Ethics Articles
Articles: Social Responsibility
>> = Important Articles; ** = Major Articles
Compassion And The Poor (Free Methodist Position Paper)
Helping the Homeless: Who Is My Neighbour? (EFC, 010800)
To Whom Much is Given: America and the Global Tithe (Christian Post, 051020)
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Submitted by Keith Schnell and Lee Barbour
Preface
John Wesley taught that a means of grace available to us is serving the needy. Methodists have strong emphasis on worship and the sacraments but our heritage is the work of holiness and ministry to the poor. These are essentials in the teachings of Christ. His followers work to be faithful to them.
This brief report is an attempt to assemble resources we can use to shape our church’s response to ‘Compassion and the Poor’. Some bibliographic resources have been reviewed and a short bibliography has been developed
Resources List
In present day Canadian society, government agencies and professional organisations have taken up the responsibility for the poor often leaving Christians perplexed as to what to do. Following are a number of resources that give insight and guidance to pastors and local congregations. This is not an attempt to present quick “how to” methods but to give insight into the theology and practise of ministry to the needy through the local church. This list will be updated as other materials are researched and become available.
Recommended Reading
1. Thomas C. Oden - “Pastoral Theology”
This book includes an excellent chapter on “The Care of the Poor”. It presents insights gathered from the Church’s teachings and practise over the centuries. Oden offers helpful suggestions in establishing and building a ministry to the poor through the local congregation. It is timely and useful without playing on guilt. His premise is decidedly Wesleyan in that the ultimate aim of ministry to the poor is to bring healing to people.
2. Robert J. Sider – “Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger”
The foreword to this book by Robert A. Seiple, President of World Vision, Inc. provides key insights into the value of this book.
Rich Christians has never been an easy book to read, because it asks so much of us: the courage to change, nobility of spirit, the willingness to give-not our wealth, but our very lives-and the text continues to ask more of us with each reading, no matter where any of us are in our pilgrimages, no matter how much we have given till now.
As C. S. Lewis once put it, ‘Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of
Perhaps more than any other book, Rich Christians has helped Christians make that intimate connection between millions of hungry mouths and their own futures, their own families’ futures. We are all called to courage-not only those whose bodies are hungry for food, but also those whose souls are hungry for God. Either we are filled together, when we partake of mercy and justice, or else we starve together.
In my own life, the first edition of Rich Christians proved to be the most pivotal book in my personal Christian journey - not a rule book, but a road map. Rich Christians introduced me to Christian holism ‘ which is to say, the totality of the richness of our gospel. Evangelism took on new dimension - the entirety of life, word, sign, and deed. My obligations to humanity have increased because of that first reading. But the God I worship has increased in stature even as my faith has become profoundly more relevant. Rich Christians’ call to simplicity, to take up for the most defenseless, becomes possible only as Christ moves from the boundaries of our lives into the center, where He calls us not to political fervor, but to new life. Christ entrusts His own gifts to us - an immeasurable responsibility to be like Him in extravagant outpourings of love and generosity in a world of increasing suffering, injustice, and moral catastrophe.
With this new edition of Ricb Cbristians, Dr. Sider continues his impressive legacy to the Church on the cusp of the Twenty-first Century. In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, may God “strengthen our courage to act and accomplish something on the earth.”
3. Jean Vanier – “Becoming Human”
Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche, has written an excellent book entitled Becoming Human (1998). The book does not enumerate a program or method to reach those in need. It does give one pause to think about why our reactions to the poor or needy continue to reverberate with ‘they’ and ‘us’. In the third chapter he writes,
“How do we move from exclusion to inclusion? When I talk about ‘inclusion’ of people, whether they are those with disabilities, beggars, like Lazarus, or people suffering with AIDS, I am not talking only about starting up special schools or residences or creating good soup kitchens or new hospitals. These are, of course, necessary. I am not just saying that we should be kind to such people because they are human beings. Nor, is it a question of ‘normalizing’ them in order that they can be ‘like us’, participate in church services, and go to the movies and local swimming pool. When I speak of the inclusion of those who are marginalized I am affirming that they have a gift to all, to each of us as individuals, to the larger forms of human organisation, and to society in general.”
