with Elaine Appelbee, of All Saints

There was much for Christ-ians to support in the Chan-cellor's Budget.

Christians understand that following Jesus' example invol-ves having a particular concern for people who live with poverty and social disadvantage.

The attempts in the Budget to deal with some of the poverty traps which people who are unemployed or are paid low wages have to suffer is very welcome.

The major flaw though in the Government's 'Welfare to Work' policy is that it does not take account of what is to be done for people who live in places where there simply are not enough jobs to go round.

During the General Election campaign last year the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland published a report called 'Unemployment and the Future of Work'.

This report, written by a leading economist, called for the Government to develop policies which will create more jobs.

However, creating jobs is an expensive business, which is why the politicians hesitate to do so.

They do not believe that the electorate will support this. When the economy is doing well it is easy to forget that jobs do not exist for all the people who need one.

Human beings, made in the image of God, share God's creative nature.

To have the opportunity to work, to make a contribution to our society and to be valued for that contribution is very important for our well-being. Paid work is not the only way in which people can use their creativity and make a contribution.

It is important to remember that many people who do not have a paid job do valuable work as volunteers in their communities.

Nonetheless Christians need to be alert to the part they can play in encouraging politicians to take a risk and invest public money in creating much needed employment.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.