THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH IN A WORLD TORN BETWEEN POOR AND RICH

ALLEN TIMILEHIN OLATUNDE

DECEMBER 2009

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Poverty and affluence are two striking realities of our time. On one hand, half of the entire human family in our time is living in abject poverty. Day by day, their number is increasing and their situation is deteriorating. It is a hard and brutal reality, says Mary Mel L’Ecuyer[1]* Silvanus. When there is large gap between the rich and poor in our community and church, we are all affected. All large gap creates social divisions (‘us’ versus ‘them’), fear and resentment. It can lead to other social problems in our community, such as health disparities and crime. The fact is any of us can find ourselves suddenly at the bottom of the income scale.  A crippling accident, a market downturn, or a divorce can sometimes result in unexpected poverty[2] * internet http://www.vancouver.

Today, this tension has been increasing sharply in the name of globalization that creates a single world economy, which eliminates all traditional and small-scale societies and economies by the centrality of the market. Some people are enriched fabulously, but many more are not only not better off, but are actually being driven deeper into poverty and misery. In 1996, the United Nations Development Program noted that with the increase in wealth, the disparity between the rich and the poor is growing worse in nearly all parts of the world, with roughly 20 percent enjoying the fruits of global capitalism, and the rest struggling to hold their ground and slipping away into deeper poverty. Indonesia is not an exception as far as all the aforementioned issues are concerned* Silvanus. It is realized that there have always been problems and factors that separated peoples and nations. The issue now is not posed mainly by ideological differences but rather by the widening gap between those who are well off and those who are poor. In spite of the impressive economic growth of human societies during the last thirty years, the number of poor is increasing. The satisfaction of their basic human needs is far from being achieved, at a time when one third of the world population has reached an unprecedented level of over-consumption* Julio santa ana pg 20.  An anonymous writer of online article reacts on the bitter truth of poverty as wound unhealed in the Third World and the advanced nations could not know the ravaging infection of poverty making many vulnerable. He writes further on the agony of poverty:

The strangest thing of is why we should be so rich anyway. The West largely grew rich on the back of its empires but colonies are a thing of the past, no? Well, though it’s become unfashionable to send soldiers into a country to rob it blind, the West continues to prosper whilst the poor countries stay poor – what are we to think, that countries like India, Malawi and Guatemala are just plain dumb? That they just can’t get it together to make a buck? Okay, most poor countries have suffered through war or internal conflicts but it’s no coincidence that the arms manufacturers and traders are largely based in the West… So maybe I’m running off at the mouth. It’s all been said before but sometimes it doesn’t hurt to put things in a little perspective. Thousands died in the awful attacks on America of 9/11. But every year millions children die across the world as a result of inadequate nutrition and healthcare. The only reason that it doesn’t make the headlines every day is that their deaths are quite unspectacular.  This world could be such a paradise and yet it’s a hell for so many. The wealth of the richest 358 people in the world equals that of 2.5 billion of the poorest*Roadjunky

According to the latest report of the National Statistics of Indonesia in June 2006 - which can represent the image of Third World Nations situations under poverty attack -  the number of population living in poverty is 22 percent or roughly 50.8 million of the total population. Many are living on the poverty line, and even many more living under the poverty line. The researcher sees that the case of poverty in Indonesia does not only bring hunger, diseases, illiteracy, lack of proper housing, as well as crimes and immoralities. More than that, the unresolved malnutrition of the children can be a cause of degeneration in the future life of the nation. And this is not only affecting the government’s activities, but directly influencing the very life of the Church. It is the Church’s problem, too. Based on data survey made by Admajaya Research center in 2001 that 67.7 percent of the Catholics are poor farmers. Majority of the victims are the poor who are being used unjustly. * Silvanus.

The sting of poverty has founded its ground in the global community and even in the church militating against the spread of Gospel. The third world made their popularity through the development of poverty effects and more nations are joining the team every year. Now, where is the position of the church of God in cutting short the epidemic of poverty in our nations, cities, towns and homes? The response to these questions shall be focused on rebirth of mission of the church to its responsibility, winning the world and bridging the gap between poor and rich.   The graph illustration below describes the widen gap between poor and rich on economic status from 1600 to the end of 20th century.

To support the illustrated graph, an online freedom writer reviews the statement of Heinlein on poverty matters. As Robert A. Heinlein said,

"Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded -- here and there, now and then -- are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty."* http://freedomkeys.com/gap.htm

Poverty has shown up itself as the main factor that reflects the difference between the poor and rich in the world of development. The state and the church become the victim of the menace as it affects worship and political loyalty. This work shall proceed to know what exactly “poverty” is and who is “poor”.

CHAPTER TWO

OVERVIEW OF THE POOR

WHO ARE THE POOR?

It is a general term used every where when some needs are found wanting. The victim of such incident is poor and in African tradition, a poor man is incapacitated to meet up with social responsibilities like family spending, contribution into communal duties, peers/societal occasions, etc. Poor means not rich: lacking money or material possessions affected by poverty: characterized by widespread or evident poverty; a poor part of town; one of the poorest countries in the world inferior: not of good quality or not in good condition; having little skill or ability; lower than expected or needed in quantity, number, or amount;  poor wages; lacking strength, power, stamina, or resilience; in poor health deficient: lacking or deficient in something (often used in combination);  lacking fertility or nutrients low in valuation: low in a scale of value; has a poor opinion of himself deserving pity: deserving pity or compassion, especially because of something that has just happened.* Encarta dictionary. Poverty rests on the shoulder of one that lacks one need and sometimes the wants that may be fantasy. However, it can be viewed as center on individualism (blaming the person who is poor for his or her circumstances), social structuralism (blaming our government or institutional structures for poverty), having a culture of poverty (values and beliefs), or fatalism (some kind of destiny or predestination)*internet source wordpress.

