Mahatma Ghandi was once addressed by an ardent young Christian who was trying to convert the Indian leader. Ghandi listened to him for some time then simply said this, ‘I cannot hear what you are saying for the noise of who you are.’ The same could be said of many aspects of the church in British society today. The issues of poverty and marginalisation affect every single church community in Britain, yet many have not yet engaged in the issue sufficiently.
Engagement in issues of poverty and marginalisation is a biblical imperative for the Christian and the Christian community. If we do not engage we are not fulfilling our biblical mandate to campaign for justice, to stand with the oppressed and to see the oppressed set free.
How involved is your local church with your local community? Perhaps a re-wording will help clarify the question? If your local church closed tomorrow, what difference would it make to the community where God has placed it? How involved are you? Across the UK, where local fellowships actively engage with the area where they are placed, they are much more likely to see growth than where local congregations withdraw from their locality. Common sense says that in order to be an influence you must be involved, but perhaps many local churches have failed to make that connection. Instead of being centres of hope, they have become fortresses of faith, defending dwindling congregations from pollution by the world rather than being harbingers of hope and wholeness. Rather than adopting a Machiavellian approach to engagement with our communities – do it because it works – however, it might be helpful to explore some of the biblical reasons why social engagement and campaigning and advocacy around the issues of poverty, marginalisation and exclusion should be part of the life of the local congregation.
Poverty comes in many guises
It is worth noting that poverty comes in many guises. It is important to note that economic poverty must be overcome, but also that poverty of opportunity, poverty of hope, spiritual poverty and poverty of aspiration are all issues that must be addressed with vigour and commitment. How do we avoid condescension in our service and advocacy? By remembering the following principles:
All people are made in the image of God
Genesis 1:27 makes it very clear that humankind is made in the image of God. Theologians and philosophers have debated what this means for centuries. What is the image of God in us? Is it our ability to reason and think? Is it our ability to form relationships with other people? Perhaps it is the ability to think about ourselves and our relationship with God himself? Or maybe it is the creative element in our make up that reflects God’s image? Or again, the way in which we have an inherent sense of right and wrong and a pull toward making moral decisions? Whilst all of these possibilities contain some element of truth, there is something even more fundamental that needs to be recognised.
Every human being that has ever or will ever walk the face of the earth is made in the image of God. Whatever that means about who they are, there are clear, and often overlooked, implications concerning how we should treat them.
Treating others with respect, giving them dignity, recognising their uniqueness and their right to life – all of these in one way or another flow from the theological truth that every individual is made in the Image of God. Whether they are black or white, male or female, young or old, Christians or not – they are made in God’s image. Whether they are able bodied or not, educated or not, friendly and open or not – they are made in God’s image.
That is the fundamental starting point for Christian social engagement – that we are called to recognise the integral value in humanity – the beauty of God that is so often hidden by sin and failure and pain and brokenness. Perhaps it was this conviction that drove the Lord Jesus to look across a crowd in Matthew 9:36 and have compassion on them? The drug addict, the person who is homeless, in fact all people everywhere, are made in His image – and the people of God are called to respect that.
Whether it is the caste system of India in the 1940’s or the underclass of the marginalised in Britain today, each person being made in the image of God has implications that should drive Christians to action….
God cares about justice, righteousness and poverty
A simple reading of the Old Testament shows us beyond the shadow of a doubt that God cares about justice and righteousness. He has a particular concern for the poor, the powerless and the oppressed, [Ps. 146;5-10]. The cry of His heart is still that justice will flow like rivers and righteousness like a never ending stream [Amos]. God is the righteous judge of all the earth and His people are called to embody that commitment in all that they are and do.
Because God cares, we should care too. One of the reasons for the giving of the law was the removal of oppression from a society called to be holy – the same kind of society that God has called the church to be. Not only was there legislation for the relief of the 'widows, orphans and aliens', (e.g. Ex. 22;21-27) but there was radical equalization of wealth envisaged, most explicitly in the law of seven year release and in the year of the jubilee. (Lev. 25).
It is impossible to read the writings of the minor prophets without realizing that how we treat the poor matters (e.g. Amos 5;10-13 and 26-27 Mic. 1;5-7 & 2;1-2). They often expressed their hopes for an ideal, just and compassionate government under a king like David. (Is.32;1-4 : Jer.30;8-9). Perhaps the clearest example of this is the heart wrenching challenge of Isaiah 58 – which carries with it the faith lifting promise that when we see the marginalized with God’s heart and live out our relationship with God with them and with one another, then we will see the glory of the Lord in a way that we have not previously.
Perhaps one thought provoking question could be – how can you be a Christian and not care about injustice and poverty? Christ’s example of love and action is breathtaking in its simplicity and its power.
As long as there is one person living in poverty, the Christian has a job to do in advocacy, service and work. One person trapped is one person too many.
Incarnational Service – the example of Christ
Serving those around us could not be more clearly exemplified than in the whole ministry of the Lord Jesus himself. He came to the sick, not to the healthy. The incarnation itself is an act of compassion and grace and love that is beyond definition and beyond complete understanding. John 13 tells us that having loved his own, Jesus showed them the full extent of His love and we read of the washing of the disciples’ feet. The example of Christ that we are called to emulate in Philippians 2 is one of service, humility and devotion. When we take up the towel of service and the bowel of humility, we say something more powerfully than we can ever do by words.
