Steve Chalke

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Steve Chalke MBE, UN.GIFT Special Advisor on Community Action against Human Trafficking is a prominent, and often outspoken, Christian leader and social activist based in the UK, and an ordained Baptist minister. Steve Chalke was born in South London in 1955. As a teenager he became a Christian and decided to spend his life working to end poverty and specifically to set up housing, healthcare and educational projects to that end. After graduating from Spurgeon's College in 1981 he spent four years as assistant minister at Tonbridge Baptist Church before setting up Oasis Trust in 1985.

Over the last 22 years Oasis has developed into a family of charities now working on five continents and 11 countries around the world, to deliver housing, education, training, youthwork and healthcare. Oasis is now a significant voluntary sector provider, delivering services for local authorities and national governments, as well as self funded initiatives aimed at providing opportunity to people across the globe^{[citation needed]}.

Oasis Trust formed Oasis Community Learning as an umbrella group to govern the Oasis Academies: three secondary schools classed as academies, in Enfield Lock, Grimsby and Immingham, which opened in September 2007, with six more, two in Bristol, two in Southampton, one in Croydon and one in Salford, due to be opened in September 2008. Other academies in Dudley and a second in Enfield will open in Sptember 2009 and a further school in Oldham will begin in 2010. ^[1]

Steve is also the founder of Church.co.uk, a growing network of Christian communities around the country who share the same values as the initial church.co.uk which was esablished in Waterloo, London. He is the author of more than 40 books and a regular presenter and contributor on television and radio programmes. In 2004 he was awarded an MBE for his services to social inclusion by the Queen.^[2].

In 2005 Steve became the official holder of the Guinness World Record for the largest amount of sponsorship money ever raised by an individual through a single event. He broke this record by raising £1.25 million for Oasis' work with schools in disadvantaged communities, through running the London Marathon. His record was beaten at the following year's marathon by Sir Steve Redgrave, who officially raised over £1.785 million. However in 2007 Chalke recaptured his title, as well as becoming the fastest money-generating sports person in history, by raising over £1.855 million in 3 hours 58 minutes 40 seconds^{[citation needed]}.

Chalke is the Chair of Stop The Traffik, a global coalition of over 1000 charities in 60 countries that is working to stop the buying and selling of people. He has been criticised by some producers within the chocolate industry for his stance on their policy of harvesting cocoa from farms where, they claim, it is impossible to guarantee that no 'chocolate slaves' or bonded workers are forced to serve^{[citation needed]}.

Steve Chalke and Faithworks are closely involved with the ongoing debate about the provision of public services in the UK by faith-based groups.^[3]

The latest initative from Chalke and Faithworks is the establishment of a 'Charities Parliament' a place of debate and interaction, for the charity sector with the aim of enabling more effective relationships with government and media specific around the role of the church and faith in public life. This new centre is based a short walk from the Palace of Westminister, at 75 Westminster Bridge Road, in a 50,000 sq foot complex dedicated to the church’s engagement with social justice, government, media and business as well as the training of church leaders and activists in community transformation and public life.

Contents 1 Educationalist 2 Church Leader 3 Writer and Broadcaster 4 Guinness World Record Holder 5 Campaigner 6 Controversy 7 The Oasis Centre 8 Bibliography 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Educationalist

From its early days Oasis has been involved in the provision of education not only in the UK but also in South America, Asia and Africa. As a development of this, in 2004 Chalke set up Oasis Community Learning as part of the Oasis Group of charities, in order to deliver secondary education through the government’s Academies programme. Three Oasis Academies, in Enfield Lock, Grimsby and Immingham, opened in September 2007, with others in Southampton, Bristol, Salford, Croydon, Dudley and Oldham following over the coming years.

Oasis Academies have been established to provide a rich and balanced educational environment catering for the whole person - academically, vocationally, socially, morally, spiritually, physically, emotionally and environmentally. The goal of every Oasis academy is to serve its students as well as to provide a life-long learning hub for the entire surrounding community, including an array of facilities such as adult learning courses, community workers, fitness suites, healthy living programmes, sports courts and a wide range of out-of-hours youth activities. Oasis Academies benefit from the depth and breadth of educational, healthcare, youth work and community experience and resources within the wider Oasis family, as well as from being part of Oasis global family of schools and, more specifically, of its Academies in the UK. All Oasis Academies share in a common purpose, ethos and set of values. Oasis Community Learning's full Purpose, Ethos and Values document is avialble on www.OasisCommunityLearning.org