How the views of Christians toward the poor are different than what other observes for society in general? There is no difference. Rebecca Barns* calls it “spiritual schizophrenia.” Poverty is the condition of lacking basic human needs such as nutrition, clean water, health care, clothing, and shelter because of the inability to afford them. This is also referred to as absolute poverty or destitution. Relative poverty is the condition of having fewer resources or less income than others within a society or country, or compared to worldwide averages*wikipeda. The standard of living of each country differs in defining exactly the rate of poverty in the land. Anyone living below the standard of living of the nation in accord to the GDP is classified as a poor person. The need to meet up the survival level becomes the gap between the poor and rich. “Poor,” is a term that always implies collectivity and social conflict. The “poor” in the Bible are a social group, a whole people, “poor of the land.” They are a people poor and tormented, despoiled of the fruits of their labour, writhing under the oppressor’s injustice*Gutierrez pg96. a nation can be poor as the GDP is rated below the agreed dollars among the United Nations Consensus.

Extracted from http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/

THE POOR: CONCEPT OF VULNERABILITY

The poor are found in every community in the world. One common denominator among those who are poor is the lack of adequate food required to sustain life. It is the most dehumanizing situation that one can face, not knowing where the next meal will come from. Bosch states that ‘”being poor is quite incontrovertibly a material reality”* Bosch. The poor are found in city slums and in rural villages. They are in refugee camps and in prisons. They are found in the backdrop of war-torn countries and in the aftermaths of natural disasters as they are pushed to the peripheries of society by natural calamities caused by global ecological disasters as man plunders the earth. They are the prostitutes and the prisoners. They are the urban poor living in what is usually referred to as slum dwellers at risk of eviction or destruction from developers. They are substance abusers and the sick with no hope of getting medical assistance. They live in the shadow of death due to illnesses many which are preventable. They have no access to clean water; if they are fortunate to have any water available. They lack shelter, a place to call home; they are left naked to be exposed to any danger from nature or attack from man made danger of gangs. They are physically blind, deaf, lame or with body deformities from birth or due to preventable diseases such as leprosy, trachoma or polio. Many are tired and exhausted toiling for their livelihood because they want to live. It is a vicious daily cycle of pain and hopelessness. The poor are always looked down upon as if there is something wrong with them* Mindoe. Is there? This is rhetorical question that one noted economist, the American john Kenneth Galbraith from HarvardUniversity responded to as the distance between the rich and poor cannot be overcome. He points out that the plight of millions of marginalized people must be understood as a constitutive structural reality*Julio santa ana p20.

However, poor are enslaved attributable to their caste or the battle of supremacy of races, tribes or clans propagated throughout centuries by ideologies and religion. The results of poverty are normally the causes of poverty primarily marginalization, exploitation and oppression* Linthicum pg 10. Poverty is not only a sub-Saharan Africa problem; it exists in Australia amongst the Aborigines, in Asia amongst the Dalit women, in Americas amongst the indigenous people and in Europe amongst the homeless people pushed to the street by failing economies. Jesus mentioned these categories in his inaugural sermon recorded in Luke 4:18-19 and in reference to the passage that has branded the poor as ‘the Least of These” in Matthew 25:31-46* Mindoe. 

The Bible shows special concern for the poor, the vulnerable, the forgotten and the oppressed. Most church goers either do not share concern for the poor or do not know how to turn concern and good intention into action. The magnitude of the needs of the poor overwhelms the wealthy. The numerous debates on definitions, the cause and effect of poverty and the models that work best to eliminate poverty go on as the poor continue to suffer. The heritage of the Christian faith in the past century is filled with a myriad of injustices from colonialism, slavery, apartheid, environmental irresponsibility and mistreatment of women as some of the ills that the church has been identified with. Even so the church has been at the forefront in looking for ways to alleviate poverty is simple acts of kindness.

THE POOR: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

The sting of poverty has become the linking chains that connect generations to one another in the frame of wanting to survive. In history, poor people had been, still struggling and many, however, struggled to survive through the past record of oppression in the world humiliating the oppressed; taking away their right of living because of inability to have voice that could be heard. This generation met poverty on ground and still worries what might cause the ravaging poverty that give no chance to foretell tomorrow without fear and ambiguity. It is sad to note that poor people existed from the biblical age when the eye of the oppressor was red against the helpless men ruling them like god of their will. The story told in the various biblical accounts is one of oppression and struggle, as is the history of Latin American peoples. Oppression and liberation are the very substance of the entire historical context within which divine revelation unfolds, and only by reference to this central fact we understand the meaning of faith, grace, love, sin and salvation. We Christians speak of oppression, we cannot afford to do in abstract, universal, non-analytic terms. We are speaking of an experience that is very concrete: of political and economic tyranny, of despoliation, torture, assassination, imprisonment, disappearance, all against the backdrop of a fetishized structure with a deadly logic of its own*Tamez pg 10.