This is an excellent source for developing sermon concepts and ministry rationale in a local church.
4. Also See John Wesley’s Sermons:
1. “The Danger of Riches”
2. “On Riches”
3. “On the Danger of Increasing Riches”
4. “Causes of Inefficacy of Christianity”
5. “On Visiting the Sick”
Web Sites
1. Evangelical Fellowship of Canada: www.efc.canada.com
E.F.C. has developed some very good resources for ministry to the poor. This includes the document entitled, “Evangelical Fellowship of Canada Background Paper on the Bible, Poverty, and Government in Contemporary Canada” (approved August 26th, 1999).
2. National Anti-Poverty Organisation: www.napo-onap.ca
A non-governmental, non-partisan, advocacy organisation of low-income Canadians and others concerned about the issues affecting poor people. It takes the position that it is a voice for Canada’s poor and is an excellent source for current statistics and news releases on poverty in Canada.
3. Sojourners: www.sojourners.com
A progressive Christian group which focuses on social and political issues of the day.
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The corner of Yonge and Dundas Streets in downtown Toronto is a good place to study the contradictions of wealth and need in Canada.
During the day the sidewalks teem with tourists, business people and students from nearby Ryerson University, moving in and out of the newly revitalized Eaton Centre, the trendy Gap clothing store and several large music stores such as HMV and Sam the Record Man. Restaurants and sidewalk vendors also do a brisk trade in the hustle and bustle of Canada¹s biggest city.
But now it’s late in the evening on a balmy spring night and a clutch of young people loiter on the sidewalk. Some of the kids are stoned on drugs or numb from high-alcohol beer. A scruffy couple sits on the pavement with their dog, asking for spare change. A young woman with pink stretch pants and glassy eyes is looking to pick up a trick so that she can pay her rent and the babysitter. Other than the prostitute, it doesn¹t seem that any of them has a home to go to.
Nestled near the Zanzibar strip club and numerous electronics and dollar stores, the grittier aspect of the street, is a sign that reads “Evergreen.” The site is one of four operated by the Yonge Street Mission to administer its 30 programs. These programs reach out to people ranging from newborns to seniors, to the homeless, the underhoused, the lonely, or those with addictions or mental health problems. Evergreen is for young adults like the ones here tonight.
Evergreen sees about 1,200 young people in a month, according to a recent issue of Urban Lights, the Mission’s newsletter. In it the executive director of the mission, Rick Tobias, ponders how many of them have “suffered greatly at the hands of adults. Most have faced very stark choices. Most are simply trying to survive.” He underlines some chilling statistics:
“During the past year, 24 youth associated with Evergreen have been stabbed, four have been pistol-whipped and two young women have been victims of ‘disciplinary rape.’” During the past month, nine youth were stabbed, three in a single day. One young man has died. If [this happened] in any other neighbourhood, this city would be engulfed in rage and grief. But among homeless youth, the mayhem takes place unheeded and unchecked.”
“I wonder how we as Christians can look in the mirror without wondering what we can do to make a difference,” muses Tobias in an interview in his new office at Regent Park. “When Isaiah said that you had to bring the homeless into the house, I don¹t think he meant that every Israelite had to bring a homeless person to their houses. What it does mean is that as a nation we have to take responsibility for the homeless.”
The scene outside his office underlines the point: the Regent Park area, a 10-minute streetcar ride from Yonge Street, is a low-income ghetto of plain, low-rise buildings that houses 10,000 people and is sometimes a scene of violence, drug dealing and despair. In the sand of the meagre play area, parents routinely find broken beer and liquor bottles as well as used hypodermic needles and condoms. Nearby are several public parks and the Don Valley, which are home for hundreds of people who sleep “rough” or in tents.
