Eyes up.
If you’ve enjoyed Celebrity Traitors as much as I have, you’ll have watched as singer and traitor Cat Burns edged her way along a rickety bridge to win £2000 for charity. Both screaming and singing, she was encouraged by the charming actor Celia Imrie to “look up” and not to focus on the large drop into the rocky riverbed below. It’s a message that might help those of us tempted to be downhearted by the latest update to the Indices of Multiple Deprivation released last week.
There is a challenge for Christians living and serving in areas high up on the list – can we open up our eyes to see the reality of the struggles and injustices in the places where we live, but also to see where God is at work. Can we resist the fear and scaremongering in the social media narrative? And what’s more, can we prayerfully imagine what it will look like when God’s kingdom breaks in?
“Can we resist the fear and scaremongering in the social
media narrative? Can we prayerfully imagine what it
will look like when God’s kingdom breaks in?”
These latest statistics measure seven key factors that shape people’s daily lives: income, employment, education, health and disability, crime, barriers to housing and services, and the local living environment. Taken together, they offer a detailed map of inequality and need across England (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own statistics released separately). You can explore your own local area using the Local Deprivation Explorer at deprivation.communities.gov.uk
Areas with a history of mining, heavy industry, and coastal towns remain heavily affected. Seven of the ten most deprived neighbourhoods are in Blackpool, while only one in thirty-three areas in the South East fall into the most deprived category. The most deprived neighbourhood in the whole country is in Jaywick, Clacton-on-Sea, in MP Nigel Farage’s constituency.
For Christians living and serving in these areas there’s encouragement to be found in the words of Jesus, reminding us to “look up”: “My Father is always working, and so am I.” John 5:17
These statistics draw our attention again to the realities of the places we live and serve. We are called to look up, and see the truth of what is around us and at the same time, to look for where God is already at work, and to imagine what our communities could become with the right investment, support, and the Church doing what only she can do.
“See where God is working in your world – and join Him in that work.”
I remember being challenged many years ago by these words from the book “Experiencing God” by authors Henry and Richard Blackaby and Claude King. “See where God is working in your world – and join Him in that work.”
In Blackpool, Reverend Matt Lockwood and his wife Hannah lead Beacon Church in Revoe and Foxhall, the area is home to Eden Central Drive. These are two of the five most deprived communities in the whole of England according to the new statistics. People living in Matt’s parish experience the lowest standards of housing and living environment, as well as high levels of poor health and unemployment. Matt spoke to me about life in his neighbourhood:
“Life is tough for a lot of people, the reality is that poverty can just cycle. But what people lack in financial wealth, they make up for in relational wealth. There’s one lady in our community called Vicky, who bought a trampoline for her street. The children come home and play on it, and her door’s always open… there’s a real culture of care. The Lord’s doing lots of things and teaching us as a church what it is to be a family in Christ, because so many people are living together in proximity.”
And whilst the statistics show that some of the highest levels of personal or property crime in England are in Matt’s parish, he added, “I feel safer walking around here than I did in South East London.” That’s not to say that the statistics are incorrect, but that the reality of life in areas of multiple deprivation isn’t as scary as the cold numbers might lead you to believe. We live in a time when some politicians are keen to tell us that Britain is broken and lawless, but both crime statistics and NHS Data show that knife crime is decreasing. Robbery, burglary and car crime are all also down and overall violent crime has halved since 2005 in England. Social media thrives on bad news being amplified, but the Christian story is very different, in our communities we are building rich and beautiful lives with real people and we are living and sharing the Good News of Jesus too.
“Social media thrives on bad news being amplified,
but the Christian story is very different”
Having our eyes open involves remembering what the Church uniquely offers, and not being distracted from it. As Matt says,
“There are so many social action projects that you can do…but actually the only thing that we can offer that’s unique as Christians also happens to be the only thing that will bring hope and truth and transformation, which is Jesus… in everything, to unapologetically point to Jesus, because Jesus is the gospel, not a formula.”
And Matt describes the importance of really opening your eyes spiritually as well as physically:
“…praying, ‘Lord, will you help me to see what you see?’ There’s something about having an eschatological vision – looking with the hope of what this place will be and can be, in Jesus, and acknowledging that God is already at work.”
So, once we’ve looked at the statistics, how should we live? Matt says that “christian leadership… is being slow and attentive and listening. So prayer walking is really important, walking around our neighbourhood, praying and seeing what the Lord is doing.”
As we look at these Indices of Multiple Deprivation, may we look with eyes of faith, to see not only what is broken, but what God is already blessing, and to join Him there.
More information
Matt Lockwood and his wife, Hannah, lead Beacon Church in Blackpool. Originally from Suffolk, Matt became a Christian aged 13. Soon after Matt sensed a call to youth ministry, studying at Ridley Hall and spending a decade as a Youth Worker in Reigate and Blackheath. In Summer 2021, Matt and Hannah moved to Blackpool to be Eden Team Leaders at Beacon. There Matt felt a call to ordained ministry, specifically in underserved neighbourhoods. Matt’s heart is for those on the margins to hear and know the hope of Jesus.
📊 English indices of deprivation 2025:
gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2025
Eden: joineden.org
Photo by Erin Sorsbie – used with permission. Instagram: Beacon Church Blackpool