From a Church point of view it is interesting in being fully ecumenical.
From an ideological point of view it is interesting in being unashamed about recognising the positive possibilities that arise from wealth creation, thus disarming those who assume the Church will simply condemn entrepreneurial initiative.
But its principal interest is as an attempt to ask pertinent questions about where a rich society is going.
Why does getting richer not make us happier?
If simply getting richer does not satisfy, what is the purpose of generating still more wealth?
What is true "prosperity" in the light of the Biblical idea of "life in all its fullness"?
What are the hidden costs of our apparent prosperity?
Neither the summary report or the book of topical essays claim to provide final answers to all the questions; but both provide stimulus for debate within and beyond the Church.
Prosperity with a Purpose
The "Prosperity with a Purpose" project is an ecumenical project which explores our accumulation of wealth and the effect it has on us.
John Ellis introduces the project...
Part of the fascination of Jesus is what some call his "bias to the poor". Methodism has always wanted to champion the poor and quite right too. In Britain this is certainly still required; in the wider world it is even more obviously required.
However in Britain and in other "Western" countries, another issue has become relevant to most of the population. We have become quite astonishingly rich.
We tend not to notice it because David Beckham, the Queen and Bill Gates are even richer; but the material goods we take for granted would have amazed our grandparents at the time they set up their first home.
Has the Gospel anything useful to say about this?
Some of us think it has and so helped to give birth to what became the "Prosperity with a Purpose" project.