CAMPAIGNING AGAINST POVERTY AND FOR LOW-INCOME HOUSING
Poverty, homelessness and affordable housing are once again, temporarily, hot issues in the media. Many pundits say that affordable housing is a first step in helping families who have fallen through the cracks of our society and increasingly populate shelters and subsidized motel rooms.
“Homelessness is a form of violence. It¹s physical torture for people in the face of the overwhelming richness they witness in fellow Canadians,” says Gerald Vandezande, a volunteer spokesperson for the Campaign Against Child Poverty, a coalition of Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other faiths. On May 24 the coalition, in partnership with Campaign 2000, ran a two-page advertisement in the Globe and Mail decrying the state of Canada’s children who live in poverty. The ad, fourth in an ongoing series, included endorsements by 400 religious leaders from 17 different faith groups.
Vandezande, author of Justice, Not Just Us: Faith Perspectives and National Priorities (Public Justice Resource Centre, 1999), attends a Christian Reformed church. Homelessness, he says, “is a life without a future for children, some of our most vulnerable citizens.”
Housing is part of the problem says Nelson Riis, calling the plight of homeless children “child abuse.” A Lutheran who served 21 years as a Member of Parliament, Riis is now president of Canadian Rockport Homes International which has developed modular housing built in a local factory with installed plumbing and electrical wiring that can be delivered to a prepared site for a basic unit cost of $8,000. Rockport has signed social housing deals for the first of 15,000 units with Chile and Mexico but has yet to ink a deal in Canada.
“Both Mexico and Chile are not countries we think of as wealthy, but Chile is building social housing units and Mexico is committed to building 750,000 units a year for the next six years,” Riis said in an interview from Vancouver where he is now based. “Churches have to accept responsibility for these situations and make it a priority. Thank goodness they do the work they do with the homeless and those in need, but they ought to lead the charge, to be effective in suggesting solutions for government to follow.”
There are many factors involved in Canada’s current affordable housing crisis, including (1) the federal government¹s retreat from social housing in the 1990s, making Canada the only industrialized country in the world without a national housing program; (2) the cut to provincial transfer payments in 1995 which forced provinces to slash many programs such as welfare and housing; and (3) boom times in large cities like Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa, which force rents up, especially in Ontario where rent controls were removed in 1998.
Statistics from a 1998 report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) indicate that it takes a minimum household income of $65,000 a year to afford a starter home in Toronto, which is more than 65 percent of families in Canada¹s largest city earn.
John van Nostrand, an architect who has designed prefabricated homes he hopes will be used to house the homeless denizens of Tent City in Toronto, says his own daughter has had a pre-approved mortgage for two years.
“She makes $55,000 a year but cannot find anything she can afford in Toronto,” he said. Van Nostrand, an Anglican, has designed housing projects in countries such as Uganda and Kenya. “In Nairobi, there are no homeless. No matter how humble, everyone has somewhere to go.”
It’s all very fine to exchange a tent for a more solid structure, but there is more that needs to be done, says David Smith, executive director of Evangel Hall, a Presbyterian ministry.
“It depends on how well this is done,” he said. “Certainly, to provide a small, self-contained unit that is safe and has its own washroom and kitchen facilities, along with increased safety and not having their stuff get stolen, is an improvement. But we will once more merely be warehousing the poor unless this housing is integrated in the community. It¹s not enough to put people in boxes and leave them there.”
Smith thinks that what needs to be created is not just housing but homes where there is care and support, near shopping and green spaces.
“There needs to be recognition that many of these people have mental health and addiction issues,” he explained. “They will have bad days and they need to know where to turn for support; and that is done in a caring community.”
RECENT IMPROVEMENT BUT NOT CHANGE OVERALL
A recent report by Human Resources Development Canada claims the rate of children living in poverty “has declined from 20 percent in 1996 to 18.0 percent in 1998” largely due to the Child Tax Benefit, what used to be called the ‘baby bonus.’ Human Resources admits, however, that its tracking methods are flawed because “they do not describe how [the Benefit] interacts with other economic forces.”