Perhaps the evangelical church in the UK would be heard more when it raises its voice to address pressing moral dilemmas – something that it should surely do – if it could also be seen with dirty hands because of its humility and engagement in Christ-like service of the marginalised and the needy.
And we need to remember as we embark on this journey of engagement that the bible makes no allowance for the ‘worthy poor’. There is no such thing. Whilst we will always have the poor with us, we must recognise that to be truly Christlike and incarnational is to learn that we serve – because it is proclamation in deed of the truth of the Gospel. And that means serving those who will never appreciate what we do. Perhaps that is part of the cost of such service – it will never end. We are called to invest our lives, our resources and our time in the lives of others – that they might catch a glimpse of God and his compassion and his love and his infinite ability to transform. This not only forms a bridge to people in a needy world where we can share the love of God available through Christ, it also lives out the truth of the Gospel.
Often agencies will leave a community, funding will dry up and projects will change – but the people of God are called to stay. To live out the hope of the Gospel week after week, year after year – and to show by their presence that God has not abandoned those in need – He never will.
Our lives can be holy, even when our hands are dirty.
Carrying the Presence
The Church of Jesus Christ is a collection of people spread over the globe who are light and salt (Matt 5). We have a transformational agenda! As we live out our call we are engaging in mission powerfully. Jesus said that we did this by carrying good works – and these good works will glorify our Father in heaven. That brings us back to Ghandi and his comment.
But this is about more than just what a local body of believers does – although it is surely about that as well. Christ touches on the core of engagement here. Social action is not just a youth club run on a Friday night by a local congregation, it is about equipping and releasing God’s people to be His light and salt wherever they are. To enable Christians to take up their places across the whole of British society and live out a holiness that, like salt, flavours every area of our lives. This is Christian teachers, doctors and factory workers being empowered and released to live out their faith where they are placed. This is biblical holiness – carrying the presence of God and the light of Christ into every strata of society.
To be in the world and not of it means that the values we hold shape the world around us. Too often we have feared that the values around us would shape us.
Kingdom values
When the reality of who God is has touched our lives we are ushered into the Kingdom of God. We are then part of a vanguard of people who are bring God’s kingdom to bear here on earth. In the prayer we were taught by Christ Himself we pray, ‘Let your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven’ we work to advance the Kingdom because the Kingdom has touched us – and we have been converted. The amazing thing is that our conversion then touches the lives of others – and they see and feel the Kingdom touch them – and so are changed by the grace of God we do not serve the needy so that we can preach at them. Instead we let the Kingdom touch their lives, and we make a difference in the world for Christ. Yet as we do that, the reality of what has changed us, changes them and they are brought to the place that Ghandi never reached – they can hear what we say through what we are.
Kingdom vales also mean that we understand that the role of the Christian in society is not only to preach the message of salvation through Christ – which we must always do, but also that we must work tirelessly to see the reality of the power of God transform our society itself. Social engagement is about a personal transformation that leads to both personal transformation in others and societal transformation in our world. Both are valid – both are needed. Both can happen. Being engaged in social action does not mean that you have abandoned a deep commitment to the need for personal faith in Christ.
The social gospel has no power to change our world. At the same time, any proclamation of the gospel that does not contain a commitment to social action is not the gospel of the New Testament.
The centrality of the Cross
The difference between the Christian believer and other social and political activists is in our understanding of the cross. Despite our realism about fallen human nature, we have a 'certain hope', because God has already acted in Christ to bring about the redemption of sinners (Rom. 3;25-26), and the healing of the world.(Is. 11;1-9 : Col. 1;20 : Rev.22;1-3). The cross has cosmic as well as personal significance.
We engage in social action because we know that hope cannot die in the heart of a Christian community. We recognise that the cross has defeated the power of sin – and we confront the strongholds of sin wherever they are – in a community, in a political system or in a society. Evangelicals have often focused solely on private transformation – but the cross shows us that societal transformation is also possible.
At the heart of the reason that you serve the marginalised, feed the hungry, clothe the naked and care for the widow is the reality that the cross of Christ has set you free – free to make a difference in the world where God has placed you.
Partnership
Christians will disagree on the cross, on their understanding of Jesus and on many other things. We should not disagree on the mandate to work to overcome poverty and exclusion. This is the benchmark around which we can and should gather. Evangelicals do not have a corner on the market here. Together with people from across the Christian spectrum, indeed across the faiths spectrum, there is a need to stand together for the poor, the excluded and the vulnerable. People do not need our pity, they need our commitment and we must learn the principle of distinctive partnership around common causes if we are to achieve real change.
Conclusion
There are many other theological foundations that strengthen the case for social engagement and advocacy – too many to mention here. We have deliberately not discussed the pragmatic areas of historical engagement by the evangelical community or the fact that social engagement works and so on. Perhaps some of these issues can be visited in the future.
One thing is sure, however, Christians with dirty hands and holy hearts make a difference for Him. We will be heard when we speak with our actions - when people can see who we are by what we do
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Rev Malcolm Duncan
Leader of Faithworks
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