Sign the Call

The Biblical Mandate

Today, nearly a billion people live trapped in extreme poverty – a poverty distinguished by true hopelessness, desperation, and unimaginable suffering.  Throughout Scripture, God calls on His people – followers of Christ and their churches – to help the least and the last.  How important is this call?  In Matthew 25:40 & 45, our Lord Jesus plainly equates taking compassionate action towards “the least of these” with loving Him.  Simply stated, obedience to God requires that we compassionately and tangibly demonstrate justice, mercy, love, and care towards the world’s desperately poor.  And, He has blessed us with the resources to do so.  God is calling His People…

Micah 6:8 and Isaiah 58:5-8                        Ezekiel 16:49 and James 1:27
James 2:15-16 and 1 John 3:18                   Luke 3:11 and 1 John 3:17
Leviticus 19:9-10                                       Deuteronomy 24:19-22

A Profoundly Negative Witness

Yet, we-the-Church have largely ignored this call; the evidence is plainly to be seen in our checkbooks and church budgets.

On average, America’s Christians, both individually and together through their churches, give less than one tenth of one percent of their incomes towards helping those who suffer in extreme poverty… that works out to just one dime out of every hundred dollars that we earn and spend.  Lazarus is indeed lying at our gate, suffering and longing for the scraps that fall from our tables… and we-the-church are passing him by.

This apparent indifference is a profoundly negative witness to a watching world – our neighbors here, watching us to see if Christians really walk their talk, and our neighbors on the other side of the world, watching for signs of a caring God in the midst of their suffering.  The plight of the hopeless, the integrity of our discipleship, the reputation and relevance of our churches, and Christ’s name here at home and among the nations – all of this hangs in the balance, waiting upon our faithful obedience to God’s clear call to help the desperately poor.  How will we answer?

The Call

Join us in challenging ourselves, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and our churches to a more compassionate, generous, and faithful engagement with the problem of extreme poverty:

1.  We urge followers of Christ to:

• • Intentionally devote – to joyfully and sacrificially give – a portion of their incomes towards helping
    the world’s poorest people.  Note that gifts of just 1% of income would be 15 times our current giving towards this purpose!
  • Partner in giving with the “Parachurch” – particularly, those explicitly Christian, highly effective humanitarian, relief, and development organizations who devote themselves to transforming,
    for the long term, the lives and communities of those who live in extreme poverty.
  • Hold the world’s desperately poor in prayer, asking that our Father will manifest His presence,
    love, and care in their lives, that they may know Him as their comfort and strength in their suffering, and as Savior and Lord.
  • Advocate, in whatever ways our Lord leads us, for compassionate and intentional generosity towards the world’s least and last.

2.  We urge our nation’s churches to:

• • Preach, and vigorously act upon, the biblical mandate for God’s people to reach out,
    with compassion and tangible assistance, to the “least of these.”
  • Actively promote, within their congregations, the parachurch’s God-given work in
    lifting the world’s suffering poor out of their extreme poverty.
  • Provide their congregations regular opportunities to make specially designated, sacrificial gifts
    to support the parachurch’s work.
  • Support the parachurch’s work with a portion of the church’s missions budget.

 

We understand that these actions necessarily involve lifestyle choices, for us as followers of Christ, and for our churches.  Christ’s call to intentional and obedient sacrifice, both individually and corporately, is unmistakably clear – and, an indispensable part of living out our Savior’s prayer:

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…

Soli Deo Gloria!