Base Ecclesial Communities and Community Ministry: Some Freirean Points of Comparison and Difference

Abstract

This article will expound the influence of Paulo Freire on Base Ecclesial Communities (BECs) in Latin America, and will examine if and how his work might be appropriated by middle-class Christians in the UK. Recognizing that the majority of churchgoers in Britain are middle-class, the article explores the idea that, if they really wish to ‘love their neighbour’, these Christians need to learn to dialogue in a Freirean manner with the marginalized, but in so doing they must be prepared to have their own thoughts and faith challenged, and must be prepared, with the poor and marginalized, to ask political questions of society, aware that such questioning is likely to invite conflict.