I had been looking forward to this day for months. The epiphaneia conference brought together Dr. Ron Sider (author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger ), Jim Wallis (author of God's Politics ), and Shane Claiborne (author of Irresistable Revolution ). In case you don't know, these are some VERY high calibre speakers.
Let me ask you this, as I was asked this earlier this morning: does change occur through individuals (a right-winged view) or through society (a left-winged view)? I am of the mind that change occurs through individual transformation AND a call for action in the sphere of social justice. You change individuals, you can change society. You change society, you can change individuals.
There are 3 truths that have been fueling my desire for change (as a Christ follower, not a social activist):
1. God LOVES the poor and expects me to get to know, meet the needs of, and love the poor.
2. Sin is both personal and social. Think of economic injustice, legalized oppression, the degradation of our natural environment. I have a lot to answer for.
3. We are all the image bearers of God and as such, we all have immeasurable value to our Creator. Everyone needs access to productive resources so they can make their own way. What is my role in providing these resources?
I can be an agent of change through several avenues. We are called to live lives of simplicity. This includes thinking before we buy, analyzing where we live, exercising self-denial (this isn't a popular concept!!). We are called to live in community. We all need small group support because we can't live like Jesus without support. We need other Christ followers to talk through decisions with, to hold us accountable. We are called to community development. We need to continue to ask why, to attempt to get to the structural roots of problems.
Today, I was introduced to a concept that helps get at one of the structural roots of poverty. Opportunity International (www.opportunityinternational.ca) provides microloans to struggling entrepreneurs in the developing world. As the 'banker to the poor', Opportunity provides money for the poor to grow their own business, no matter how small. The provision of loans and other financial services gives the poor a means of providing for themselves. It is a hand up, not a hand out. In fact, Opportunity clients experience an average increase in profits of 25- 40% in the first year. Also, 96% of the loans get repaid!
As profits increase, the poor can then afford better food, shelter, health and education for their families. They can also expand their business and employ others, impacting not only their own family, but whole communities as well. But poverty is multi-dimensional. Microcredit (the provision of just loans) and microfinance (the provision of loans as well as other financial services such as savings, insurance and remittance products) deal with only one aspect of poverty.
Microenterprise development takes the foundation of microfinance and adds to it business training, mentoring, personal, leadership and spiritual development. Today, Opportunity International is the largest Christian Microenterprise Development (MED) organization in the world.
Again, I found myself coming full circle to my earlier fears and wondering "how do I live faithfully in a world where I'm still learning so much"? Sider helped with some advice. He put things in perspective for me. I'm not called to live a life of personal purity for purity's sake. I can't live in the boon docks and not buy anything, careful not to support any source of economic injustice. What I can do is I can study and learn about realities in our society, what's happening in different companies, how they treat their employees, etc. I can be active in boycotting the worst (myself or in an organized way). I can avoid the systems or corporations that are relatively MORE unjust than others. I shouldn't be overwhelmed by guilt. I can do what I can do, and keep working and learning with my brothers and sisters.
Will you join me in taking care of the widows and orphans? Will you help me when I stumble and need to be reminded that life isn't all about me? Will you help me transform lives AND society for Christ?
2 comments:
Oh, Tammy,
This is an issue I struggle with myself, let me tell you how and why...
I am a mom with a strictly limited income, I have 6 kids, 4 totally dependent and one that is more than half dependent on me.
I have to be very careful to provide my family with the best quality of whatever is needed that my money can buy, and let me tell you that on a monthly basis, the needs outstrip the means. Not because I am spending too much on the items I do buy, just that I really have little income.
Now, in every purchase I am faced with many decisions. In the case of food, I have to be able to try to feed my family nutritious meals, but that is becoming increasingly more difficult. Food is expensive, good food that is, but packaged junk food isn't, that is cheap. Poor quality food is cheap, good, fresh, nutritious and wholesome food is costly. What do I do?
As Christians, we pray over our food for God's blessing, do I just throw caution to the wind and buy the cheaper foods, creating more waste, more emmissions, feeding the profit hungry giants of the food industry? Perhaps adding to the already overburdened Health Care System by knowingly feeding our bodies poor quality, though cheaper foods?
Do I feed our bodies the best I can, trusting God to provide elsewhere, and feed our temples and keep them healthy? This would reduce waste and harmful emmisions, because I would buy foods for meals that need to be cooked from scratch. I would be a responsible citizen by taking care of our bodies and not relying on the State to look after our health.
Then there is clothing. Same thing, do I buy the cheaper clothing from China or countries where labour practices are brutal, or do I spend money on the more expensive items that are made in countries and by companies that have much better labour standards?
What about the dollar stores, most if not all items are made in China. We know what China does to Christians, to unborn babies, and to the unwanted newborns.
We are to be good stewards of the resources that God has given us, but there at times where the line that divides proper responsible, socially conscious, moral decisions from the frugal, the thrifty, "good steward", the necessary decisions is snaky, crooked and maybe even blurred.
I have learned that I am just not financially able to purchase everything my family needs from countries and corporations that are good and fair, socially responsible, and ascribe to good morals. No way, perhaps if I was alone, but not with a family like mine.
I have picked my areas to take a stand on. I buy as much fresh food as I can, and cook from scratch. Takes more time, but it's okay, and if I am a good shopper and plan meals based on flyers (again takes lots more time), I can make my $ stretch and feel good about my purchases.
Clothing is tough. I try to purchase little, make due as much as we can with what we have (but you know teens, and kids grow, and grow, and grow), we buy 2nd hand clothing, and the rest we try to buy the best for the buck, which by-passes the cheap "made in China or exploited country" labels, and keeps quality high.
We also use cold water when we wash for the most part, very little detergent and for every 1 load that uses the dryer, we dry 3 or 4 on the clothes line. Keeps our clothing looking and lasting longer. (thereby reducing our purchases).
Tammy, it gets exhausting at times. Being environmentally conscious, politically conscious and ethically conscious when making any and all purchases does not become second nature, even after years. It is tough.
Then there is the choice of media, anything to do with automobiles, even owning a dog (the stool issue), having a lawn, all can give me headaches.
Is this even right? How much time and effort are we to give this issue? I have a lot on my plate, as other people do, our time and energy is limited.
I believe that we can go overboard on this, making it almost an idol in our lives, and we should be careful not let it take priority over living our lives to shine Christ. We are not to emphasize or model our lives upon a current social paradigm.
As for the vehicle of influence of change upon the whole, I believe that it starts with individuals, and if successful, once that group of individuals gets to a certain number, that now becomes a social pressure upon the whole. Powerful and able to influence the masses by whatever means they chose.
Isn't that how God worked? Started with Abraham, and he influenced those around him, then the group grew to become a nation, and that group became powerful and influential in the world around them. Jesus did the same, started with a handful of men, they influenced individuals, their numbers grew and then you had a "religious movement".
I know this is very jumble and not well presented, but I hope you understood what I tried to express.
Great blog by the way!
Karen,
Thanks for your well thought out comment! As for your thoughts, I agree, it is a dangerous line between gaining knowledge and caring, and becoming obssessed. What has helped to keep me sane is pick 1 issue at a time, and do the best I can with what God has blessed me with. Looks like we are on the same page about that!
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