However, the overall situation shows no signs of recovery, according to “The Canadian Fact Book on Poverty 2000,” a report by the Canadian Council on Social Development. The report is careful to distinguish between “the state of affairs in many Third World countries” from the situation in Canada. “Poverty in this country is a matter not of starving but rather of begging for food at food banks and shelters, and of being shunted from one substandard shelter arrangement to another. For an increasing number of people, it even means living on the street and panhandling. This dreary picture is the result of an unequal distribution of riches rather than a lack of riches.”
Faith groups point out that a slight upturn does little to alleviate a 45 percent increase in poverty which they say occurred between 1989 and 1999. Laurel Rothman is national coordinator for Campaign 2000, an anti-poverty campaign supported in large part by the Canadian Council of Churches, the Canadian Council for Reform Judaism, and Citizens for Public Justice.
Campaign 2000 took its name from a motion passed unanimously by the House of Commons in 1989 promising to try to end child poverty in this country by 2000. Campaign 2000 formed to address what government and businesses can do to help.
“The government’s report only looks at the trends during two years, but the fact is that we¹ve gone from one in seven of all children in this country living in poverty to one in five,” said Rothman.
“During that time we had a very strong labour force with low unemployment and yet the poverty figures are still very high.”
One contributing factor is that minimum wage levels across the country have remained too low, according to Rothman and Pat Nixon, a Baptist minister and executive director of the Mustard Seed, a ministry in Calgary.
“Everyone thinks that Calgary has an oil well in every McDonald’s parking lot, but that is not true,” Nixon said. “People also think that Toronto has most of the needy people in the country. We have seen an increase of 30 percent per year for the past five years, which translates into 800 people per day that we serve, and many of these people are from the Maritimes or British Columbia. But even if we help people to get back on their feet and get a job, they can work all day for $5.50 an hour, the minimum wage in Alberta, and they are still going to be hungry and have no place to go.”
FAITH COMMUNITIES MUST JOIN DISCUSSIONS
“Faith communities represent a wide swath of Canadians, and I think it is right for them to contribute to ethical and moral discussions, especially in this particular situation,” says Laurel Rothman. “But they need to base any recommendations on sound information.”
Rick Tobias agrees, especially with the large issues in Toronto like the redevelopment of the waterfront or the Olympic bid, which has some people fearful that low-income people will have even a more difficult time as was the case in Atlanta, Georgia and Sydney, Australia.
“You can’t sit on the outside and throw darts. We have to engage government,” he said. “It is incumbent upon us to know who our local politicians are and to communicate with them. If we get the Olympics, then everyone in Ontario should be writing to local, provincial and federal politicians and saying, ‘Congratulations. We support this and will be down there volunteering. By the way, we need 10,000 units of social housing for the people who will get displaced by this.’ I think every church ought to concern itself with issues like this.”
“We are much worse off with less government supports and the closing of many programs,” says David Smith. “But one major problem is that technology is leaving people behind. We have lost manual labour jobs that are used to give many people dignified, gainful work. They have been replaced by machines and computers.”
So while reporters and photographers dash off in all directions to interview another homeless person or review numerous published reports on poverty, the number of people looking for help and the complexity of their problems have grown.
MORE THAN A MEAL AND A BED
Traditionally when the homeless population was mostly older men with alcohol problems or other addictions, street ministry was usually limited to a hot meal and a bed for the night. While the numbers of homeless people and the complexity of their problems have grown, ministries such as the Yonge Street Mission and Mustard Seed have been finding new and innovative faith-based solutions that provide hope and support for families in areas of need, and for the youth, women and children who increasingly come to the door for help.
For example, the Yonge Street Mission¹s new site at Regent Park, sponsored initially by the City of Toronto, is dedicated to community economic development by providing jobs at the on-site thrift store as well as computer training for children and other programs.
