A Biblical mandate for advocacy on poverty and corruption - ABLI presentation
Saturday, August 4, 2012 at 5:47AM Yesterday I had the great honour of speaking in the Plenary and conducting a workshop session at the African Biblical Leadership Initiative (ABLI) forum in Uganda.
I was invited to present on our campaign 'EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption'. A number of the participants asked me to upload the slides from the presentation.
You can view the slides online below (please note that the first slide is blank, there is content from slide two).
If you would like to download a copy of the slides you can download them in PowerPoint format here. They are in PPTX format and the file size is about 7.5MB. If you use the slides please just attribute their source.
I told three stories to make the point that Christians have a responsibility, a ministry, to advocate for justice (speaking out against corruption and working with and for the poor).
Story 1 was called Philip's story. It asks a powerful theological question: If God has made the earth plentiful. If Africa is so fertile and rich in natural and human resources, then why is he, and so many other Africans, stuck in abject poverty?
I used this wonderful video from NURU international.
Story 2 is a Biblical story. I give some Biblical and Theological input on God's Economy (the oikos [household] nomos [management]). The etymology of the contemporary English word 'economics' derives from two Greek words that mean the 'management of the household of God'. The basic point here is that God desires a different standard of equity, justice and the management of the earth's resources so that every person can have a share of God's loving provision to flourish and live in blessing.
Some participants challenged a statement that I made in which I said that the prosperity 'gospel' is not Biblical. I stand by that statement. I do not believe that God is an 'investment banker' where if one follows certain deterministic principles God is contractually bound to make one rich. Moreover, it is simply not possible for the world to all live at the same standard of consumption that is expounded by prosperity preachers. We can sustain that level of consumption of the natural resources of the earth. If every person on earth lived at the standards of the average first world citizen the planet would depleted in a few short years.
However, I also do NOT believe that it is God's desire that the poor should remain in poverty. I also do not believe that all wealth is evil and wrong. I believe that what God wants is greater equity between the poor and the rich. In God's economy no child should have too much while another child has too little. Of course there would be some who have more (e.g., persons who pursue business) and some who have less (persons such as myself who follow a life of service in the academy or in ministry). However, no one should have too little and no one should have too much.
I do believe that part of the ministry of the Church is to develop the nation. We should be involved in economic development. We should be encouraging entrepreneurship. However, we should also be encouraging responsible stewardship. We should be encouraging simple and responsible living.
Aman, and a visiting Bishop from Zambia, both put their finger on the problem. They both suggested that the problem is the terminology that we use. For me, and many 'westernised' Christians the word prosperity has connations of excess (i.e., how does one get a bigger house, a better car, a higher salary than the good one already has). However, for most poor persons prosperity means being able to meet the needs of your family and live with a reasonable measure of economic and social freedom.
Just to give some credit, I used a slide from my colleauge at the University of Stellenbosch, Dr Marius Nel, in this section. It traces the development of the Historical Jesus scholarship. I basically ask the question 'which Jesus shapes your faith?' In short, the kind of Jesus that one finds preached by popular television preachers does not resemble the Jesus of the Bible very much. If you want to find out what the Jesus of scripture cared about do yourself a favor and JUST read the red letters of the Gospels (the words of Jesus) for a month or so and see what Jesus thinks about, talks about, and cares about. You may be surprised that he cares more about justice, economics, gender relations, systems of power in society than you thought.
Story 3 is our story. I used the 'EXPOSED - Shining a light on corruption' campaign as an example of advocacy on corruption and poverty. In this section I drew on the great work of my colleague, Amanda Jackson, on advocacy.
I used this video.
I hope there may be something of use here. Please let me know what you think. God bless, Dion
