Tremendous Resource: The Gospel of Shalom: A Justice Reading of Scripture

Dr. Robert Linthicum has just made available for downloading the complete three year cycle of his “The Gospel of Shalom: A Justice Reading of the Lectionary Scripture”  This is based on his 48 years of study of  how the Scripture deals with the issues of social justice. Reading along for the past year has changed my theology and given me a much better understanding of the problems in my community and the Church’s role in responding to those problem. Evangelicals please don’t be afraid this is a thoroughly solid evangelical work.That expresses both aspects of loving God and loving your neighbor.

The work is available in PDF downloads based on the lectionary year.

This summer he plans to release Truly Strategic Scriptures Avoided by the Lectionary, which I am looking forward to.

Anyone who wants a solid theology perspective on social justice issues should check out his website.

Article Link: ESA Irrevelant–and Deadly–Cuts in Foreign Assistance

As I was visiting hospitals and health huts in Senegal, I was also receiving e-mailed updates on House GOP budget cuts. The Global Fund, down 40 percent. Child survival programs, which include anti-malaria efforts, down 10 percent. AIDS relief, down 8 percent. Development assistance, down 30 percent.These reductions were intended to be symbolic, but what do they symbolize? Fiscal responsibility? Hardly. No one can reasonably claim that the budget crisis exists because America spends too much on bed nets and AIDS drugs. … Claiming courage or credit for irrelevant cuts in foreign assistance is a net subtraction from public seriousness on the deficit. So, do these cuts symbolize the Republican rejection of fuzzy-headed liberalism? Actually, the main initiatives on malaria and AIDS were created under Republican leadership.

via The Sider Center at Eastern University.

Article Link:Declare His Glory in the Community (1976) – Articles – God’s Word – Urbana.org

As we rediscover the local body, we also rediscover that God wants to duplicate throughout all history that once-in-history manifestation of his love. He wants to put the same life and love of Jesus Christ in a church so that people can again see Christ.

via Declare His Glory in the Community (1976) – Articles – God’s Word – Urbana.org.

Article Link:Urban Pilgrims and Pioneers: Industry, Unions, Jesus and the Blue Collar Worker – Articles – God’s Word – Urbana.org

The liberal-fundamentalist debate still rages in urban America. Likewise, the working class still suffers from the same instability that plagued them a century ago. As fewer and fewer working class employees are needed by industries because of mechanization and recession, economic struggles will increase for these families. Seminary-trained pastors look to the suburban populations of the America to build and fill the churches of the 1990s and (among many other urban populations) the working class neighborhood is largely ignored.

As conservative seminaries debate what constitutes evangelism – soul-winning or social reform – decades worth of urban souls are lost due to suburban wealth, indecision, and complacency. As urban problems snowball, it is imperative that Christians decide that evangelism does indeed constitute both soul-winning and social reform. This will ultimately require agonizing self-sacrifice on the part of wealthy middle class Christians. Evangelists and evangelicals must agree that these two aspects of evangelism are not mutually exclusive.

Finally, as American industries migrate to the Third World to recreate the conditions they imposed on urban America a century ago, Christian evangelicals must not repeat the mistakes of the past. If we fail to heed the lessons that American urban industrialization has left of us, our millions of dollars and hours of overseas missionary work will be in vain. Our evangelization efforts might leave behind a number of churches and believers but we will also leave behind the exploited and confused victims of a capitalistic society, numb and properly inoculated against the gospel of Christ.

via Urban Pilgrims and Pioneers: Industry, Unions, Jesus and the Blue Collar Worker – Articles – God’s Word – Urbana.org.

Article Link: Our Take: Rethinking Christmas – CNN Belief Blog – CNN.com Blogs

As much as both of us love a good meal with our families, we’re pretty sure Jesus didn’t come to initiate a sentimental pause in holiday consumption. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” John’s gospel says. Jesus moved into the neighborhood, and it wasn’t necessarily good for property values.

Christmas reminds us how Jesus interrupts the world as it is to reveal the world as it ought to be. When we pay attention to the story, it exposes our desperate need for a better way. This always makes some people mad.

via Our Take: Rethinking Christmas – CNN Belief Blog – CNN.com Blogs.

Article Link: RELEVANT Magazine – Can We Really Solve Poverty?

The president of World Vision explains why poverty is getting worse—and how this generation can stop it.