It is a logic that leads to the denial of all basic rights of the human person and to downtrodden peoples. Oppression is the basic cause of poverty in the Bible. The oppressed are therefore those who have been impoverished, for while the oppressor oppresses the poor because they are poor and powerless, the poor have become poor in first pace because they have been oppressed. The biblical principal motive for oppression is the eagerness to pile up wealth, and this desire is connected with the fact that the oppressor is an idolater. The example of oppression can be seen in 1Kings chapter 21 elaborately dramatized the tragedy pf the powerless poor man that was oppressed with power, taking away his inheritance without striking conscience*Tamez pg 15. It is miserable. King David also did such evil humiliating the poor soldier by taking his only precious property, his wife, as concubine and worked out the fast-stricken death to cover up the crime. The act of oppression is an age long phenomenon which however enter this age on large scale; killing, molesting, oppressing the poor as the human with soul.

*Tamez notes again theta oppressor exerts pressure on the oppressed, degrades the poor, and oppression causes a people to cry out for liberation. The rich oppresses the poor in order to rob them, oppression dehumanizes the poor, is surrounded by lies, exits but there is also hope, oppressor enslaves and kills the oppressed, and the poor are ground down so that they may be robbed.  All these are the account of the biblical oppression against the poor. If this can happen within the Bible time, then we should be on foot strong to withstand the period when ungodliness and complacency rule the heart of man; struggling to win the world into his pocket without considering what steps may be whether human or anything else. The issue has been globalized as they nations are rated according to their wealth and poverty.* Tamez  pg 29

There is every indication in our time that the world has come of age, in the sense that even in the secular world there s a greater sensitivity to the plight of the marginalized of the world. Institution like the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Disaster Relief Organization (UNDRO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Food and agriculture organization (FAO) are living manifestations of that sensitivity. Religious people ad institutions too have been working hard at making the world sensitive to the factors that promote poverty in nations – unjust, international structures, false indices of the development, political oppression, etc. for all that, however, the world press carries constant news of increase in the volume of refugees, a victim of oppression, of the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor, with the latter getting poorer every day* Copeland, luther E

Pobee in his writing indicates that in 1981 the World Bank reached the alarming conclusion that by the end of the decade 70 percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa would be living in absolute poverty, a situation in which “the basic necessities of human existence are lacking”. The sign of this doom is coming true over Africa already – Ghana, Uganda, Zaire, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Liberia, etc. worse still, Africans in that painful poverty around are showing signs of a sense of powerlessness, a sense of defeatism, a sense of betrayal – if not by God, at least by those nations of the North whom they had joined in a life and death struggle against the fascist regimes of Hitler and Mussolini. In the face of poverty, there is a deep sense of hurt on the part of Africans. The dimension of poverty in the world today is staggering and depressing. It is in this context that the proclamation “Blessed are he poor” is made. Is thus a sanctioning of poverty and therefore an invitation to leave things as they are? Does it really a gross insentivity to conditions of abject poverty? This shall be explained as we further in this research work *Pobee.

In our contemporary world, it would appear that the principal history makers are the powerful, not the weal and marginalized. The marginalized make news only when they are presented as a problem. When they make headline news, they are seen as the problem of those who are in power and who have deal with them. They are seldom presented as human beings with equal rights and equal voice*Persuad Journal 354. The more the cry of the poor, the more the power of the rich (the powerful ones) in this era. It is an illusion to threaten lives to acquire more power. The marginalized could not make move because they are powerless and voiceless. Formerly, the poor were the architects of history as God uses the less privilege to display His glory. But now the hand of the oppressor overrules the nations of the Third World as though they are lifeless and purposeless. On the third world issue, Persuad and Naipaul however provide their views on that:

The use of “Third World” poignantly illustrates our argument. “Third world” is used to describe masses of people who have not been consulted as to whether they belong to the “Third World.”* Persuad.pg 354 “Third World” does not exist. He points out that the nomenclature does an injustice to the poor by presenting them as a homogenous lot. Noting could be further from the truth, even when the criteria are economics, culture, politics, etc. the longer I live, the more convinced I become that one of the greatest honors we can confer on other is to see that as they are, to recognize not only that they exist but that they exist in specific ways and have specific realities. The idea of a “Third World”, despite its congenial simplicity, it is too shadowy to be of any use *Naipaul pg 3.

The argument of the “Third World” is to deny the fact that poor people are hot human. If the world can see the poor as part of the world molder, the idea of the segregation will not be a forceful element that widens the gap between poor and rich. The issue needs more attentive approach to embrace the fact that marginalized; the poor could be seen with the eye of human that needs help not to be relegated.