One major problem for low-income and homeless people is lack of access to financial institutions; many banks discourage welfare recipients from having an account, forcing them to go to cheque cashing stores that charge up to $30 to cash a $500 welfare cheque, according to Rick Tobias.
“Not just that, but soon there won¹t be any bank branches in this neighbourhood, only the Money Mart,” he said. “I wouldn¹t want to be a bank president with shareholders yelling at me because share dividends aren’t high enough and others yelling because they aren’t charitable enough. Banks are the single largest contributor to the United Way [of Greater Toronto]. Conversely, banks are leaving low-income communities. My problem with a discussion like this is, do we want to make the banks bad guys because they do that, or are they good guys because they do lots of stuff?”
Rather than get into an adversarial relationship with the big banks, Tobias is getting them to help in other ways. Yonge Street Mission is starting a cheque cashing club with the help of the Royal Bank and will charge only about $5 to cash a cheque. TD Securities funds a computer lab for 8- to 13-year-olds, most of whom are Muslim or Hindu, in Regent Park. The agency collects donated, used computers, reconditions them and gives them to families for a cost of about $300 each. Internet provider AOL provides a course in Internet skills and etiquette and gives graduates a 10-year certificate for free access.
“This prepares kids for the world ahead of them,” says Tobias. Many of Yonge Street Mission’s other programs also aim at economic development.
Teaching computer literacy, marketable job skills and offering pre-employment support help people become self-supporting and get into housing or prevent their becoming homeless in the first place.
Homeless people in Canada still need emergency shelter, hot meals and fellowship, and many Christian groups are meeting those needs. But to reverse the trend requires different approaches, like those mentioned above. Other groups, such as Calgary¹s Mustard Seed Mission, are also developing unique programs to go beyond the status quo. Mustard Seed is working on music, arts, and even health and fitness programs. Many secular agencies get most of their funding from the government, but Mustard Seed gets 80 percent of its funding from private sources such as business, individuals and churches. Nonetheless Nixon still thinks that various levels of government need to reinvest in social housing and to provide support for the many homeless or underhoused people who have serious mental health or addiction problems.
“I can look at Tony who came here from the Maritimes with nothing,” Nixon said. “We gave him help and now he has a job and a home. About 50 percent of the people we help are like Tony; they need temporary assistance. What I¹m concerned about is the other 50 percent who need long-term support in the community. We believe that the community as a whole needs to participate, including government.”
COMMUNITY MISSIONARIES
One mission has boldly abandoned traditional programs such as food banks, as well as any reliance on government funding or programs, and completely redefined its role as missionaries in the city. Ken Little, executive director of the Toronto City Mission, lives near St. Jamestown, a collection of high-rise towers that house 20,000 people and boast the densest population in the country.
“We took studies done by the City of Toronto and targeted the three neediest areas of the city,” he said. “The people who work as missionaries live in the communities they serve. The three major indicators of families at risk are lone-parent families, social assistance and subsidized housing. We can’t do anything about social assistance and subsidized housing, but we can support lone-parent families. We have focused on a need that we can help with. We realize that the kingdom of God is bigger than we.”
The missionary teams befriend people in the community and figure out what is the greatest need, whether it is after-school programs or lone-parent support groups, then seek partnerships with churches and other area organizations to provide space and support.
“We believe that God tells us to treat our neighbours as ourselves,” he said. “When you have state social workers who don¹t live in the neighbourhood and have life-long clients, it undercuts what God wants for us. You need to come alongside people and care for them.”
WHAT’S GOOD FOR ALL
Rick Tobias thinks that the solutions ultimately lie in getting individuals to consider what is good for all people, not just themselves.
“We live in a society that focuses on ‘me and mine,’ he explained. “Everyone is saying, ‘What are my rights as a micro-society? What are my rights as a victim, a prisoner, woman, child, cultural group, whatever?’ And what we have lost is asking questions about what is the good for all. How do you change 30 million Canadians to get them thinking, ‘Gee, I wonder what’s good for the next person?’”
