Our Daily Bread

Before entering the priesthood, Alex Frost ran an Argos store in his native Burnley, where he also worked as a stand-up comedian and followed The Clarets and Depeche Mode with real enthusiasm.

Once ordained, he quickly saw that the 17,000 residents of his new parish badly needed support. Burnley is a rundown town of council estates marked by poverty, crime and drug use, yet faith and everyday life are closely intertwined there. Soon he was running a food bank from a car park, helping struggling neighbours while the pandemic spread through the area.

His plain-spoken approach to ministry reached people of every faith, culture and social class, at a time when the gap between rich and poor was growing sharply. The book moves between heartbreak, including addiction, bereavement, serious illness and neglect, and lighter moments of humour and hope. The people who walk through the church doors are as central to the story as the vicar, and their lives show why the church still matters to the poor and the marginalised.

The author sets out to give voice to people who are rarely heard, recording the sorrow, struggle, laughter and optimism that run through his community. At its heart, the book is about modern poverty and about how everyone can practise the Christian virtues of love, kindness and tolerance.