Robert Raikes (1736-1811)
was a well-to-do Englishman who inherited a newspaper from his father, the Gloucester Journal. Because he was a committed Christian, Raikes wanted to use his resources to do good. One day in
1780, Raikes’ newspaper business took him to an impoverished suburb of
Gloucester. He was shocked to see so many children “wretchedly ragged, at play
in the street.” The squalor and poverty was below “third-world” standards.
Raikes asked a local woman
about the children. “Ah, pay no mind to them,” she answered. “Everyone calls
them the white slaves of England.” “Slaves?” asked Robert. “They work 12 hours
a day or longer in the mills and sweatshops,” the woman answered. “Most of
their parents are in prison or dead.” Robert cringed. He knew that if his
father had died when he was little, he could have been one of these poor
children. “When do they go to school?” he asked. “School? They don't go to
school. They have to work to live,” she answered, “and Sundays are the worst.
It's their only day off and they run around like wild animals!”
Raikes was burdened because
nothing was being done to help these children, without someone taking up their plight
they would fall through the cracks. So he set out to make a difference.
He began by hiring some
women to set up schools for them on Sunday. Using the Bible as their textbook,
the teachers taught the poorest children of London to read and introduced them
to the wisdom of the Bible. Soon about 100 children were attending these
classes and enjoying lunch in a safe, clean environment. These “Sunday
schools,” as they were soon called, touched the lives of thousands of boys and
girls.
Even though the children
were taught only one day a week, their behavior began to improve. Now they had
something to look forward to after working so hard every day. The policemen of
the city told Robert that the children weren't stealing and fighting like
before.
Robert waited three years
to see if his Sunday schools were a success. Then he printed a story about the
new Sunday schools. Soon, about 4,000 new Sunday schools were started in towns
all over England. By 1831, Sunday schools in Great Britain reached more than a
million children.
Robert even used his
printing press to publish reading books, spelling books, Bible study books, and
copies of the Scriptures for the Sunday schools. Economist and historian, Adam
Smith, author of the classic Wealth of
Nations, declared that no plan so promising for improving morals had been
devised since the days of the apostles.
The vision that God gave
Robert Raikes for the poor was born out shock and action—shock because of the
depths of his city’s impoverished kids and action to do something about it.
The heart of Jesus was for
the poor. “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick” (Matt. 14:14). In
Matthew 25, Jesus suggests that His followers show a readiness for the His
return by helping the hungry to get food, helping the thirsty to get a drink,
helping the homeless to find a home, helping the naked to get clothes, and
helping the sick or imprisoned to receive comfort (25:35-36).
As we bear witness that
Christ is in our hearts, we honor our compassionate Savior by reaching out with
caring hands to the poor. How can we do this? There are hundreds of ways. Pay
the light bill for a single mother. Put together a “blessing bag” for a
homeless person. Start getting involved in your church's kids activities, and if there isn't one then start it.
The possibilities are endless. Pray that God will open your eyes to the poverty
around you and that He move you into action to be a blessing. -DM
Sources:
Dave Branon, “Consider the Poor,” Our
Daily Bread, 27 September 2015
< http://odb.org/2015/09/27/consider-the-poor-2/>
Kelvin D. Crow, Christian History (Issue 53, Vol. XVI, No. 1), p. 36.
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