THE REALITY OF POVERTY IN THE WORLD

All over the world, disparities between the rich and poor, even in the wealthiest of nations is rising sharply. Fewer people are becoming increasingly "successful" and wealthy while a disproportionately larger population is also becoming even poorer. There are many issues involved when looking at poverty. It is not simply enough (or correct) to say that the poor are poor due to their own (or their government's) bad governance and management. In fact, you could quite easily conclude that the poor are poor because the rich are rich and have the power to enforce trade agreements, which favor their interests more than the proper nations. This is a very serious problem in our society today. Poverty is everywhere and it needs to reduce so that our economy will be more stabilized and balanced that it has been* internet source -  http://www.oppapers.com/profile/Fhyapo1009/

What does it mean to be poor? What does it mean to describe a nation as "developing"? A lack of material wealth does not define one as deprived. A strong economy in a developed nation does not mean much when a significant percentage or a majority of the population is struggling to survive. Development usually implies an improvement in living standards such that a person has enough food, water, and clothing, a stable social environment, freedom, and basic rights to have a fair chance for a decent life. Is this actually progress? On the other hand, are we fooled into believing that it is?* http://www.oppapers.com/profile/Fhyapo1009/

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services placed the poverty level for a family of four at $16,450 in 1998, and the poverty rate in 1996, according to the HHS, was 13.7 percent, or 36.5 million Americans. (Egendorf: 1999, 12). Is there really a way to measure poverty, and to decide exactly what poverty is? Hunger, income level, housing and the economy's condition of the working poor are just a few example of what needs to be considered when measuring the poverty levels in our nation. Poverty expands and contracts and its definition changes in accordance with temporary.

OVERVIEW OF CHURCH

WHAT IS THE CHURCH

A church is a called out Body of people who are following Jesus Christ. It is a body of people who are being conformed to the likeness of Christ. We are Christ’s church as we only individually and corporately do God’s work in the world. The Holy Spirit empowers the church to be the continuing presence of Christ in the world. The goal of the Christian is to grow to be like Jesus, with the presence of Holy Spirit at work to make the church alive*Tidwell. Church is a body, not a bunch; every member is precious and valuable. The church is the army of God of warriors against evil and to defend ourselves with righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation. The body of Christ is a loving organism with Christ as its head. Church was founded on a simple purpose; to do the will of God. Church are to function in the world to fulfill the task of reaching people and addressing individuals needs of the people of God and also to worship, evangelize, disciple, Minster, and create fellowship. What should be the belief of the church in the world, as Allen Donald states?

That God is alive and at work in the world today, that we are not called to “business as usual”, that a voice speaks out of the disenchanted and disinterested world, that total commitment is the realistic command of Christ Jesus for discipleship, that the church exists for the world and not for itself, that where Christ is known human barriers are broken down, that the church is more than an institution; it is the household of God, that “success” for God’s church is not measured by statistics and budgets, but by losing itself in its concern for God’s world, that the Holy Spirit offers us freedom even from new molds of our own making*allen

MISSION OF THE CHURCH: HOW FAR!

Church is born as the image of God to the world and his character to the creature. The church is actually come up to do what God does in heaven on earth. The transfer of character of the Creator among the creature should be the displaying manner in the church, mending, repairing and solidifying the relation of love that was lost in the Garden of Eden. Church in its position should be mature enough to identify the needs of the community, nation and world at large in the place of emerging solution that will make the world a better place. The effect of church lackadaisical action has become the devourer that eats intensively to the economy and the social responsibility of the church both within and outside.  To the candid, God has called the church to be the frontier and pioneer of all things on earth but church on the contrary is imitating the world pattern of administration and lifestyle. Church should be the eye for the men. Mackay supports the view in his write up as the cry of his heart seeing the church leading the world, the frontier divinely ordained.

The church’s place is the frontier. Its destiny is bound up with a frontier life, for that is the life to which God has called it. When the Christian church belongs too completely to any community or nation, or to any civilization or culture, to any generation or era, it ceases to be its true self and fails its destiny. When the church is no longer mobile, men the pioneer spirit has left it, when missionary vision no longer inspires it, when a challenge to high adventure under God fails to awaken a response in prophecy and redemptive deeds the church is dead. It is dead; even should it be acclaimed as the most venerable institution of which a nation, a culture, or an era can boast. For church is truly the church solely in the measure in which it lives a pilgrim life upon the road of God’s unfolding purpose, keeping close to the rugged boundaries of His ever-expanding Kingdom. The church should be visible and militant enough in virtue of the fact that its boundaries are now co-extensive with inhabited globe; it is entitled to the name “ecumenical”.

The mission of the church should be collective; the world is wide and compounded, in the process of bridging the gap between the poor and the rich. The extent of the gap is as wide as gully Jesus Christ used in the parable of the rich and Lazarus. The valley of discrimination, cultural difference, racism, hatred and oppression can be part of the mission of the ecumenical church agenda to fill up with the love, care, concern, action, passion, justice, and word of hope.  This statement was more expatiated from the view of Pope Paul VI talking about The Church’s mission as love and the mission of the State is justice:

The Church preaches and practices a love which incarnates itself in action for justice; however, its concern is for justice which will settle for nothing less than a ‘civilization of love’, to use a phrase made famous by Pope Paul VI.  The Church must avoid, on the one hand, an inept moralism which would reduce Christian love to mere sentimentality, and, on the other hand, a fanatical concern for the righting of wrongs that can so easily degenerate into a loveless pragmatism, blind to any standard other than sheer political success.  This brings us to the question of what is the mission of the Church in the World. Its mission is surely to promote the Kingdom or Reign of God, but what does this mean?* McCabe