[edit] Church Leader

Steve was ordained as a Baptist Minister in 1981, having studied at Spurgeon's Theological College in London, and was a local minister of Tonbridge Baptist Church in Kent for four years before setting up the Oasis Trust. More recently Steve founded church.co.uk, a developing network of community churches around the UK which began with the formation of church.co.uk/Waterloo, London in 2003 and now includes church.co.uk Salford and church.co.uk Enfield

[edit] Writer and Broadcaster

Chalke is the author of more than 40 books. He also writes monthly columns for Prima Baby on fatherhood and for Christianity magazine on Church leadership. His latest book ‘Change Agents – 25 hard learnt lessons in the art of getting things done’ was published by Zondervan in October 2007. Steve has presented his own television series' for ITV and BBC as well as a regular show on Radio 4.He is a regular commentator and contributor to television and radio programmes.

[edit] Guinness World Record Holder

In 2005 Steve became the official holder of the Guinness World Record for the largest amount of sponsorship money ever raised by an individual through a single event. He broke this record by raising £1.25 million for Oasis' work with schools in disadvantaged communities, through running the London Marathon. His record was beaten at the following year's marathon by Sir Steve Redgrave, who officially raised over £1.785 million. However in 2007 Chalke recaptured his title, as well as becoming the fastest money-generating sports person in history, by raising over £1.855 million in 3 hours 58 minutes 40 seconds.

[edit] Campaigner

In 2001 Chalke founded Faithworks, a movement for Christian social action. Faithworks resources and supports churches of all denominations across the UK as they engage with their local communities. He has become a spokesman for the church in the ongoing national debate about the provision of public services by faith-based groups.
Chalke is the Chair of Stop The Traffik, a global coalition of over 1000 charities in 60 countries that is working to stop the buying and selling of people. He has been criticised by some producers within the chocolate industry for his stance on their policy of harvesting cocoa from farms where, they claim, it is impossible to guarantee that no 'chocolate slaves' or bonded child workers are forced to serve. Steve was appointed Special Advisor on Community Action to the UN GIFT, following STOP THE TRAFFIK’S delivery of 1.5 million signatures in support of a global declaration against human trafficking at a UN conference in Vienna in February 2008. Chalke is currently working with Cherie Blair to co-author a book, to be published in November 08 looking at the world-wide issue of people trafficking and our response to it.

[edit] Controversy

The Lost Message Of Jesus
A recent book written by Chalke and his co-author, Alan Mann, The Lost Message of Jesus (Zondervan, 2003) has provoked considerable controversy within evangelical Christian circles. The debate has arisen mostly because of Steve Chalke's rejection of a conventional evangelical theological understanding of the atonement, known as penal substitution. Chalke's views were a departure from this doctrinal position and have drawn criticism as well as support, with numerous words in print and online being written on both sides of the debate. For example, Jonathan Stephen, the director of Affinity, spoke out against Chalke in an address at the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches conference in 2005.^[4] The American theologian John Piper claimed Chalke's words on the cross were blasphemous.^[5] Chalke replied to his critics with an article in Christianity magazine.^[6] The continuing controversy led to the Evangelical Alliance organising a symposium in July 2005 to discuss the issue.^{[7] [8]}

A group of three conservative evangelical theologians responded to Chalke with their book, Pierced for our transgressions (Inter-Varsity Press, 2007), which strongly criticises Chalke's position as inconsistent with some evangelical confessions of faith.^{[9] [10]} However, the current bishop of Durham and prominent theologian, N. T. Wright, has endorsed Chalke as a leading evangelical and spoken out against the latter book, commenting, for instance, that ‘despite the ringing endorsements of famous men, it [Pierced For Our Transgressions] is deeply, profoundly, and disturbingly unbiblical.’ .^[11] Several figures connected to the christian conference Word Alive have stated that disagreements over Chalke's view of the atonement was part of the reason Spring Harvest and Word Alive went their separate ways, although they have dagreed on how large a factor it was, and the split was declared amicable by both parties at the 2007 event.^[12]

In North America, conservative spokesmen like J.I. Packer see Chalke's reference to the "cosmic child-abuser"^[13] as a "supremely silly ... smartypants notion"^[14] while others have seen his comments as a relevant critique of punitive visions of God.^[15]

The book has highlighted the continuing divide in evangelical Christianity and caused an increased polarisation between the two camps. It can also be seen as part of three ongoing debates: firstly, the question of exactly what does it mean to be evangelical, which traces its roots back to the 1950s (see Neo-evangelicalism), secondly, a more recent exploration as to the place of post-modern thinking within this branch of the church, and finally, the meaning of the cross itself as it relates to human salvation (cf. Stricken by God? Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ, ed. by B. Jersak and M. Hardin - Eerdmans, 2007).

