Movement Magazine: Issue 161

BEING, NOT DOING
When you’re invited to work in any new community, it
can be tempting to rush in from a position of power and
expertise and try and make your mark. But that’s rarely a
sensible approach, especially in peacemaking when there
are often deep levels of mistrust within the community. So
before launching any activity in Brixton and formally doing
anything, I spent a year just being there, listening and
learning. I talked to groups of young people hanging out
on street corners, wandered into youth clubs, volunteered
at an after-school homework group, and got to know local
social workers, police and entrepreneurs. And that’s our
usual approach at CHIPS, inspired by the example of Jesus
who spent 30 years living and listening and being before
getting involved in public ministry.
LIVE LIKE A LOCAL
After a little while, I found a flat on one of the estates for
myself and our volunteers to live in. Shortly afterwards, my
wife and two-year-old son joined me and we made our home
in the area at the heart of one of the estates most affected
by the conflict. We joined a local church and a community
choir, we attend a local parent and toddler group, and we
intentionally use local shops and pubs (even when the beer
choices are rubbish!) Now we feel like – and are seen as –
neighbours, which has been invaluable for building trust and
gaining a holistic view of the community.
SEARCH OUT THE UNSUNG HEROES
We usually work through partnerships, and we often have
a choice of working with outside ‘professionals’ or local
young people and residents who might not have the same
“expertise”. This second option usually takes quite a bit more
work and is much slower, but we’ve learnt that the added
value far outweighs the effort. This approach empowers
local people to reach their full potential and raises up voices
which otherwise may not be heard.
For example, two amazing local mums are now among our
most valuable partners. They’re people who give time and
energy to help a large number of vulnerable local young
men and women, and have become a support and sounding
board to them when nobody else is listening. We thank God
for people like them and we greatly value the mutual support
that we’ve found as we work together for peace in Brixton.
MOVEMENT Issue 161
SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE
At first, we struggled to attract attendees for our (now very
popular) community meal on the estate. So we started to
eat outside, in the car park, with a ‘freecycled’ table, an
old broken bench and a few chairs from the flat. We looked
ridiculous, but it got us noticed and opened up a whole
range of possibilities. From there we built some fantastic
relationships – such as one young mum who subsequently
came with her kids to eat and play games with us every
week for two years throughout a hard time in her life.
TAKE BOTH SIDES
In Brixton, young people’s loyalties are often sharply divided
between different estates and postcodes, and they also
often feel like they’re in conflict with the police and other
authorities too. When a local mum we work closely with
learnt that a number of young people felt unsafe going to
youth offending appointments because of fear of attack
outside their own ‘patch’, she suggested we might be able
to help. Because we had built good links with both the
council and local young people, youth offending workers
have now agreed to hold meetings in the safe space of our
office.
BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS
Peacemaking is the practical work of building the Kingdom of
God here on earth. In every place, every situation, and every
relationship, we can reflect on the life of Jesus the ultimate
peacemaker to learn how to be peacemakers ourselves. The
stories and things we’ve learnt come from the dual act of
reading the bible and learning from our community, and that
is a practice I’d encourage all of us to undertake in whatever
situation we end up in. Violence is pervasive in our homes
and communities, in the systems and structures of our
society, and in so many parts of our world – so we all have a
role to play in being the peacemakers our world so urgently
needs. As you step into this role, I want to encourage you
with Jesus’ words: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they
shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9).
Paul Maxwell-Rose
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