The whole world actually relies on the submission of the church on the matter of bridging the gap through the divine help of the church. However, the discrimination is still very much obvious in the churches that are well to do (rich) and the charismatic, but poor churches. The opposition between wealth and zeal must be reconciled in the ecumenical churches before we become the pioneer of reconciliation. The golden command of our Lord Jesus Christ is to go to the world and the world is waiting for the church to come but contrary is the case when a church is struggling to take al glory of the task. The task is complex and compounded, needed more hands to make sharp in the deal. The ecumenical church is to be the frontier in settling national dispute, offer political advice that will unite and identify the right of every man without bias. Mackay further opines that “the churches… are very strong, but the politics are rotten”. If such is the case, the church members in that community should blush for very shame.* Mackay.  It is the responsibility of the church members to embrace the reformation of the immediate community as the Godhead representative in peacemaking and order stability. From Pope Leo XIII until Vatican II, the predominant value the Church sought to promote in society was social stability and order. The Church would speak out on behalf of the poor but, at the same time, exhort the poor to be patient and not disturb the existing order. The poor were invited to follow the suffering Christ – a call usually supported by an escapist and other-worldly spirituality. In this spirituality, this world was seen as a ‘vale of tears’. Heaven was our true home, where the inevitable injustices of this world would be put right* McCabe.  An average non-Christian believes the sanctity and love in action characteristics of the church and the capability to bridge the menace of the ever-increasing difference in the world of rich and poor. Most people that ignite differences in the world economy, social and political affairs of the nations are bonafide members of a local church and however, the expectation of the world from the church point of view is actually betrayed even below pass mark. The church should be the forceful elements that will unite and amend the torn world of poor and rich.

Christianity has become for the first time truly worldwide with center of gravity of world Christianity rapidly shifting from the Western countries to the Third World.*Copeland. Every opportunity for the church is to interfere in the affairs of the world. The issue of this research needs the attention of the church through world evangelism because the poverty level of the poor can be viewed in the global level given raw feedback of the expectation that the gap may still become wider than ever before. The mission duty of the church is at stake if the world could not benefit the voice of the ecclesiastical bodies in the world. Only in mission do we begin to understand what God wills about the unity of the church. If we are primarily interested in the mission of the church we are also ready to leave the revealing of the mystery of the unity of the church to God. Our task is to do missionary work and to experience in that obedience “the unity of working together.*Warren . Church unity will help the mission task go along way. God authors unity for the accomplishment of the work and the cooperation of the church in ecumenical should be inline with the genesis plan of God.

In contrary to the mission of church, some churches have substituted the task for another project of building cathedral in the place of reaching the world with message of love. The actual vision of the church is to fish the men into the kingdom, not to keep aquarium. It is not a new development that is killing the mission of the church, it was earlier started from the tine of Emperor Constantine building Basilicas but it is shameful to see that the present days churches also invested some much on the ephemeral work of the flesh when the poor in the dark are dying without hope. The poor church could not move faster; the rich church remains stagnant as tower of Babel to rule the nation from inside.   The move of the ecclesiastical institutions is to growth in materials; it is good, even the poor church wants to be known. The Missions San Antonio de Padua and San Juan Baptista, like all the California Mission Churches, were forced to a certain simplicity given the situation of Spain’s dwindling resources and commitments to projects in the New World. Nonetheless, it is clear that they are imbued with the wealth and munificence of the Catholic spirit, which marks even the most simple of her edifices. The new Los Angeles Cathedral has a price tag of almost $170 million, but it is a pathetically poor church, a church stripped of her rich and glorious liturgy, symbols and heritage, a church that speaks the impoverished common language of a secularized world. The small two-centuries-old Mission Churches obviously cost much less to construct, but they are remarkably rich Churches, replete with Catholic symbols and spirit, that continues to this day to speak the sublime language of spiritual serenity and sacrality* Horvat

THE CHURCH AND THE POOR

THE POOR IN A GLOBAL CHURCH

When we consider the relationship between the churches and the poor, we must be aware of a paradox: the churches are the bearers of the message of the gospel of salvation, which is good news to all people, but especially to the poor. The first Christian community lived as a community of the poor, sharing what they had (cf. Acts 2:42-46). This concern for sharing with the poor is very clear in the early church and up to the beginning of the fifth century in most Christian communities. The world conference on Mission and Evangelism in Melbourne (1980) focused its attention on the Good News to the poor. From the report of section I of the Melbourne Conference:

To be poor is to have not, to experience lack and deficiency… the poor are the ‘little ones” (Matt. 11:25), the insignificant people of no consequence. They are powerless, voiceless and at the mercy f the powerful… the dynamics of being poor are such that the oppressed poor finally accept the inhumanity and humiliation of their situation; in other words, they accept the status quo as the normal course of life, an outlook, even a worldview*Canaan Banana . Although at times we have been tempted to contrast “material” poverty and spiritual poverty, we have found inadequate way to understand the situation. The Gospel of the kingdom is addressed to the whole people in all their life relationships. God is working for the total liberation of the whole human life – indeed, for the redemption of the cosmos*Mission perspective*.

No matter how the poor may be identified, this mission is for them. The church and the poor need to amend the relationship that was once laid but decades of years after refornalized to create a wide gap. Church of today must arise to address the gap and then be able to voice for the poor in the fundamental rights and needs reinstituted.

