were blasphemous.[14] Subsequently in North America, conservative spokesmen like J.I. Packer see Chalke's reference to the "cosmic child-abuser"[15] as a "supremely silly ... smartypants notion"[16] while others have seen his comments as a relevant critique of punitive visions of God.[17] A record of this symposium, includes a chapter by Chalke an his views are contained in "the atonement debate".[18] The continuing controversy led to the Evangelical Alliance organising a symposium in July 2005 to discuss the issue.[19][20] A group of three conservative evangelical theologians responded to Chalke with their book, Pierced for our Transgressions (Crossway Publishing, 2007), which strongly criticised Chalke's position as inconsistent with some evangelical confessions of faith.[21][22] However, the current bishop of Durham and prominent theologian, N. T. Wright, endorsed Chalke as a leading evangelical and spoke out against the latter book, commenting, for instance, that ‘despite the ringing endorsements of famous men, it [Pierced For Our Transgressions] is deeply, profoundly, and disturbingly unbiblical.’[23] Several figures connected to the Christian conference Word Alive have stated that disagreements over Chalke's view of the atonement was part of the reason Spring Harvest and Word Alive went their separate ways, although they have disagreed on how large a factor it was, and the split was declared amicable by both parties at the 2007 event.[24] The book has highlighted the continuing divide in evangelical Christianity and caused an increased polarisation between the two camps. It can also be seen as part of three ongoing debates: firstly, the question of exactly what does it mean to be evangelical, which traces its roots back to the 1950s (see Neo-evangelicalism), secondly, a more recent exploration as to the place of post-modern thinking within this branch of the church, and finally, the meaning of the cross itself as it relates to human salvation (cf. Stricken by God? Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ, ed. by B. Jersak and M. Hardin - Eerdmans, 2007).

[edit] The Role of Faith in the public Square

Chalke is a prominent social activist and leading advocate of the role of Christian Faith in public life and the delivery of public services including education, health care, youth services, etc. he has drawn strong criticism from leading atheists and secularists such as Poly Toynbe and Keith Porteous Wood, the director of the National Secular Society. Chalke claims that though Christian Faith is personal it is never private, and has written extensively about Public Theology (see "Intelligent Church"[25] Zondervan 2006) Chalke contends that there are two elements to healthy democracy - representative and participatory. He and others have suggested that democracy used to be focused around participation as much as representation (volunteering as much as voting), two ideas which together created a balance. As Paul Grinsborg, professor of contemporary European history at the University of Florence writes ‘in our modern society, the democratic process has become far more passive and is now dominated by the idea of representation, where an elected representative (a local councillor, MP, etc.) is held responsible for delivering the needs of those who voted, or who didn’t vote, for them. Our task is to invent new forms and practices that combine representative with participative democracy. The two must flourish together for neither can do so alone. And the crucial point regarding the relationship between the two is that the activity of the second guarantees the quality of the first.’ Chalke believes that ‘we have to look beyond what we now call politics to find leaders to address these underlying issues. The struggle to reshape the meaning of politics is one we must engage in. The church has a mayor role and responsibility in this process.’

Through The Oasis Centre, 75 Westminster Bridge Road in central London. Chalke is in the process of developing a Charities Parliament,[26] in order to establish a stronger voice for third sector organizations in public life. Chalke is recorded stating; “We’ve been working hard for some time to create, what we believe will become, a significant base for a wide group of charities right at the heart of one of the world’s mega-cities. We want to provide a fertile environment where the energy generated by the organisations sharing the facilities helps everyone get further, faster, as we engage with each other and government.”

