Steve Chalke(MBE, UN.GIFT Special Advisor on Community Action against Human Trafficking), is an ordained Baptist minister who is a prominent, and often outspoken, Christian leader and social activist based in the UK. He is the author of numerous books and articles as well as 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.
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. He is best known as the founder of the Oasis Trust which he started with his wife in 1985.
Over the last 24 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. It has now become 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. Over the last 25 years the Oasis Trust has also birthed Oasis Community Learning, the Faithworks movement, Stop the Traffik and Church.co.uk.
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 six more in Southampton (x2), Bristol (x2), Salford and Coulsdon (Croydon) in September 2008. September 2009 saw the opening of Oasis first All-through (3-19) school, to be known as Oasis Academy Shirley Park, in Croydon as well as a second academy in Enfield. Oasis Academy Oldham will become Oasis Community Learning's 12th Academy when it opens on September 2010. Other projects are planned for future years.
Oasis Community Learning aims to serve its Academy students as well as to provide a centre of life-long learning for the entire community, including; adult learning courses, community workers, fitness suites, healthy living programmes, sports courts and out-of-hours youth activities.
Chalke 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 Chalke founded Church.co.uk, a developing network of community churches around the UK which began with the formation of Church.co.uk in Waterloo, central London in 2003 and now includes churches in Salford, Enfield, Bristol and a growing number of other locations. Chalke still serves as the senior minister of the central London church in Waterloo.
Chalke is the author of more than 40 books. He has also written monthly columns for 'Prima Baby' on fatherhood and for 'Christianity' magazine on Church leadership. His latest book "Different Eyes" — The Art of Living Beautifully was published by Zondervan in April 2010. Chalke has hosted his own television series' for ITV and BBC as well as presenting a regular show on BBC Radio 4. He is a regular commentator and contributor to television and radio programmes.
In 2005 Chalke 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 April 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.
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. Chalke has become a spokesman for the church in the ongoing national debate about the provision of public services by faith-based groups.
Stop The Traffik
Chalke is the Chair of Stop the Traffik, a global coalition of over 1600 charities in 97 countries that is working to stop the buying and selling of people. He 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. March 2009 saw the publication of “STOP THE TRAFFIK" — "People should not be Bought and Sold" which Chalke co-authored with Cherie Blair and looks at the worldwide issue of people trafficking and our response to it. Steve Chalke continues to work with STOP THE TRAFFIK pioneering campaigns, including the schools campaign 'Start Freedom' and the hugely successful traffick-free chocolate campaign, which serve to raise awareness of the dangers of human trafficking across all countries and communities.
In 2003 Chalke co-authored, "The Lost Message of Jesus", with Alan Mann. (Zondervan). This book provoked considerable controversy within evangelical Christian circles. The debate rose 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 drew much criticism as well as support, with numerous articles, blogs and books being written on both sides of the debate. Chalke’s position was also held by a number of other leading evangelicals.
The continuing controversy led to the Evangelical Alliance organising a symposium in July 2005 to discuss the issue, and a record of this symposium, includes a chapter by Chalke and his views are also contained in "the atonement debate". . A group of three conservative evangelical theologians responded to Chalke with their book, Pierced for our Transgressions (Crossway Publishing, 2007), which strongly criticised Chalke's position as inconsistent with some evangelical confessions of faith. However, the current bishop of Durham and prominent theologian, N. T. Wright, endorsed Chalke as a leading evangelical and spoke 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.’
The Role of Faith in the public Square
Chalke is a prominent social activist and leading advocate of the role of Christian Faith in public life and the delivery of public services including education, health care, youth services, etc. He has drawn strong criticism from leading atheists and secularists such as Polly Toynbee and Keith Porteous Wood, the director of the National Secular Society. Chalke claims that though Christian Faith is personal it is never private, and has written extensively about Public Theology (see "Intelligent Church" Zondervan 2006)
Chalke contends that there are two elements to healthy democracy - representative and participatory. He and others have suggested that democracy used to be focused around participation as much as representation (volunteering as much as voting), two ideas which together created a balance. Chalke believes that ‘we have to look beyond what we now call politics to find leaders to address these underlying issues. The struggle to reshape the meaning of politics is one we must engage in. The church has a major role and responsibility in this process.’
Chalke is developing the Charities Parliament, in order to establish a stronger voice for third sector organizations in public life. Chalke is recorded stating; “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 and government.”
The Charities Parliament has already received warm support from Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP who said "I welcome Oasis’ proposal for a major centre close to Parliament, and I look forward to its activities helping to shape the public debate in the years ahead." The Bishop of Liverpool Right Rev'd James Jones has also endorsed Charities Parliament saying "This new initiative is based on the well established principles of Christ-centred vision, rigorous thinking, a depth of community engagement and a clear articulation of a biblical worldview, which are the foundations on which Oasis' work has been built."