CHURCH RESPONSE TO THE POOR

Contemporary Trends in Vulnerable Missions – what the church is doing and must do with reference to poverty. Although poverty is as old as history itself, every generation must deal with the daunting challenges and obstacles surmounting from the consequences of poverty. These obstacles may not be new but the experiences and the stories by those who are poor are personal and unique for every individual or society that suffers from the ravaging dehumanizing influences of poverty. Since the majority of the people in the world today are poor and Jesus lived in the background of poverty, then there must be something right about the poor but wrong about poverty. Their faces of the have telltale signs of pain and oppression, but the poor have a strong will to live a life of decency and equity. The fallen nature of man seeks after the self, but the law of love that Christ brings through his work at the cross reconciles man to man. The systemic injustices that continue to hold people poor will be broken on the fulfillment of Luke 4:18-19 as God ushers His reign and we await and declare the year of Jubilee for all creation*Mindoe.

Mwizero is not just a statistic; she wants to hear the whole gospel of the kingdom of God. What is our intelligent response to poverty of our brothers and sisters around the world? Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his last book the ‘Trumpet of Conscience’ that the rich cannot remain secure in the midst of seething poverty set beside the glaring contrast of the wealthy* McLaren pg 254. Brain McLaren in his book ‘Everything Must Change’ gives an overview of how to confront poverty by bringing change of dominant suicidal systems that propagate poverty in the economic sphere with stark economic injustices (prosperity), the increasing gap between the rich and the poor (equity) and a lack of peaceful coexistence (security). He says that we cannot give a little to the poor without asking the question of why they are poor. He mentions seven categories that the church must engage in including trade, aid, debt, limits, wages, justice and community* McLaren 229.. John Stott advises the church to approach poverty in our times in three main ways; rationally as we understand the realities given to us by statisticians, emotionally as we see, hear, and feel the poor all around us, and biblically in order to know the mind of God concerning poverty* Stott 363-364.

Vulnerable mission begins from below, amongst the down trodden people. Samuel Escobar, a native of Peru writes about ‘Mission from Below’ in reference to the heart-beat and the thrust of missions today. He states that “ there is an element of mystery when the dynamism of mission does not come from the people of position of power or privilege…but from below, from the little ones, those who have few material, financial or technical resources”* Escobar pg 17. He considers that the present shift of Christian mission is from the poor. The momentum to share the gospel and spread the good news is spontaneous and accepted primarily among those who are at the margins of society.

There is a common proverb from Somali that states that ‘Poverty is slavery’. The poor need to be assisted to get out of poverty. The church that has material resources must participate in missions with the poor who have the tenacity and drive emerging from a total reliance on the Holy Spirit. Many organizations have been formed to help avert poverty. Many have their origin from wealthy and compassionate communities of faith and are well funded and their work is amongst the poor is commendable. Some though are in the ‘Business of Poverty’, with no tangible results after years of working in impoverished communities.*Mindoe

MISSION OF THE CHURCH

The Second Vatican Council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes n.1) teaches that the life and mission of the Church is closely related to the world into which Jesus sent his disciples to continue the task entrusted to him by the Father. Among the many characteristics of today's world in which the Church has to carry out her mission, some of it will be highlighted: the socioeconomic disparity; religious pluralism; and diversity of cultural identities. The Church must dialogue with all these aspects of human society with a view to building up communion among all peoples. In his Message for the 81st World Mission Sunday 2007, Pope Benedict teaches that the missionary task of the Church, the first service she owes people in today's world is "to guide and evangelize the cultural, social and ethical transformations; to offer Christ's salvation to the people of our time in so many parts of the world who are humiliated and oppressed by endemic poverty, violence and the systematic denial of human rights."* http://www.piercedhearts.org/index.html. The chief objective of the church mission are briefly explained below accoding to Pope Benedict:

The Mission of the Church and the Socio-economic reality of the world. As we look around the world today, we see a tremendous gap between rich and poor, we see that humanity is restless, dissatisfied, in constant search of a better life and above all of a future that can assure them security, happiness and peace. This is the reality in spite of the fact that the world has made great progress in the fields of technology and science and there is a greater well-being today than in the past, while the scientific ethos promises a future that will be ever better. We as Christians know that Jesus came to redeem the world and transform humanity it into a new society in which all the above needs will be fulfilled. He did this not as a mere social worker, but as a living sign of the Love of God. He died and rose from the dead to prove that he is such a sign. He established a community, the Church, to continue to be this sign in the world until the world is finally transformed by the love of God. He gave us the Eucharist as a memorial, as a continued manifestation in the world of this Love. That is why we, Christians celebrate the Eucharist until He comes again in glory to finally establish God's Kingdom*.http://www.piercedhearts.org/index.html.

The mission of the church as it is explained as the Mission of the Church to fulfill Socio-economic reality of the world. The impact of the church on the nations wellbeing brings healthy and prosperity in political, economic and social development of the nation. Church must not neglect this paramount objective of bridging the gap between poor and rich. The only hope lies in the hand of the church as Christ as given us the scepter of authority to guide the nations and the unite them to fulfill His counsel on earth.

