The tools God has given us...

Excerpt from an article written by Adam Phillips on a conversation he had with Zambian evangelical leader Bishop Mususu while at the Lausanne Congress recently:

Bishop Mususu concluded (and I scribbled on my coffee cup): “Yes, the church is supposed to be salt and light, but it is the government that is collecting our tax and making foolish decisions and policies. We can’t allow these things to go unchallenged. We need to address needs along the way with mercy, but ours as the church is to not simply pick up babies downstream that have been tossed in the river. We must go upstream and confront these challenges where they start, and that is why we as a church need to advocate and confront unjust laws.”

So often in the states we talk about advocating our own elected leaders and holding them accountable. It’s important to know that churches and leaders in other countries around the world are doing their part to hold officials accountable in a spirit of good governance. We stand as members of a global body of Christ — each having a role to play and gifts therein. Bishop Mususu’s story is evidence that African leaders are doing their part in fighting injustice, and it remains an inspiration for us at this Third Lausanne Congress and beyond to ensure our respective leaders do their part as well. (http://blog.sojo.net/2010/10/19/the-global-church-must-hold-politicians-accountable/)

It is crucial that the Church do everything in our power to do to be Christ to the world. And that includes takig advantage of the democracy we live in here in the US, the tool of government we have been given, and the powerful political system we are a part of. If the Church in Africa is standing up and utilizing the government to do God's work, then how much more should we as American Christians, having a more reliable and free system (generally)? As Bishop Mususu said, it is not going to work long-term, it is not going to bring lasting, systemic change to merely "pick up the babies downstream." We need to prevent them from even being thrown in the stream - and because of the blessings God has given us, most of us as American Christians can go upstream and stop the babies from even being thrown in! As I heard a pastor say recently when speaking to the World Vision staff here in DC, the worldwide Church does have the resources to prevent world hunger. We are big enough and powerful enough to stop some of the most pressing and heartbreaking injustices. But we don't stand together and collectively unite to address these issues. Individual missionaries and individual church programs to spread the Gospel and help the poor are wonderful, definitely. But being salt and light in the world is more than sending individual missionaries out, more than handing a Bible to people in other countries, more than sending food to famished communities. Being salt and light is using all the tools and blessings Christ has given us in our country and our culture to bring as much lasting, systemic redemption to the world as possible until Christ comes again and makes all things new. And using our governments and politicians to help us do the work Christ has called us to is one of the ways we can work for systemic change and stop the problem upstream.