We were privileged to have Ash Barker with us on the weekend, as part of our community outreach focus. Ash and his family live in a slum in Bangkok where they have been reaching out to people with the love of Christ for the last eight years.
Ash is the founder of UNOH - Urban Neighbours of Hope. He is also the author of a number of books, including Surrender All and Making Poverty Personal. Click here and scroll down the page to see the full range of UNOH publications.
Ash is currently doing a PhD on "What is a Christian response to the rise of urban slum and squatter neighbourhoods?" Last year, for the first time in history, saw over 50% of the world's population now living in cities. Increasing urbanisation is leading to the increase of 'urban slums', with 1 billion people now living in this type of environment. Within 20 years, it could be 3 billion. This presents a great challenge to the Christian Church as we seek to love our neighbour and share the goods news of Jesus with our global village.
May each of us be stirred afresh with the love of Christ to engage more effectively with the people in our world, wherever he has placed us. As someone once said, "Maybe more Christians need to quit watching Neighbours and start being neighbours!"
