It’s not OK for Christians to have more than we need when 4 million children live in poverty

Rats in the kitchen, bathrooms shared with strangers, someone else’s leftover food that has gone mouldy – when the children’s commissioner compares child poverty in England to the Victorian era, she is not using hyperbole.  

Dickens wrote: “Many thousands are in want of common necessities.” That could just as easily be a comment on England in 2025, except the number is far too low – the latest official figure says 4.45m children live in poverty in the UK, and one million are destitute. 

How shocked were you by the report? If I’m honest, I wasn’t really shocked at all. In my role at Jubilee+, we are well aware of the deepening crisis that churches across the country are trying to meet in their local communities. I’m also not shocked because I’ve become used to the statistics, and the stories behind them. 

Destitution means struggling to afford the basics to stay warm, dry, clean and fed 

We’ve seen the impact of the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, and wages and benefits that don’t keep up with inflation. You don’t have to do many shifts at a foodbank to grasp the impact on our neighbourhoods of one crisis after another – with only short-term solutions that keep treating the symptoms instead of tackling the causes. Sometimes I feel like I could drown in the headlines that tell us life is getting harder for millions of people across the UK. 

But I want to be shocked. And I believe Jesus wants me to be shocked. As I’ve contemplated the report, I’ve felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit reminding me that every single child featured in it or represented by it bears the image of Almighty God and is fiercely loved by him. 

When enough is too much 

It reminds me of a question that I couldn’t get out of my head a few years ago: “Is it ever OK for me to have way more than I need, when there are people around me who don’t even have the essentials?” 

God’s response to that question isn’t a mystery. I could quote from anywhere in the Bible – the law of Moses, the history books, the major and minor prophets, the gospels, the letters – and find verses that demonstrate God’s deep concern for people in poverty and his anger at his own people when they don’t share that concern. 

If we look at the book of James, we find both the definition of true religion, where orphans and widows are given as an example of the most vulnerable people of the day, and a warning to the financially secure to not live in luxury and self-indulgence. We might quibble about what this means, but I’m pretty sure that if we measure ourselves against the children in the commissioner’s report, many of us would have to admit we’ve fallen into the materialistic culture of our age. 

For those of us living in relative comfort, perhaps we need a reminder that destitution means struggling to afford the basics to stay warm, dry, clean and fed. One million kids going without adequate food, heating, clothing, and shelter is difficult to imagine. When we start to talk in terms of thousands, let alone millions, we can quickly lose sight of the names and faces behind the statistics. 

But the report paints a bleak picture for those of us with ears to hear and eyes to see. The report, Growing up in a low income family: Children’s experiences, is damning indictment of one of the richest countries in the world, and should deeply trouble all of us, but especially Christians. 

Too common for comfort 

Severe hardship is not a rarity. It is common in our nation, in our day. Destitution and poverty are affecting children in our towns and cities right now, as you’re reading this article. This is happening on our watch. And the Bible is crystal clear that God is not only upset about it but is calling his people to do something. 

First, let’s determine that we won’t look away, or scroll onto the next news item, but will allow ourselves to see and hear the stories of children in poverty in our neighbourhoods. Let’s allow our hearts and minds to be affected. Let’s get upset, like God does. And if we’re not upset, let’s ask him, as the song says, to break our hearts for what breaks his. 

Is it ever OK for me to have more than I need, when others don’t even have the essentials? 

But then let’s move to action. In the Old Testament, God warns his people not to “harden your heart or shut your hand” (Deuteronomy 15:7). As followers of Jesus, we have a part to play in helping our communities flourish. We’re to seek the welfare of the places we live (Jeremiah 29:7), to honour God by how we treat people in need (Proverbs 14:31) and to rebuild ancient ruins, restoring streets where people live (Isaiah 58:12). 

Above all, Christians are anointed by the same Spirit that anointed Jesus “to proclaim good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18). Do we believe we have good news for the children affected by destitution and poverty in our country, today? I do, and I know that means I need to take this report seriously, not just in my head, not even just in my heart, but with my hands and feet.