[edit] The Oasis Centre

Oasis recently acquired 75 Westminster Bridge Road, a further 32,500 sq ft of office space ^[16]

Charities, social justice groups, community action organisations, social entrepreneurs and think tanks are invited to join Oasis and Faithworks in a shared central London base, All enquires should be addressed to oasiscentre@oasisuk.org

Steve Chalke, said; “We’ve been working hard for some time to create, what we believe will become, a significant base for a wide group of charities right at the heart of one of the world’s mega-cities. We want to provide a fertile environment where the energy generated by the organisations sharing the facilities helps everyone get further, faster, as we engage with each other, with government, media and the city.”

[edit] Bibliography

• The Complete Youth Manual', Kingsway, 1987 ISBN 0860655067
• Christmas Cracker, Kingsway, 1990, ISBN 0860655512
• Understanding Teenagers, Kingsway, 1991, ISBN 0860659259
• The Christian Youth Manual, Kingsway, 1992, ISBN 085476285X
• More Than Meets the Eye - A Plain Guide To Christianity, Hodder & Stoughton, 1995, ISBN 0340641908
• Christmas Unwrapped, Kingsway, 1995, ISBN 0860658813
• Making a Team Work', Kingsway, 1995, ISBN 0854764534
• The Truth About Suffering, Kingsway, 1996, ISBN 0854766340
• I Believe in Taking Action, Hodder & Stoughton, 1996, ISBN 0340661445
• Sex Matters, Hodder & Stoughton, 1996, ISBN 0340656611
• How to Succeed as a Parent Hodder & Stoughton, 1997, ISBN 0340679034
• How to Succeed as a Parent: 10 Survival Tips for Busy Mums and Dads, Hodder Headline Australia, 1997, ISBN 0340694432
• Managing Your Time' , Kingsway, 1998, ISBN0854764690
• (ed) Oh, God...120 Celebrities' Prayers, Lion Hudson, 1998, 0745940269
• Managing Your Team, Kingsway, 1998, ISBN 0854764690
• Get Up and Give: 101 Little Ways to Make a Big Difference, HarperCollins, 1998, ISBN 000274015X
• The Parentalk Guide to the Toddler Years, Hodder & Stoughton, 1999, ISBN 0340721677
• The Parentalk Guide to the Childhood Years, Hodder & Stoughton, 1999, ISBN 0340721685
• The Parentalk Guide to the Teenage Years, Hodder & Stoughton, 1999, ISBN 0340721693
• New Era, New Church? The New Millennium Challenge To The Churches, Marshall Pickering, 1999, ISBN 0002740265
• He Never Said... Discover the Real Message of Jesus, Hodder & Stoughton, 2000, ISBN 0340756977
• (ed) Parent Talk: 80 Celebrities Take a Sideways Glance at Parenting, Hodder & Stoughton, 2000, ISBN 0340785160
• The Parentalk Guide to Your Child and Sex, Hodder & Stoughton, 2000, ISBN 0340756616
• The Parentalk Guide to Great Days Out, Hodder & Stoughton, 2001, ISBN 0340785454
• Faithworks: Stories of Hope, Kingsway, 2001, ISBN 1842910140
• Faithworks Unpacked, Kingsway, 2002, ISBN 1842910280
• How to Succeed as a Working Parent, Hodder & Stoughton, 2003, ISBN 0340861207
• Connect! Your Place In A Globalised World, Authentic Lifestyle, 2003, ISBN 1850784825
• 100 Proven Ways to Transform Your Community, Kingsway, 2003, ISBN 1842911198
• Faithworks: Intimacy and Involvement, Kingsway, 2003, ISBN 184291118X
• More Than Meets the Eye: A Fast-moving Look at Christianity, Hodder & Stoughton, 2003, ISBN 034086172X
• The Lost Message of Jesus, Zondervan, 2003, ISBN 0310248825
• Trust: A Radical Manifesto, Authentic Media, 2004, ISBN 1850785864
• Intelligent Church: A Journey Towards Christ-centred Community, Zondervan, 2006, ISBN 0310248841
• Change Agents: 25 Hard-Learned Lessons in the Art of Getting Things Done, Zondervan, 2007, ISBN 0310275490

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Biography of Steve Chalke
• Church.co.uk
• Faithworks.info
• StopTheTraffik.org
• Tonbridge Baptist Church
• The Lost Gospel of Steve Chalke