“I’m a believer in faith-based organizations that have built-in caring, that are not businesses or bureaucracies,” says David Smith. “We are well suited to help but not alone. We’ve seen a shifting of responsibility from government to faith groups and others, but we need help. I just think about the millions of people in Toronto and how if everyone gave just $25 each to their favourite charity, the difference it would make.”
Despite the differences of opinions about solutions and with all the talk of political engagement, Pat Nixon likes to remind himself why he is there.
“Ultimately, all this is about worship,” he said. “Everything we do here, the meals, counseling, programs, it¹s all worship to God as much as on Sunday. The bottom line is to shine a light in the community, to reach out to the poor.”
And Ken Little thinks mission is within everyone’s grasp, not just those on the front lines in the cities.
“You get to know your neighbours; it is a fundamental calling,” he said. “When you get to know your neighbour, small, practical expressions of love happen spontaneously. Say you can’t afford babysitting, well ‘I¹ll do it for you.’ Or car pooling for people who need a ride. The grand stuff is important, but every Christian needs to be yeast in society. It doesn’t matter where you live to reach out with compassion.”
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Margaret Dinsdale is a freelance writer in Toronto.
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I. Evangelism and social concern have been intimately related throughout the history of the Church.
II. In the 19th. century, the church was actively involved in social reforms:
A. John Wesley was a preacher of the gospel and a prophet of social righteousness. Some historians have attributed to Wesley’s influence that Britain was spared the horrors of a bloody revolution like France’s.
B. William Wilberforce fought to achieve the emancipation of slaves in 1833. Other reforms in U.K. under the Christian influence include penal reform, popular education, factory legislation.
C. In the U.S., social involvement was both the child of evangelical religion and the twin sister of evangelism, e.g. evangelist Charles Finney against slavery.
III. In the 20th. century, evangelical churches try very hard to avoid to talk about social issues, thus abandoning involvement in social problems.
IV. Reasons for “The Great Reversal”:
A. reaction against theological liberalism which trusts the moral capability of man
B. reaction against “social gospel” (Rauschenbusch identified the Kingdom of God with a “reconstruction of society on a Christian basis”, implying that human beings can establish the divine Kingdom by themselves.)
C. widespread disillusion and pessimism following World War I, because of its exposure of human evil.
D. spread of dispensationalism emphasizing the world will deteriorate steadily until the coming of Jesus, thus the world is not the concern of Christians.
Charles Ryrie (of Ryrie Study Bible) in his book Christians and Social Responsibility: Jn 12:8 to prove that Christians cannot (and therefore should not) solve the problem of poverty in the society but he forgets the verse in Dt 15:11.
E. spread of Christianity among middle-class people who are anxious to maintain the status quo, are unsympathetic or indifferent to the hardship of the poor, and tend to support institutions that brought them material benefit and social standing, e.g. in favour of large profits for big corporations based on trickle down theory.
V. However, we should not avoid the issue and our responsibility in order to avoid being misunderstood by others. Proper teaching of truth is more important (Ac 20:20,27).
VI. On the other hand, we should know that salvation through faith is the ultimate and the only answer to social problems.
Social gospel:
I. Main points [crusading for a Kingdom of social justice]
A. gospel to the individual not as important as the salvation of the mass
B. sin of man as a result of the deteriorating society, thus the society must be changed first
C. perfect society to be built by cooperation and love among mankind
D. emphasizes peace and racial equality
E. faith in the potential of man (humanism)
II. Rauschenbusch [sin is selfishness]
A. felt a need to minister to the victims of social indifference, political corruption, and economic greed
B. Christian life devoted to reign of God on earth, in individual hearts and in all society
C. sin is selfishness and greed that result social ills
D. Jesus was killed by the forces of corporate sins (such as religious bigotry and corruption of justice). His death is redemptive because it reveals those sins in all their horror, sets perfect love over against them, and summons us now to the prophetic mission of working against them for the Kingdom of God.
