Jonathan Bellamy spoke with Matt Bird about the church and social action

Matt Bird

On June 25th-27th a major conference will take place in Stoke-on-Trent with Argentinian church leader Ed Silvoso coming to the city as the main speaker at an event which will generate national level interest.

Ed Silvoso is a highly influential and respected leader with a particular emphasis and understanding on how the church can bring about transformation in society through engaging in the marketplace.

Jonathan Bellamy spoke with Matt Bird, CEO of Make It Happen, Chair of The Cinnamon Network and one of the speakers at the Transformation conference about impacting community for good through social action and a focus on building strong relationships.

Jonathan: There's so much that you're involved with, but let's start with the Cinnamon Network, because that's something that's emerged in very recent times. Tell us about the Cinnamon Network and how it came about?

Matt: The Cinnamon Network is trying to strengthen the muscles of local churches to have a greater impact in their community. We're trying to make it as easy as possible for the average local church to do something meaningful, impacting and sustainable in their local communities to help those people most in need.

Jonathan: So what does community transformation mean to you?

Matt: For me it's about a whole gospel; it's about the whole Kingdom; it's about a complete life transformation. It isn't just something that's relevant when you die, but it's relevant in the here and now; bringing about God's flavours and colours in the world; to bring about God's values and way of doing things on earth as it is in heaven. For me transformation is complete and whole, or not at all. I don't believe we can split up our spiritual lives from other parts of our lives; but when Christ comes and lives in us, there's a total transformation that can take place in our lives.

Jonathan: Do you think that concept is strong within local churches across the UK? Do you think they have a good understanding of that kind of activity in the wider community?

Matt: I think there's a growing confidence across the UK church in making a social impact in the community in a way that changes people's lives in a holistic way. I think there's a resurgence of the churches public confidence. I also think we've still got a lot to learn and it's great that Dr Ed Silvoso is going to be the keynote speaker at the Transformation conference in Stoke-on-Trent, because we've got lots to learn from him and from what's happening in other parts of the world in terms of community transformation.

Jonathan: How deep do you think community transformation needs to go in terms of the spiritual aspect of it? We see social works like Foodbank, or Street Pastors; do you think that is what community transformation's about, or is there more to it than that?

Matt: I think that these are expressions of the Kingdom of God and I think they're incredible expressions. The Cinnamon Network now recognises 30 exemplary models of church based social impact and I think they're all great expressions of the Kingdom. Do I think there's more to come, absolutely? I think the church is increasingly recognising Christians in the workplace, in the public square and in communities who are making a difference, twenty four hours, seven days a week.

Jonathan: You mentioned 30 exemplary church based community projects. Can you give a few examples?

Matt: There are things like Street Pastors and Street Angels. There is Christians Against Poverty and Community Money Advice. Then there's Foodbank and Food Store. And there's Lunch a new project that we're incubating and promoting. It helps churches provide meals during the school holidays for the children, who believe it or not, would otherwise go hungry. During term time 1.4 million children in the UK receive free school dinners. There's a reason why they receive those free school dinners and that is because their parents can't afford to feed them a proper meal and that problem doesn't go away in the school holidays. This is an amazing project and we're seeing community transformation projects like Lunch and many others emerge and be taken up by hundreds of churches across the UK.

Jonathan: What evidence is there that meeting people's needs practically, impacts them spiritually?

Matt: The Bible says that faith without action is dead. It's an action that comes out of a heart of love, care and compassion. A faith in action that wants to help people, not just to deal with the immediate challenges they face, but actually help them along a journey that sees their lives align with the purposes of God. Material and spiritual transformation are utterly entwined and I find it impossible to separate the two, because for me faith acts.

Jonathan: Tell us a about the grant side of what you offer to churches who want to get more active.

Matt: There are three ways we help local churches; one is that we make known 30 exemplary local church based community transformation projects, some of which we've been talking about. The second thing is we provide micro grants; so if there's any church in the UK, of any denomination that wants to start one of the 30 projects that we recognise, we can provide them with a micro grant. It's only £2000, but that couple of thousand pounds in a local church could often make the difference between being able to start a project and not starting a project. The third way we help local churches is helping them to work together across their communities; because local churches in partnership can deliver multiple projects and multiple levels of impact in the community to bring about a holistic transformation.

Jonathan: Let's look at some other things that you're involved with, because so much of what you do is in the marketplace. Tell us more.

Matt: The Cinnamon Network is what I do on a voluntary basis but I have a living to earn as well. So I have created a new social science called relationology about how relationships make the world go round. I've particularly applied relationology within a business context. I work as an international keynote speaker and leadership development consultant with commercial organisations to help them build the relationships they need to achieve greater success. In particular I help with new business development, client relationship management, strategic stakeholder management and employee engagement. My fundamental belief is that the true currency of business is relationships and not money; so many people in the business world think it's about the money. In reality people do business with people they like, know and trust so out of choice they will always go to a provider, a supplier, a colleague, a client, or a customer where there's relational trust. So in todays market, relational trust is commercially valuable because it is the ultimate differentiator and competitive advantage to people in organisations of all sectors, shapes and sizes.

Jonathan: I notice from your website www.relationology.co.uk that you've had a number of significant clients who've employed your services, like High Street banks, top four accountancy firms, energy businesses as well as public sector organisations. Tell us about the principles. Are these principles that you've discovered as a Christian, so they're part of your Christian spirituality, but the journey can be applied at a business level too?

Matt: My personal inspiration for Relationology is based upon my understanding of who God is; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God exists in a community; in relationships of mutual love, care and affirmation. I believe that people are created in the image of that God and therefore we are made for community and relationships. When we get those relationships right, the whole of life thrives; but when relationships are dysfunctional, whether in our friendships, family, neighbourhood, or in our place of work, then we will struggle. Good relationships lead to good business and bad relationships lead to bad business.

Jonathan: You're coming to Stoke-in-Trent for the Transformation conference; what is it about this conference that resonates with you?

Matt: For me anything that's about the transformation and improving of communities, of helping people at a local level relate together healthily and in a vibrant way is something that I'm really passionate about. The very name of the conference Transformation immediately captures our attention doesn't it? It's the place that I'm going to be in June and I hope that the people reading this interview will want to come and join us to learn about how we can align our lives with Gods' life, to bring about more transformation in the world that he loves.

Jonathan: There's likely to be a broad mix of people in the audience, with some leaders and some who are not leaders; what do you particularly want to focus on communicating in your session?

Matt: The focus of my session is going to be the centrality of relationships to life and happiness; the centrality of relationships to social impact and the centrality of relationships to vocational success. The focus of what I'll be saying about transformation is going to be relationships, relationships, relationships.

Jonathan: The keynote speaker at the conference is Dr Ed Silvoso from Argentina. Do you know much about him and his ministry?

Matt: I've never met Ed, but I'm very much looking forward to meeting him at the Transformation conference. What I do know about Ed is that he has been involved nationally and internationally, in movements of communities, developing relational unity, mobilising prayer and bringing about a holistic transformation in communities. I'm very excited about being at Transformation and very excited about meeting Ed and all that I might be able to learn from him.

You can find out more about the Transformation conference on the Saltbox website.