Words'nTone

How is our wasted evangelism related to showing mercy to the poor?
How is our wasted evangelism related to showing mercy to the poor?  As the Christian community, we know, tonight, that God’s kingdom has come and that heaven rules and that God has a right to have His kingdom invade the very fabric of our nation, our state, and our community.  This is how the king of all the earth, Nebuchadnezzar, was to acknowledge God’s right to rule—fascinating. 

Looking at the issue of poverty and at the poor, for many Christians it is easy to say, “Sin is the cause” and “Jesus is the answer.” But specific applications are so complex that little practical solutions result from expressing such shibboleths.  My view of wasted evangelism here helps us answer how Jesus Christ can be or can become the answer to sin and human social needs.  We are commanded to sow the Gospel of the Kingdom, which includes ministry to the poor, with abandon, spreading our seed lavishly.  We don’t know if our seed will be wasted—we know some will—but like the Master Farmer we care not that some fall on what looks like unfertile soil.  We are not to judge, but to be obedient.

• There are 5,000 people in Norwalk who live in poverty.
• There are 1,200 Norwalk families living in poverty.
• Ten percent (10%) of the children in Norwalk live in poverty; that’s 1,667 children, which is one-third (or 33%) of all those living in poverty in Norwalk.
• We know, from demographic research, that of those who start life in the lowest economic quintile, 40% will stay there for a long period of time…most will not escape poverty.
• We also know that only 1 in 10 poor children go to college.

And we know that children who live in poor families are …

• 3 times more likely to die in childhood
  
• 2.7 times more likely to have stunted growth
  
• 4 times more likely to have iron deficiency as preschoolers
  
• 2 times more likely to be partly or completely deaf ; 1.8 times more likely to be partly or completely blind
  
• about 2 times more likely to have serious physical or mental disabilities
  
• 3 times more likely to die from accidental injuries
  
• 1.6 times more likely to catch pneumonia
  
• 2.0 times more likely to repeat a grade
  
• 3.4 times more likely to be expelled
  

In Connecticut a family household needs to earn $42,480 to put a family into a modest two-bedroom apartment.  A single parent making the minimum wage would have to work 110 hours a week, or the equivalent of 2.8 full-time jobs, in order to afford an apartment.  The Child Defense Fund estimates that each year we allow more than 12 million children to live in poverty will cost our society $130 billion in future economic output as poor children grow up to be less productive and effective workers.  No wonder the king’s prosperity was linked to the state of the poor: There is actually a connection—a socio-economic dynamic—between the potential of a kingdom (i.e., a city like Norwalk in this case) and actions toward the poor.  Ensuring that the weakest and poorest members of the community have equal access to all the blessings and benefits of the community is part of God’s creation and is dynamically linked to socio-economics of a community (state, nation).

Want to start social reform that transforms our culture…move people out of poverty, care for the poor….want to make a difference…with so many views and voices vying for our attention in our pluralistic culture, show God’s singular voice in moving people out of poverty.

I speak not of the simplistic idea of wealth distribution or entitlements, but willful, intentional actions that indicate that God’s kingdom is to reign over all our community in addressing the needs of the poor, assisting them to enjoy the all blessings and benefits of our living in this community.  This means more than just charity—this means deliberate actions to help move people out of poverty.

As many of you might be aware NEON, Norwalk’s premiere anti-poverty agency, has embarked on a developing a strategic plan, centering on alleviating the causes of poverty and moving people out of poverty.  Among other things important to the winning the war on poverty, in that plan we have set as a goal to move

50 families out of poverty by 2011

We also set as a goal to move

25 of the working poor out of poverty by 2011

This is a deliberate choice, an intentional mind-set, a purposeful activity through the means available to us as a Community Action Agency.  This is why we have another goal in our strategic plan: to identify 200 individuals who will commit themselves to help us move people out of poverty.  For some this might be a financial commitment, but more so for many a personal commitment to be an ally in NEON’s war against poverty by becoming resources, tutors, mentors, guides, friends, volunteers in adopting these families that we have committed ourselves to moving out of poverty.

There is a rather strong and impressionable scene in the movie Hotel Rwanda, a 2004 film about a Hutu tribesman who is the manager of a hotel in Kigali, Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. While striving to protect his family and hundreds of Tutsi refugees from the Hutu mass-murderers, he faced additional struggles over international indifference to the country’s plight.  The scene is between this hotel manager and a reporter—we listen in:

Hotel manager: “I am glad that you have shot this footage and that the world will see it. It is the only way we have a chance that people might intervene.”

Reporter: “Yeah and if no one intervenes, is it still a good thing to show?”

Hotel manager: “How can they not intervene when they witness such atrocities?”

Reporter: “I think if people see this footage they’ll say, ‘oh my God that’s horrible,’ and then go on eating their dinners.”

[later] Hotel manager: “There will be no rescue, no intervention force. We can only save ourselves. Many of you know influential people abroad, you must call these people. You must tell them what will happen to us… say goodbye. But when you say goodbye, say it as though you are reaching through the phone and holding their hand. Let them know that if they let go of that hand, you will die.”

We have people living in poverty, right here in our prosperous community, and as I conclude and say good-bye, the poor are reaching out their hands to you and letting you know that if you let go of their hands, they will die.

What a great heritage you have…that is why you will not let their hands go…I know you will find a way to become allies in Norwalk’s war on poverty and help us move our friends and neighbors out of poverty.

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This thread has been adapted from a message to be delivered at a local church’s 150th anniversary of ministry.  NEON is the agency I work for in Norwalk, CT.

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