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Worldwide it is believed that more believers were martyred in the last century than during the previous 1900 years of Christian history. They were martyred by secular religions like Communism and Nazism as well as theistic ones such as Islam. The numbers were in the millions. The 21st Century is shaping up to be no better. One look at the atrocities now being committed against Christians in the Sudan is a stark reminder of this fact. But one place this slaughter has never occurred is in the United States. We have been blessed for hundreds of years to live in a nation that has allowed us the precious freedom to live out our faith in peace and security. Yes, there has been some persecution against believers here during recent years but such difficulties are not worth comparing to what has been inflicted on the saints in other parts of the world. We are blessed beyond measure to be Christians living in the United States.
But with any blessing comes responsibility. In Luke 12:48 Jesus declares that “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” We who have the privilege of living in this country have been “given much.” What are we to do to live out the words of our Lord spoken in this passage?
One of the most obvious blessings of which we partake by living in stable America is material wealth. The United States is the richest country in the history of the human race. Even this nation’s less fortunate are well off by comparison with the poor in places like Bangladesh or Ethiopia. Most American Christians, as with the rest of their countrymen, possess a standard of living that is beyond the wildest dreams of someone struggling for their very physical survival in the most destitute countries of the Third World. In such locales the Church, if present at all, shares in that destitution. This is where we come in.
The pattern of the First Century Church was for the wealthy churches to aid the less wealthy ones. In his travels the Apostle Paul took collections from the more well off congregations and carried them to places like Jerusalem where the local churches were struggling to make ends meet. The idea was that no one church would have too much at the expense of the rest of the Body of Christ. I believe that this pattern is applicable to the Church universally and at any time in history. The wealthy Western Church today has been given much financially. What is asked of us seems clear, to share this blessing with our impoverished brethren around the world.
Of course some of this aid is already flowing. A multitude of both church and para-church ministries in the United States are involved in utilizing our giving for Christian relief efforts around the world. An obvious example would be the various “compassion-oriented” organizations like Feed the Hungry and World Vision which provide not only economic aid but also Christian instruction as to children and their families in the Third World. But such aid is aimed at individuals and families more than the corporate church. Initiatives aimed at church-building are less visible to American Christians who are compelled, as indeed they should be, by the sight of starving children.
Perhaps it is time to look at tithing as more than the support of our home churches. In a larger sense maybe we need to tithe globally as well as locally. The Church is far bigger than our own congregations. Is our responsibility to give of what we’ve been given best met by building a new addition to a “mega-church” here or by donating enough to give a poor congregation in Rwanda a roof over their heads? Should one part of the Body of Christ flourish at the expense of another part? Not if we desire the whole body to ultimately be healthy and not if we want to obey its Head.
If God so leads it may be that a grassroots effort to promote such a “Global tithe” is needed to educate American believers on both the magnitude of the need and the biblical imperative to meet that need. Leaders and laity must be helped to understand the urgency of helping world churches that are impoverished, persecuted or both. Whether the effort originates in Para-church organizations or from Christians mobilized denominationally is perhaps not as important as getting the effort started in the first place.
When it comes to charity there is, in the United States, a glorification of helping those in our own backyard before giving money to “foreigners.” To some extent this idea has infected the Church here. It should not be so. In an era when advances in telecommunications and transportation really have given rise to a sort of “Global Village,” churches in other parts of the world become closer and more known to those here. We can no longer claim ignorance of what is happening to our brothers and sisters in other nations nor can we claim that we do not have the means to help, the communications satellite and the 747 have seen to that. The starving or persecuted Christians in the “Developing World” are now living, in a sense, right down the street from us. It is our responsibility, and our privilege, to share the blessings that come from being an American Christian with them. Christ bids us to give much for we have surely been given much and, in these last days, it is safe to say that we may be running out of time.
[Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on July 5, 2003.]
Shea Oakley
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