STRATEGY TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN POOR AND RICH

The probability to bridge the gap wide increasing calls for the church to be strategic in planning and action in the era those actions louder than voices in the board rooms. The mission approach to the issue will be addressed on these formulated strategies to actually bring the poor close to the rich in creating, managing and well utilizing the available resources the church is endowed with. The social responsibility of the church must be strength with the strategy to discuss:

1. Development and Empowerment of Rural Areas
2. Development of Human Resources (Leadership)
3. Education and Information Revolution
4. Adopt-A-People Group Evangelism System
5. Research Development
6. Vulnerable Mission Approach
7. Evangelical Rebirth
8. Church on Compassion Drive
9. motivation for the mission involvement
10. mobilizing wisdom and resources of earth
11. rebranding the image of church

DEVELOPMENT AND EMPOWERMENT OF RURAL AREAS

The church of 21st century has the capacity to reach the Third World nations that are majorly reflecting the ambiguity of difference. The need to reposition mission in these places is a strategy to correct the idea of discrimination in the world. The church has been called to go and make disciple of nations; that is to make live livable and comfortable to the people. The strategy has been in existence but it has not really impacted the world to make the visible changes. The ecumenical churches have the task to launch a force to develop and empower the marginalized nations. The unbelievable living conditions of the people – wretched jerry built housing, polluted water supplies, open sewers, alack of balanced diet, terrible health conditions - are essentially manifestations of a far deeper problem. The poor can be empowered if all the livelihood resources are available. Church amasses wealth for secondary business, but to fulfill the efficacy of this strategy, such wealth should be use to develop such areas that need urgent help to survive. Apart from provision, community development also needs special attention in organizing the people to manage the available resources.

DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES (LEADERSHIP)

Leadership development is essential to community empowering. A strategy for empowerment is only as good as its leaders*Linthicum pg 89. The church is to prepare some of them to lead in the programme of empowerment and development of their livelihood in the community. They will be the spokespeople, the ones up front who, because of their charisma, style and articulate nature are the ones best equipped to speak for the organization. The success of the bridging programme can be measured on the indigenized leadership put in place to manage the queue of progress. The problem actually standing against the poor is the leadership of men that are complacent, selfish and flexible to manipulate justice. Church will achieve a lot when able, discipled and trained leaders are created among the people, the wide gap will begin to close up gradually. Africa has been in the agony of bad leaders since pre-colonized age and still the national cry on leadership outcry other issues. This strategy will not continue to liberate the marginalized and oppressed because  it has not yet created a permanent organization that will go on representing the interests of the people no matter how the issues might change*Linthicum pg 95. Therefore, church will not relent on the strategy because its calls for long term operation.

EDUCATION AND INFORMATION REVOLUTION

“Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day; teach him to fish, he’ll feed himself.” Old Gaelic Proverb. Education as a principle of the large segment of anti-poverty, being the bedrock stepping stone out of poverty and gap bridging in the national differences. Where do the churches come in? in Literacy Volunteers it is church people rather than the churches as such, that have been involved*Greenwood pg44. The education aspect involves discipleship, orientation and esteem development. Discipleship is the best tool to make a man able and strong to stand in all situations. The man discipled will know what to do and how to mange his life well. In spite of apparent poverty in Africa, the people are hungry for God.* Capro mission.  Orientation exercise is vital in this matter, as the church reoriented the poor on the way to manage their limited resources and to usefulness take advantages of human and natural resources to minimize poverty and to develop average level of livelihood among the people. Their worthy as person matters.

ADOPT-A-PEOPLE GROUP EVANGELISM SYSTEM

A body of believers takes personal responsibility for the evangelization of the estimated 11,000 unreached people groups, making a commitment to pray, give financially and where possible send personnel to see the unreached. The heart of Adopt-A-People strategy is the linking together of a local congregation which has adopted a people group with mission agency that his “target” that people or even engaged them in ministry*Winter Mission Frontiers p21. The idea of this strategy is to reach the unreached with Gospel and meet their needs as the churches are taking up responsibility through agencies on the field. It is a partnering vision and approach to mission and to bridge the gap that was widely open between the church and the poor and the rich at the same. That vision should spread. But we should also make it clear that focusing upon adoption is only the “A” of reaching a people group. The “Z” is actual evangelization. There is a lot of work and understanding required to get from A to Z. Focusing on the “A” of the process, may inadvertently give many people the false idea that people groups will somehow get reached almost automatically because they were adopted by some group. In other words, the whole process, not just adoption, should be stressed, including literature on the whole process of reaching unreached groups. Judy Hansen believes that there are some keys to the launching of a successful Adopt-A-People programme. She says, “It needs to be spearheaded by someone who has a lot of time and who enjoys doing research having good organizational skills. The programme is long-term commitment of time as well as money, the support of the mission minded church. Prayer and planning follow because of need for spiritual warfare* Wood, Rick pg7.”

VULNERABLE MISSION APPROACH

This is another strategy to apply to reach the poor in the Third World. The concept of ‘Vulnerable Missions’ is used interchangeably to refer to missions in poverty. Missions is God’s work of sending out followers of Christ with a message of reconciliation to the world and the whole creation. A reconciliation of God and man and that enables man to reconcile with fellow man and with all of creation. “Mission is an exercise in vulnerability as we share in God’s reconciling purpose which was achieved by God becoming weak and helpless, particularly in the sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth. Mission is the place of identification with the marginalized”* Graham A. Duncan. Vulnerability refers to the susceptibility, defenselessness of people when confronted with the challenges of daily life. They are exposed to many dangers and do not have the resources internally within their reach or externally to deal with problems* Mindoe. Vulnerable mission is a means of over-coming widespread problems in mission (and development activities) in the two-thirds world, such as the creation of unhealthy dependency, neo-colonialism, the prosperity gospel, mission as secularization, corruption and chronic under-development. These issues are avoided because by confining themselves to the use of local languages and resources missionaries ensure that their activities are appropriately contextualized. ‘Vulnerable Mission’ can be extremely wide in its expression and can certainly include: provision of care for the sick, faith healing, theological and other education, church planting, literacy, water projects and so on* Dr. Jim Harries.

RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT

To be effective in bridging the gap between the rich and the poor, church must know the exact needs of the poor. What really causes the widely increasing gap and the past failed strategy in order to save effort been wasted. Research is an tool that will unravel the core and the nitty gritty of poverty in the Third Word and the applicable approach that is milieu in terms of current methods of meeting the needs politically, socially, economical, spiritual and culturally. The idea of Adopt-A-People strategy could be a success if there is adequate information. However, it is possible in the unreached people’s movement to suffer from a massive influx of “infoware” i.e., getting better and better at developing lists of general information which is valuable, but it shouldn’t obscure the rest of the task. In that vein, we should also have a class of data which includes information about the religious background, culture, history and basic contextual information of particular peoples. This information is as valuable as infoware” because it points the way ahead toward a strategy to reach a people group. What is needed is “wisdomware,” which is more than just information and knowledge about an unreached people group, but a synthesis of all data needed to devise a workable strategy to actually evangelize each unreached people. Taking a people’s historical and religious context, world view, value system, attitudinal realities and a host of other important facts into account, a workable strategy can be devised*43 VOL 12:1 JAN./FEB.1995 Larry D. Pate. These are invaluable tools that church can add to its strategic policy to mend the gap of difference between the poor and rich.

EVANGELICAL REBIRTH

In memoriam write-up in honor of late Rev. John A. Mackay, Odell  Lius emphasis on the rebirth of evangelism as the history foot-printed in the scripture:

I feel more and more intensely that our supreme need today in the church and in the world is what I would call an “evangelical rebirth”, by which I mean a rediscovery of the Gospel of Christ in all its dimensions, embracing the events of history, theological reality, personal experience, evangelistic zeal and social concern with its political implications. These Christian foundations, which are being neglected and even forgotten, need to be discovered afresh, proclaimed and applied; but, in any case one thing is certain – that JESUS CHRIST, the Lord of history and of the church, will have the last word* Odell  Lius

The review of what church was in the history will ignite the relationship of the church with the poor as the avenue to unite the world. Jesus lived and related with the poor to leave no gap open, so also church needs to arise to evangelize the world in the mind of reenacting the history of our fathers.

CHURCH ON COMPASSION DRIVE

By mobilizing the wisdom and resources of the earth, poverty could be overcome in this generation* Walker Alan. Church that is propelled with dynamic and spontaneous move of passion for the poor will adequately fit in the bridging exercise of the difference between the poor and rich. “Humanity now has the power to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, educate the children and house the homeless. Only the will and the compassion to do it are lacking. Some churches that refuse to accommodate compassion may be under the judgment of God for shutting its eyes and ears to the agony of world poverty. A world plan guided and initiated by the church can be dished for individual generosity in the church, national self-help as denominational and international agencies. It would include following features: population control as imperative to strengthen the total life of poor societies, wealthy people and nations consume less by simpler living for others to have enough, voluntary groups and church agencies have a large role to meet needs in Third World countries, countries on civil wars should be encourage to reach compromise and general consensus for the survival of the poor, and church should liaise with international aid and development agencies in reorientation of the poor and upgrading their economical power* Walker Alan.

Conclusion

The mission of the church to the torn world which is visible to everyone everyday has become a forgotten task. The church is the only hope to restore the world bias, discrimination and differences in economic, social life, and political intolerance. Everyone has right to life but there is unheard voice. Who will lift their voices on the pinnacle of the world? They suffer in silence and church is silent over that when we are called to bless the poor and tell them about the love of God. This world actually touches me in standing in the gap to wrap up the difference with gospel of Love and love in action in meeting needs of the Third World citizens. The work will not complete without the interaction with a woman that is living at the other side of the world poverty. Pastor Joy Mindoe in his mission work interviewed a woman:

Meet Mwizero1 an elderly Batwa woman from Burundi with a friendly warm smile who speaks Swahili, a language widely spoken in eastern Africa. She is surrounded by a group of children in a village in Burundi. None of the children belong to her because all her seven children have died. She is not sure how some of them died. It is a painful topic for her but she smiles and says God knows everything. She lives with a group of widows in a makeshift grass hut in Burundi, a country in eastern Africa and one of the ten poorest countries in the world. It has three main ethnic groups, the Hutu, the Tutsi and the Batwa. The Batwa are the poorest people group in Burundian society. They are marginalized and discriminated against because of their identity as pygmies. Mwizero represents the poorest people living in one of the poorest regions of the world.* Pastor Joy Mindoe

People are dying without hope of heaven and still suffering the agony of poverty. Christ became poor so that we may be rich. Philip Jenkins reminds us that “Christianity is flourishing wonderfully among the poor and the persecuted while it is atrophies among the rich and secure”* Philip Jenkins. The future is certain that the reality that poor will always be with us and the church is called to rise up and act.

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