Our world is increasingly divided between rich and poor. When I was born, the richest countries were 35 times as wealthy as the poorest. Half a century later, it stood at 75 to 1. The divide more than doubled on the watch of my generation—the one that vowed to end war and save the planet.

via RELEVANT Magazine – Can We Really Solve Poverty?.

Article Link: Draft version of Lausanne Capetown Committment

Draft version of Lausanne Capetown Committment

Interesting Article: Whose “Priority”?Which Gospel? « Vinoth Ramachandra

Very interesting article, here is a key paragraph.

The Church as the disciple-community of Jesus is called in the Great Commission to obey and teach others “to obey everything that I have taught you”. This is pretty comprehensive! How on earth did this Great Commission get reduced to preaching? Trying to select from the teaching of Jesus what we will obey, or trying to rank his teachings in a scale of “priorities”, is not to be a disciple of his. And, then, by what right do we call others to discipleship? Jesus expects that the Church that is proclaiming the Gospel among the nations is also living out that Gospel before the nations. Namely, she is committed to peace-making, hungering and thirsting after justice, loving her enemies, healing the sick, sharing wealth with the dispossessed, striving for unity in the midst of differences, and so on.

via Whose “Priority”?Which Gospel? « Vinoth Ramachandra.

We Are Not Fine: It is Time to Change Course

As I write this I think it is quite accurate to say collectively; we are not fine. The problems facing the world are immense if not cataclysmic. The world economy is in a state of collapse, decades of gains against poverty in the world have been wiped out. We face tremendous challenges as people, nations, and a global society.

In my opinion both capitalism and communism have failed. It is time we change course. I believe that Christians should take the lead in this change of course.

We need a new model. We need to consider how our actions affect others not just how they benefit ourselves.

Just one case in particular. I heard a commentator yesterday remarking that fear and greed drive the market. Neither one of these are values that are Biblical and should be embraced by Christians. I just posted yesterday a link to an article that talked about how greed has caused much of the world food crisis, people seeking to make an exorbitant  profit off an  essential of life.

I believe that now the world is looking for answers. We can use this as a tremendous opportunity. We need to explore new solutions.

The problem in my opinion, in the developed world at least is in our definition of wealth. Capitalism is concerned with the accumulation of capital and capital is viewed in terms of things and money. Socialism is concerned with the redistribution of things and money so there is less inequity in things and money. Communism is the forced redistribution of things and money. The problem is all these economic systems miss the point.

Real wealth is not defined in things and money. Things and money only have value when they contribute to a just and healthy world. Real wealth, at least the type of wealth I am talking about, cannot be measured economically.

Real wealth is a just society, healthy relationships, health, joy, vibrancy in life, strong faith, clean air and water, healthy foods, lessening of disease, loving families, safe neighborhoods, people caring about each other. It is about respect and dignity, fairness and justice, giving instead of receiving, the value of each life, courtesy, justice, friendliness, art and beauty. The pursuit of money and things often pushes all these things by the wayside.

It is time to rebuild our communities by first rebuilding community, rebuilding relationships by loving our neighbor. We may be rich in economic terms, although much of that evaporated into thin air recently, but we are poor spiritually and relationally.

As we work to rebuild our communities and lives let us be guided by the teaching of Scripture. The majority of people in the US claim to be Christians; then let us follow the two great commandments articulated by Jesus Christ. To love God and love our neighbor. If we do these we will be well on our way to be truly wealthy and bringing healing to our land and indeed to the world.

William Wilberforce

If I have a hero that is a famous person, I would have to say it is William Wilberforce. To me he embodies in many ways who a Christian should be.

Here are some links about him:

William Wilberforce Wikipedia Article

U.S. House Resolution in Honor of Wilberforce

BBC William Wilberforce

Wilberforce House Image Gallery

The Age of Wilberforce

Gathered Leaves: Lessons from William Wilberforce

And what flowed from this? “Christianity without distinction,” Wilberforce wrote, “professes an equal regard for all human beings.” Abolition, public health initiatives, educational and prison reforms, working for better conditions in factories—all these and many more good works sprang from Wilberforce’s commitment to the golden rule.

A Spectacle More Glorious

Wilberforce Central

Amazing Movie

The Philanthropist

Who Was William Wilberforce?

How William Wilberforce Changed the World

William Wilberforce and His Circle of Friends

William Wilberforce Biography

Steadfast Companions: The Story of the Clapham Circle

Lausanne Documents

Here are links to some Lausanne Documents on subjects relevant to this blog.

