Sep
28
Recently I was part of a conversation where the question at hand was “What are some of the issues the church is facing today?” One woman responded “We don’t know that, we don’t know!” This statement, simple yet poignant, points to the truth that we as the church body are inclined to the comfort of our own lives, our own situations, our own daily problems and are therefore, blind to the tragedies of the world that surround us—human trafficking (also known as Modern Day Slavery), extreme poverty, hunger, exploitation, greed, abuse, child labor, HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the list goes on and on. Detachment is our defense system against being bombarded by issues that seem too huge for us to touch, too heart-breaking for us to endure, and too far away for us to connect.
However, In Luke 4:18-20, Jesus begins his ministry by stating that he has been anointed to “proclaim good news to the poor… liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” The prophet Micah also speaks to us of what the Lord requires, which is to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before the Lord your God.” If we claim to be followers of Christ then we cannot ignore these calls any longer.
There are hundreds of millions of people around the world who suffer horrible tragedies at the hands of greed and injustice, and I believe that we would respond if we saw their faces, encountered their stories, and understood the connection between our wealth and their deprivation. If we knew that approximately 27 million people are presently enslaved across the globe, we would respond. If we knew that over 80% of the clothes and toys we buy, and over 95% of the shoes we buy are made by poor, exploited people in Latin America and Asia who work long hours and are paid very little to nothing for their work, we would respond. If we knew that a large majority of chocolate corporations use forced labor on their cocoa farms, we would respond. If we knew that the carpets we walk on are made by children who are taken from their homes in India, isolated, abused, and malnourished, we would respond. If we knew that tens of thousands of women and young girls are forced or coerced into domestic and manual work, or the sex trade, we would respond. Now you know. How will you respond?
It is clear now that our everyday spending is just as much of a discipleship issue as our giving, and just as important in bringing about the Kingdom of God. The poor of the world don’t want a hand-out, they want jobs. They want a means to support themselves and their families, and they want a way to pull themselves up out of their situation. It is less about charity and more about providing systems of justice that alleviate the cycles of poverty and its associated evils. Choose to know who makes your clothes, shoes, toys, and carpets. Choose to know where your food is coming from and how it was produced. Choose to find out whether the people who made these products were exploited, abused, or forced in the process. Choose to make a difference in their lives by supporting ethical businesses and buying fair trade when possible. Choose to make Good News Goods a ministry in your church.
A Good News Goods purchase not only connects our daily spending choices to the abuses that the poorest of the poor suffer on our behalf, but it also provides a tangible means for us, the body of Christ, to engage in their suffering and offer them hope and holistic healing through fair wages, dignity of work, freedom from oppression, sustainable development, counseling, and medical care. In this transaction, redemption is given to both the consumer and the producer.
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