I used to think that interest in the persecuted church was a specialty within a specialty. There are social justice issues, like poverty, homelessness, amnesty, and displaced people groups, and in my head the persecuted church was a subset of these. I probably wasn’t alone in thinking that it’s a highly specialized, and therefore a peripheral, issue. Christian persecution is off-radar for many churches and a blind spot for many individual Christians.
Tag Archives: Social action/social justice
Matters of interest
Life
O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
… who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved. (Ps 15:1-2a, 5)
According to Psalm 15, a holy person does not put his money out at interest. Look at it again. See? That’s what it says. (more…)
Mercy? Me?
Thought
The game begins with the two combatants facing each other, holding hands, their fingers interlocked. When the word is given, they start twisting and writhing like contortionists, each trying to gain leverage over the other until their fingers are so agonised that one is forced to concede, “Mercy!” The winner graciously releases his grip, and the round is complete. In primary school, we called the game ‘Mercy’—but our grasp on the concept was as tortuous as the game itself. (more…)
Smell the coffee
Up front, Sola Panel
A recent edition of our denominational newspaper here in Sydney featured an extended and very positive series of articles on the Fairtrade movement. Fairtrade is a ‘think global, act local’ sort of initiative which involves consumers in the West attempting to improve the lot of poor and exploited farmers in the third world by buying ‘Fairtrade’ products. By buying certified ‘Fairtrade’ coffee, for example, you ensure that a higher income flows to the cooperatives that produce it (usually 10% or so above the market price). The edition featured stories about Christians involved in the Fairtrade movement, and contained strong encouragement for churches to get involved—not only as a means of adding valuable momentum to the whole movement, but as a culturally attractive way of building links with our community and sharing the gospel. (more…)
Social involvement and evangelism (Part III): Some final reflections
Thought
So far, we’ve looked at the strong cases that can be made for both evangelism and social involvement, and at how they relate together. Mike Raiter concludes our series by reflecting on the recent Lausanne conference, and on some lessons from history.
Social involvement and evangelism (Part II): How they relate
Thought, Sola Panel
In the first part of this essay (in Briefing #316), Tim Chester looked at the strong case that can be made for Christian social involvement, as well as the strong case for proclamation of the gospel being central. We now come to the question that has bedevilled evangelical discussion of this subject for the past 30 years: What ought to be the relationship between social involvement and evangelism in Christian ministry and mission?
Social involvement and evangelism (Part I): Two strong cases
Thought
Let me introduce Albert. Albert calls himself a post-evangelical. He says there are many good things about the evangelical church in which he grew up, but he himself has grown out of evangelicalism’s narrowness. Like his postmodern friends, he is wary of truth claims and instead he wants to emphasize symbols and images. This makes him much more comfortable with social involvement than evangelism. Evangelism makes him uneasy because, as he puts it, ‘we are all on a faith journey’ and he thinks that evangelism among the poor is simply manipulative. His catchphrase is ‘don’t force your truth on others’. Instead we should walk with the poor, care for them and help them on their faith journey while expecting them to enrich our own faith journeys.
The alternative society
Thought, Sola Panel
In a recent Briefing, Sandy McMillan encouraged us to take Christ’s love commandment seriously. He urged us not to so overreact to the wonky theology of some that we retreat into loveless, blinkered inactivity when faced with the pressing needs of those around us. Put simply, we need to love our neighbours in word and deed, as Christ has done, and as he has commanded us to do.
Needy baby, murky bath
Life
Loving your neighbour
It really couldn’t be simpler. “Love your neighbour as yourself”. The words appear nine times throughout Scripture. They are part of the law of Moses (Lev 19:18). Jesus quoted this commandment as the second of the two great commandments on which hang all the law and the prophets (Matt 22:36-40; Mark 12:28-34). When a teacher of the law tried to limit the impact of this, Jesus explained its power with what is probably his most well-known parable (Luke 10:25-37).