I have found the Lausanne documents to be very helpful in filling in some of the weakness I find in the Reformed Theology I believe. I think the Westminster Confession of Faith and the other classic documents of the reformed faith very well cover the basics of the faith but where I find them weak is in the area of missions, cultural engagemant, and social justice. To be fair these issues were not core issues in their day. So to fill in the gaps I have found great insight in the Lausanne documents. (I am just a lay person and have no formal theological training-I just find these helpful to me and my understanding)

Christian Witness to People of African Traditional Religions

Evangelism and Social Responsibility: An Evangelical Commitment

Christian Witness to the Urban Poor

An Evangelical Commitment to Simple Life-style

Some Articles on Poverty From Around the Web Part 1

These are various articles on poverty and development issues. All of these in Part 1 are from the Integral Mission Blog. I have spent a good part of today enjoying these posts immensely and apprediating their insights.

What is Poverty?

Change vs. Transformation

The Gospel and Social Involvement (8): Good News to the Rich

The Gospel and Social Involvement (9): Welcoming the Excluded

The Gospel and Social Involvement (12): Can We Make a Difference?

The Gospel and Social Involvement (2): The Case

The Gospel and Social Involvement (3): More than Private

The Gospel and Social Involvement (4): Evangelizing the Poor

The Gospel and Social Involvement (5): Proclamation and Demonstration

The Gospel and Social Involvement (6): The Kingdom of God

The Gospel and Social Involvement (7): Good News to the Poor

The Gospel and Social Involvement (10): Strengthening the Powerless

Integral Mission and Social Consciousness

Integral Mission and Political Action

Integral Mission and Social Justice

A Partnership between the Powerful and the Powerless

Rich Christians: God and the Poor

Rich Christians: Renewed Economic Relationships

Rich Christians: Property and Possessions

Quote on Poverty by Jayakumar Christian

I came across this quote by Jayakumar Christian while reading my Bible this morning. I was using the Faith in Action Study Bible by World Vision. Emphasis are mine.

Poverty has more to do with relationships than resources, with power than possessions. The fall resulted in alienation from God and distorted relationships, out of which arise oppression, conflict, apathy, isolation, prejudice, moral confusion, and the deprivations and hardships we call poverty. Poverty occurs in three dimensions—relationship with God (spiritual), humanity (social), and the environment (physical).

Here is a link to a paraphrase of the whole article The Thirteen Shackles of the Poor, as a Word document.

World Vision Australia: Year in Photos

World Vision Australia has a very compelling online slideshow, the Year in Photos.

They also have an essay- 2008 A Year in Crisis

They also have a Crisis in the Congo page.

Some other pages of interest:

World Vision Connect

Poverty

How Do We End Poverty

As part of this article they outline 5 steps to eradicte poverty these are.

1. Realise there’s no one, single solution
2. We need to act together
3. Empower communities
4. Follow the global framework for eradicating poverty
5. Individual commitment

The article greatly elaborates on these points.

How poor is poor?

Step inside Scolla’s home

Our Birthplace Affects Our Lives

School resources

How Unequal is Our World

Audio Downloads

Prayer Points

Small Group Bible Studies

And there are many more similar reources available at their website.

Micah Challenge: Letter from the Church in the Global South to the US Church

Micah Challenge has a very sobering letter from the Church in the Gloabl South to the church in the US.

As the Church of the Lord in what is known as the “Southern” part of the world, moved by the Holy Spirit to fight for the abundant life that Jesus Christ offers, we address our Christian family in the United States, a Church of the same covenant, faith and love. Grace and Peace to all of our brothers and sisters.

We know your works of love; these works have allowed millions of human beings for many generations in our countries in the South to receive the gospel, the Grace of Jesus Christ and the power of His Salvation. The U.S. church’s untiring missionary effort planted in our lands Hope in Him who came to reconcile EVERYTHING.

Nevertheless, the political, social and economic situation in the places where this hope has been announced is increasingly distressing. Millions of people in the global South are dying of hunger, violence and injustice. These situations of poverty and pain are not simply the product of the internal functions of our countries; rather they are the results of the international policies of the governments that wield global power.

Therefore, we have this against you, brothers and sisters, that along with this powerful announcing of the Gospel, the Church from the United States has not also raised its voice in protest against the injustices that powerful governments and institutions are inflicting on the global South – injustices that afflict the lives and ecosystems of millions of people who, centuries after the proclamation of the Gospel, still have not seen the sweat of their brow turned into bread.

Read the rest of the letter here.

