It’s not about me

Queen's Park Baptist Church · Sep 24, 2026

We are living with a “civic recession” laments Gordon Brown in his recent book (The Future Starts with Us). Not only are we seeing a cost-of-living crisis, but we are facing a decline in social cohesion as fewer of us commit to community organisations and clubs.

I am no social scientist, but it does appear that we live in a more fragmented society these days with less opportunity to build the connections that shape and stabilise our personalities and challenge our self-centredness. The self has become sovereign, and my self–interest, my self-fulfilment and my self-determination eclipses all…