The church’s response to poverty is in the context of worship and evangelism. This response is the whole of neither, however.
I want to begin this proposal with two provocative statements. First, transformative justice is impossible if worship and evangelism are not part of the church’s life. Second, if transformative justice is not part of how the church worships and evangelizes, then the worship and evangelism are incomplete.
I will
consider worship first. There are three
reasons why transformative justice is a necessary part of worship.
Transformative
justice is an act of worship because is acknowledges that God takes economic
matters seriously. It is idolatry if we
neglect God’s economic teaching in favour of something else. The central theme of Israelite Law is worship
and the Law exists to make Israel “a holy nation.” A holy nation cannot allow its people to live
in poverty, so the Law includes provisions to allow people to earn a living, that
condemn economic inequality, and that provide all Israelites both with
ownership of land and with security against permanent loss of ownership.[1] If we do not acknowledge that God included
these aspects of economics and justice in the Law, we will look to other
sources to guide our approach to justice.
This is idolatry. It is therefore
not surprising that an explicit connection exists between idolatry and
oppression in the prophetic books.[2]
As
Christians, we need to acknowledge materialism as a powerful idol. We must be intentional to avoid worshipping
this idol. We need to reject the lie
that bigger is always better. We need to
reject the lie that respectability comes from possessions. If we do not reject these lies, our idol will
force us to victimize our neighbours.[3]
Love of money
is another powerful idol. Money is a
good thing and it can do great good, but we idolize it when we love it. Craig Gay speculates that such idolatry may
not be from greed, however. Instead,
money allows us to judge everything monetarily.
The idol of the love of money created a worldview contrary to that of
God.[4] This is dangerous because the love of money
has a spiritual power that can separate people from God. Separation from God leads to vanity.[5]
The second
reason that transformative justice is an act of worship is because it
acknowledges the importance of Sabbath.
John Calvin taught that we cannot understand the biblical ideal of work
if we do not understand Sabbath. Obedience
of Sabbath allows acknowledgement of God’s role in our work. Obedience also makes oppression of workers
impossible because it mandates rest.[6]
Life
includes more than work. This is even true
when working toward transformative justice.
Sabbath is not simply refreshment in preparation for more work.[7] Instead, it allows people to be both stewards
and enjoyers of the world.[8] Rest also allows people to focus on internal matters
such as being contemplative, pious, and spiritual. When these are absent, a person lacks
wholeness.[9]
The third
reason transformative justice is an act of worship is because it obeys Jesus’
command to serve Him by serving the lowest people in a society. How we use and attain possessions demonstrates
what we think of other people. What we
think about other people demonstrates what we think about God. Possessions also reflect what we think of
ourselves. There is a place for God in
our lives. Our approach to God defines
us. If we put possessions in God’s
place, possessions will form the basis of our character.[10]
~
I now want
to consider how transformative justice and evangelism are inseparably
connected. I believe that the connection
exists in three places.
Transformative
justice cannot exist without evangelism because evangelism replaces the idol of
love for money with YHWH, the true God. Serving
the love of money means that money becomes the source of salvation. Money will be what we use to try to counter
any possible pain. When money becomes a
saviour, oppression will follow because we can accumulate money. We could therefore accumulate salvation. Evangelism introduces a new source of
salvation. YHWH takes the place of money
as saviour.[11]
The second
reason that transformative justice cannot exist without evangelism is that
evangelism presents Jesus as Lord. For Jesus
to be Lord, we must repent. Tite Tienou concludes
that evangelism usually leads to social transformation. People repent and social structures
change. The church must demonstrate that
we live the transformed, repentant lives that evangelism presents.[12] We must present salvation as both personally
spiritual and socially tangible. If the
gospel is so spiritual that it does not address real-life circumstances, it will
not meet people. If the gospel is so
worldly that there is no need for a relationship with God, it will not lead to
repentance.[13] Repentance is impossible if a person does not
connect his or her spirituality and physicality as inseparable parts of life. If we attempt to separate them, we will
reject part of God’s character and therefore misrepresent the Kingdom.[14]
Finally, transformative
justice cannot exist without evangelism because transformative justice demonstrates
what the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God will look like. It is the church’s responsibility to
illustrate the Kingdom. In the Kingdom
of God, everything – including wealth – must glorify God. If wealth is going to give God glory, we will
use it to serve others.[15] Foreshadowing the Kingdom of God demonstrates
the truth of Jesus. Teresa of Calcutta
provides an account where a man came to her to tell her that he believes that
Jesus is true. His conversion to
Christianity was sparked by the belief that the accounts of Jesus had to be
true because Jesus helped Teresa to serve in the Home for the Dying. She says, “...we preach Christ without
preaching. Not by words, but by putting
his love and our love into a living action of serving the dying, the homeless,
the abandoned destitute, the lepers.”[16]
[7] I hope you will not think that I
think work is always oppression. Nothing
can be further from the truth. Please
see my previous essay
in my series The Church and the Working
Poor.
[12] Tite Tienou, “Evangelism and Social
Transformation,” in The Church in
Response to Human Need, ed.Vinay Samuel and Christopher Sugden, 179.
[13] David J. Bosch, “Toward Evangelism in
Context,” in The Church in Response to
Human Need, ed.Vinay Samuel and Christopher Sugden, 184.
[14] Robert Moffitt, “The Local Church and
Development,” in The Church in Response
to Human Need, ed.Vinay Samuel and Christopher Sugden, 236.
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