Reaching out to the lonely

Robert Ashton feels we could be doing more to engage with others at this time, and wonders whether we can learn from other, not necessarily Christian, organisations.

I’ve just been chatting with Kevin, who visits once a quarter to clean our windows. He’s a cheerful chap and we’ve got into the habit of discussing religion when we meet. I don’t mean we talk about theology, but more the practical aspects of living our respective faiths. You see, I am a Quaker and Kevin a Jehovah’s Witness.
 
Now there will be some here who don’t like Jehovah’s Witnesses and their practice of doorstep ministry, but to me it’s an admirable way to practise what others only preach on a Sunday mornings. Of course, Quakers do not knock on doors, but choose to live their faith in other ways. I, for example, mentor ex-offenders and am a trustee of a Quaker charity that works with troubled youngsters.
 
I asked Kevin how he was managing to continue his doorstep ministry during the lockdown and his answer surprised me. ‘We’re writing to people’, he said, ‘and finding that some write back to thank us.’ We talked about the way it is now unusual to receive a letter in the post, and how reading a letter is perhaps more likely to prompt a positive response than knocking on someone’s door on a Saturday morning.
 
At a time when the BBC news claims that one in four people say they are lonely, how nice I thought of the Jehovah’s Witnesses to write to people. Talking with Kevin made me wonder if we could be doing more to support those who may be our neighbours, but living alone and struggling in these challenging times.

In fact, I think I’ll write a letter today. How about you?

 
Image by Dave Skone from pixabay.com

Robert Ashton is an author, publisher, social entrepreneur and Quaker. He has recently published a book exploring the subject of homelessness, called Any Spare Change?: One man's quest to understand rough sleeping.

Visit www.robertashton.co.uk

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