This week a few of us caught a pre-release screening of Amazing Grace—the film about William Wilberforce and the abolition of the British slave trade. I don’t like becoming an advertisement for things, but I must make an exception here. It is a brilliant film. I do hope you’ll see it.

In fact, I believe Amazing Grace is a 118 minute crash-course in social change. And since everyone wants to change the world at the moment—evidenced by the Make Poverty History campaign, Micah Challenge and other efforts—the movie is a timely primer on how to do it. When I got home from seeing Amazing Grace I scribbled down five points:

1. To change the world, get a call from God. William Wilberforce was elected to the British parliament at the age of 23 and a few years later experienced a dramatic Christian conversion. For a while afterwards he wondered if he should become a pastor, but John Newton, the former slave ship captain (and author of the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’, from which the film gets its title) convinced him to stay in politics and combat slavery. You get a clear sense through the film that Wilberforce couldn’t get away from this task. It was his life’s calling—his true vocation. And whether it’s Martin Luther King or Mother Teresa, the great change-agents of history have all had a similar experience. So, if you want to change the world, get on your knees and find out what it is that God wants you to do. This will safe guard against immature zeal on the one hand, and petty charity on the other.

2. To change the world, get exposed to the need. Wilberforce knew about slavery—it was enmeshed in his country’s economy. But with his calling firm, he got exposed to it personally. He toured the slave ships and listened to stories of brutality and rape from those who had survived the trip from Africa to Britain. There’s a lesson for us. While we can’t all jump on a plane to Africa, we must get as much first-hand experience of the problem we’re tackling as possible—even if it’s just talking to those who know.

3. To change the world, get a support group. In Amazing Grace we see Wilberforce meeting with a group of supporters who strategise each phase of the campaign. While they’re unnamed in the movie, this group was known as the Clapham Group—named after the suburb where their meetings where held. They were a group of prominent evangelical Christians who directed their wealth towards causes. They worked to ban bull fighting, to improve prisons, to better factory conditions—and to end slavery. They were instrumental in establishing Sierra Leone in Africa as a home for refugee slaves. We can have a romantic view of social change, and dream of being the sole hero. But Wilberforce and the Clapham Group show otherwise. You need a team.

 And, 4. To change the world, we must persevere. Wilberforce fought tenaciously for two decades to bring slavery to an end. He collected evidence, introduced legislation, and collected more than 390,000 signatures demanding its end. He was attacked in newspapers, physically assaulted, and even had a nervous breakdown—as shown in the film. In fact, the whole Clapham Group faced public ridicule, false accusations and the loss of much health and finances in their fight for slaves. But they persevered. And finally, on the 23rd of February 1807, Wilberforce won. Slave trading became illegal. He then fought for another twenty-five years for the freedom of all slaves, and won that fight in 1833—three days before his death. All up, his battle had taken forty-six years. That is perseverance.  William Wilberforce had a calling from God to end slavery, he got exposed to the need, he had a support group, and he persevered. Wilberforce changed the world, and the Amazing Grace film may just spur you to do the same. 

© 2007 Sheridan Voysey is a writer, speaker, broadcaster and author of Unseen Footprints: Encountering the divine along the journey of life (Scripture Union, 2005). www.thethoughtfactory.net