Based on the principles of participative democracy, the Charities Parliament is based on a commitment to the following five values: • We believe that the democratic process should be focused around participation as much as representation and that only the level of the first ensures the quality of the second. • We believe that every local church has a vital role to play in public life, civil society and the maintenance of a healthy democracy. • We believe that a key task of government in a healthy society is to provide investment, support and infrastructure for the Voluntary Sector, including the church and other faith groups, as it works to build social cohesion and active communities. • We believe that the development of a sense of mutual accountability between churches, Christian agencies and faith groups working in the delivery of public services and Government is an essential ingredient of a healthy society. • We believe that the voice of local churches and other faith groups is strongest when they work in collaboration. The Charities Parliament has already received warm support from Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP who said "I welcome Oasis’ proposal for a major centre close to Parliament, and I look forward to its activities helping to shape the public debate in the years ahead."

The Bishop of Liverpool Right Rev'd James Jones said "This new initiative is based on the well established principles of Christ-centred vision, rigorous thinking, a depth of community engagement and a clear articulation of a biblical worldview, which are the foundations on which Oasis' work has been built."[27]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] References

  1. ^ New Years Honours List 2004
  2. ^ Oasisuk.org
  3. ^ Oasischurch.info
  4. ^ Oasiscommunitylearning.org
  5. ^ Oasischurch.info
  6. ^ Chalke, Steve. Apprentice. 
  7. ^ Faitworks.info
  8. ^ Stopthetraffik.org
  9. ^ Stopthetraffik.org
  10. ^ Stopthegraffik.org
  11. ^ Chalke, Steve. STOP THE TRAFFIK. 
  12. ^ Chalke, Steve. The Lost Message of Jesus. 
  13. ^ Stephen, Jonathan (2005-06). "The Current Crisis In Evangelicalism". Evangelicals Now. http://www.e-n.org.uk/p-3026-The-current-crisis-in-evangelicalism.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-26. 
  14. ^ Warnock, Adrian (2004-11-21). "Steve Chalke and the Lost Message of Jesus". http://adrianwarnock.com/2004/11/steve-chalke-and-lost-message-of-jesus.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-17. 
  15. ^ Chalke, Steve. The Lost Message of Jesus. p. 182. 
  16. ^ Packer, J. I. (2007-07-03). "Penal Substitution Revisited". Reformation 21. http://www.reformation21.org/Reformation_21_Blog/Reformation_21_Blog/58/vobId__6193/. Retrieved 2007-10-13. 
  17. ^ Jersak, Brad. ""Methinks He Budged: An Evening with J.I. Packer"". Clarion Journal of Spirituality and Justice. http://clarionjournal.typepad.com/clarion_journal_of_spirit/2007/09/methinks-he-bud.html#more. Retrieved 2007-10-13. 
  18. ^ Derek Tidball, David Hilborn,, Justin Thacker. the atonement debate. p. 34 to 45. 
  19. ^ "Joint Evangelical Alliance - London School Of Theology Atonement Symposium". Evangelical Alliance. 2005-07-08. http://www.eauk.org/media/joint-evangelical-alliance-london-school.cfm. Retrieved 2007-08-26. 
  20. ^ Stephen, Jonathan (2005-02). "Chalkegate". Evangelical Times. http://www.evangelical-times.org/Website_Pages/ArticleDetail.php?articleID=950. Retrieved 2007-08-27. 
  21. ^ Jeffery, Steve; Mike Ovey, Andrew Sach. Pierced for our Transgressions - Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution. Inter-Varsity Press. ISBN 1844741788. 
  22. ^ "Pierced for our Transgressions - Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution". http://www.piercedforourtransgressions.com. Retrieved 2007-08-26. 
  23. ^ Wright, NT (2007-04). "The Cross and the Caricatures - a response to Robert Jenson, Jeffrey John, and a new volume entitled Pierced for Our Transgressions". Fulcrum. http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/news/2007/20070423wright.cfm?doc=205. Retrieved 2007-08-26. 
  24. ^ Ashworth, Pat (2007-04-27). "Atonement row gets personal as Evangelical partnership splits". Church Times. http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=38093. Retrieved 2007-07-17. 
  25. ^ Chalke, Steve. Intelligent Church. 
  26. ^ Faitworks.info
  27. ^ Faitworks.info

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Chalke"