Social Justice and the Church

 Is the Church called to be neutral, accepting, judgemental, political?  Is this the first time the Church, God's people, has been faced with a global pandemic, national financial crisis, global immigration crisis, racial tension, war, increased violence, and rebellion locally? Maybe I should consider just the Western big C Church since I am a westerner.  The answer is NO.  Let's remember the Spanish Flu, Small Pox, Great Depression, 911, civil rights movement, woman's suffrage, pilgrims in search of religious freedom, dictators in Central America and Cuba or tribal wars in Burma and the Middle East forcing people to flee to safer places all scream NO. 

What is the role of the western Church today? The same as His original call to His people in the Old Testament and again to His disciples and again to the Church of Acts. All of humanity, yes including His people/Church, is still broken, sinful, and wicked. Thankfully, God hasn't changed.  He is still King and He plans to have "His kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven." (MT 6:, LK 11 NIV) At the very least we should begin by obeying God's Word, Jesus' teaching, and follow Jesus' example.  We need only to look at His ministry on Earth and His commission to the disciples.  This isn't a theologically complicated call.  It is quite simple and begins with praying - communing with our God, the King of all the universe, ruler of all.  The prophets were known for it and Jesus taught us how in the scripture above and that told us to pray.  In fact, Jesus often went away from His followers to pray alone.  Shouldn't we?

 Is the Church called to be neutral, accepting, judgemental, political?  Is this the first time the Church, God's people, has been faced with a global pandemic, national financial crisis, global immigration crisis, racial tension, war, increased violence, and rebellion locally? Maybe I should consider just the Western big C Church since I am a westerner.  The answer is NO.  Let's remember the Spanish Flu, Small Pox, Great Depression, 911, civil rights movement, woman's suffrage, pilgrims in search of religious freedom, dictators in Central America and Cuba or tribal wars in Burma and the Middle East forcing people to flee to safer places all scream NO. 

What is the role of the western Church today? The same as His original call to His people in the Old Testament and again to His disciples and again to the Church of Acts. All of humanity, yes including His people/Church, is still broken, sinful, and wicked. Thankfully, God hasn't changed.  He is still King and He plans to have "His kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven." (MT 6:, LK 11 NIV) At the very least we should begin by obeying God's Word, Jesus' teaching, and follow Jesus' example.  We need only to look at His ministry on Earth and His commission to the disciples.  This isn't a theologically complicated call.  It is quite simple and begins with praying - communing with our God, the King of all the universe, ruler of all.  The prophets were known for it and Jesus taught us how in the scripture above and that told us to pray.  In fact, Jesus often went away from His followers to pray alone.  Shouldn't we?

God is still King and Earth is still part of His Kingdom.  His plan of restoring all of His creation to the original paradise is still occuring here between Jesus' first and second coming.  His Kingdom is here already but not quite as it should be.  That is what we should be doing. That truth should unify the Church globally to honor their King by obeying His laws.  His ways are beyond our understanding (IS. 55, NIV) so He boiled all of His teaching down to two simple tasks. The key to successfully ministering to the poor begins in each believer's heart. First, they must love God fully to know how best to love their neighbors as themselves. (Matt. 22, NIV)  Jesus gave the why before the how in response to the church leaders in His day.  If we fully love God and trust Him to care for us we will be mindful of the needs of others and how we might give of what we already have to care for our neighbor, the vulnerable, the foreigner, and the outcast.    This begins in our love and commitment to God individually. The Holy Spirit came upon the apostles in a home, believers practice the breaking of bread in their homes, discipleship occurred in their homes and ends with Paul being placed under house arrest. The first community of believers existed in their homes.  Church begins in the homes of believers as the place for Christian hospitality and then extends to love and serve our neighbors corporately.  Caring or compassion is love in action: servant leadership (civil and ecumentical), challenging the dominant culture/worldview, advocating for the vulnerable, giving generously, protecting the weak, listening to the hurting, comforting the anguished, feeding the poor, freeing the oppressed, housing the homeless foreigner and nursing the sick.  (LK 4, NIV) Simply put compassion is living a life of hospitality.

Kingdom living, the structure of the church, is based on the service or the welfare of the common good. Compared to the dominant culture being structured around exploitation, mistrust, and the power to withhold resources and opportunity. The key to successfully ministering to the poor begins in each believer's heart.  The challenge of today’s church is to continue to live out the Kingdom Economy Jesus began.  The example we set by giving our surplus to those who are in need, sharing our gifts and talents to encourage others to mature in theirs, actively engaging in civil society to challenge the status quo, and advocate for the common good is how we implement Kingdom living today.  Practically, this begins in each believer’s home with simple acts of hospitality, teaching kindness, charity, and giving with a joyful heart to our children and continues by discipleship in our church community.  We have the technology available that allows homes and churches to impact their community and world for the better in giving of expertise, networking, donating money, and advocating for change.  Prayer aligns our heart with God’s so that our actions match the words we speak.  This then is how the world will know we all are His and change our world one home at a time. (JN 13:34 & 35, NIV)