Micah Challenge Resources

Here are some resources put out by Micah Challenge:

Think It: Deepening Christian Engagement

Micah Declaration on Integral Mission

Integral Mission Library

Barriers to the Ebrace of Integral Mission (PDF)

New Christain Social Justice Website

I recently stumbled across an excellent Christian social Justice website. I definitely am not in the target audience since it is geared toward post-modern 20- somethings. But I have found the articles to be quite refreshing. The site is One Sabbath and is associated with Neue Ministries and their social justice blog.

Here are some articles I found interesting from both and  quotes from the articles for reflection.

When Poverty Becomes Personal

but what might happen now to a city that can identify with financial pain, crisis and hardship across class systems? how might a new dose of empathy injected into our social systems change our perspective on local and global community transformation? maybe it will never happen. but what if it did?

may this season of hardship and trial teach us empathy and compassion unlike any other other moment in our history. may we never forget how it feels to be foreclosed on and unable to find a decent paying job. may our unmet needs be burned into our story so that we never forget what has been constant in the lives of so many others.

Where Do We Go From Here? Figuring Out the Next Steps of the Pro-life Movement.

While the culture has changed over the years, the language used to communicate a culture of life has not. Many major pro-life organizations haven’t changed their rhetoric since abortion was made legal in 1973. Their message is targeted to a modern audience, stating scientific facts and focusing on the baby. However, a postmodern society sees the issue as more complex than that.

One of the biggest blows to the pro-life movement was abortion clinic violence. The media used it to create a false caricature of those who care about human life, and painted what was actually a peaceful movement with the traits of a few mentally unstable radical activists. If one takes a stand for the culture of life, there is a legitimate fear of being aligned with the fringe extremists. To say that the movement has an image problem is an understatement. Thankfully the violence has come to a halt, but sadly the stigma remains.

Being Christ to Africa

Africa has become the contemporary Church’s pet social justice topic. Leaders across the board in the Christian community are finally talking about the tragedies of hunger, extreme poverty, AIDS, international debt and unsafe drinking water. Yet despite the topic’s newfound status, the gap between intellectual assent and practical intervention is still a gaping chasm. Has your church or group made itself relevant to Africa? Here are some practical ways to become part of the solution:

Poverty is More than a Spoonful of Rice

But the real issue is not only poverty with regard to hungry bellies, but also the poverty of identity that happens in the communities around the globe. Food and water are certainly the immediate needs, but community is also a part of our fight. We don’t just want people to live day-to-day, hanging on every penny we give to help feed them. We want people to experience their dreams, live out their hopes and feel that they are a part of a global movement.

The Greatest Commission

The Greatest Commission is to me one of the most significant calls to the Church in recent years.

The greatest victories of the Church have often been victories over our own moral failings, like the abolition of slavery. Today, one of the greatest moral failures for US churches is that while Christian growth in places like Africa has fast outpaced church growth in America, the gap between rich Americans and impoverished Africans has also grown. The question we have to ask ourselves is that, in trying to save Africa, have we begun to lose our own souls? How we deal with this issue is the great moral calling of the new generation of Christian leaders.

The reality is that while U.S. churches have been very generous in giving to global mission or humanitarian efforts over the last 30 years, there has been no organized Christian movement against global poverty in the way William Wilberforce mobilized Christians against slavery in the British Empire or churches stood as the moral force behind the sweeping social change of the civil rights movement. In a world where the difference between poor and rich is often as arbitrary as one’s skin color or nationality, and where poverty is a form of bondage or death for millions, it cannot be that extreme poverty isn’t worthy of the same moral outrage as slavery or segregation.

Ironically, it is our own religiosity that has been our biggest stumbling block. We have let the evangelical mission to save the world get in the way of our ability to actually change it. The Great Commission, the call to disciple all nations, has overshadowed the Greatest Commandment, the call to love both God and neighbor. This is the result of a generation of Christian mission that has put spiritual conversion, or evangelism, in competition with social change. What we need today is a new, missional generation led by what might be called “The Greatest Commission,” or the belief that true spiritual conversion cannot be separated from social change. Greatest Commission evangelicals would believe that planting churches is important, but also insist that these churches must play a role in creating communities that are more just, prosperous and compassionate.

Amen!

This short  article really sums up an important truth: The Great Commission and the Great Commadments together sum up the mission of the  Church in the World. To take the  Gospel into the whole world, to  love God with our  whole heart, and love our neighbor as ourselves, and our neighbor is every person in the the whole world. This is the whole Gospel.