Holy Nativity Church, Mixenden held an inspiring day of conversations exploring how low income, low wealth communities can empower themselves in a world that focusses on what people lack, rather than the abundance to be found in every community, regardless of their financial resources.
The 'Justice and the Economy' conference featured the Revd Mike Mather, from the USA and author of ‘Having Nothing, Possessing Everything.’
He shared his wealth of experience working in economically marginalized neighbourhoods, telling stories of the transformation he saw when the church started focusing on recognizing the gifts, talents, and assets already present within people rather than seeing poorer communities through the lens of scarcity, where the emphasis is on what they lack.
Mike explained that “at the food pantry, we had a form that asked ‘what is your income and expenditure’? to which the reply was usually, "My income is $600 a month and my outgoings are $1200 a month’; what use is that information? There’s nothing you can do with that but despair. So we started asking ‘what are you good at” He went on to say that “what I learned from those with whom I worked in South Bend Indianapolis was how to see the abundance—I learned to see the love and power that was overflowing in even the most economically challenged neighbourhoods.”
“With that information we were able to work with and challenge those in power to stop asking ‘what do the poor need’ and start asking ‘in what ways are the poor needed?"
Alongside Mike, the full day programme included a range of speakers including Professor Chris Baker of Goldsmiths University London, chair of the William Temple Foundation. Professor Baker kicked off the day presenting a theological framework for 
the churches engagement in social policy. Attendees were reminded to be confident in public discourse, reflecting on Archbishop William Temple’s belief that the church has a right and duty to interfere in social and political issues. Shared conversations happened throughout the day with input from community organising groups Citizens UK and the Just Money Movement.
The Revd Robb Sutherland said of the day: “So often these conversations gather the great and the good far from the communities we are talking about. This weekend we started conversations about the sustainable change that happens when people recognize their own strengths and contributions, and we did it right here on the social housing estate, with the people who understand the impact of economic injustice most because they live it every day”.
"As Mike says, "If we begin looking for people's gifts rather than people's needs, then even better things than we thought possible might materialize."
"Perhaps our favourite quote of the day was from one of the many Holy Nativity parishioners who attended “This is really radical, I like radical.”
Over the next few weeks recordings of some of the talks will be being made available via Holy Nativity’s website here.