Millennium Development Goals Countdown to 2015
Jubilee Centre November 5th, 2007
Evangelical leaders from across Africa joined a meeting with the United Nations (UN) General Secretary Ban Ki-moon at a historic Global Leaders Dinner in Arlington, Virginia, on the evening of October 11. The meeting was convened by Micah Challenge USA and North American Evangelical Alliance (NEA) in cooperation with the United Nations to educate and inform evangelical leaders in the USA about the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
In his key note speech, the UN Secretary General underscored the significance of this meeting when he quoted from Isaiah 58:11
and reminded the Christian leaders not underestimate their huge role in the fight against poverty. Mr. Ban expressed his concern that Africa is not on track to meet the goal of halving poverty by 2015.
This was a historical moment. The General Secretary of the UN joined the Christian leaders from both the global north and south, meeting to dialogue on global issues of interest to Christians and their efforts. These issues included global poverty and HIV/AIDS. The importance of this discussion was not that it took place, but in determining the critical role of the church from here.
The UN has embraced evangelicals. So what is the UN saying by so doing? The UN is saying that despite billions of dollars being poured into Africa and efforts of democratizations and good governance, Africa is no better off and may even be worse off than before colonization. The UN is saying to the church leaders that if church leaders get their act together they can provide the hope to reshape Africa. What the UN is saying is that the IMF, the World Bank and governments of the world have little to show in their three decades of attempting to reform the African poor communities.
Why is the church’s role critical? One major reason is that most governments, and to a large extent the IMF and the World Bank, use the power of resources to maintain control over those they are helping. Also governments in the south have not developed democracies that ensure accountability to the citizenry as well as individual freedom and accountability. As a result, the people of our nations are often condemned to the permanent humiliating role of receiver.
One way the church can make a better and effective response to poverty is in its uses of power of resources. Serving the poor and attempting to restore broken communities is a difficult and complicated matter. A church that understands its biblical mandate to relate with the poor in dignity is one that shares its earthly wealth by modeling interdependency and providing for the use of gifts suppressed in those who are poor among us. This is no work for the faint hearted, and the possibilities for good are great.
In addition, churches in the north and affluent churches in the south, that seek to be used by God as agents of compassion and justice, must enter these communities with humility and desire to learn. Bill Hybels, senior pastor of Willow Creek church in the USA asks, “What if Acts 2:42-47 read like this?
“…Those who were healthy and financially stable gave generously-even sacrificially-to those who were not. Every day, those who were strong enough met in temple courts, and then they gathered in the homes of those who were too sick to leave, sharing a meal together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of outsiders, who were amazed by the grace that was stronger than the stigma of AIDS. And the Lord added to their number daily those who where being saved, others to be ushered with dignity through death and into the presence of God.” The UN is convinced that Christians have a major role to play in breaking the cycle poverty. Are you?
Lawrence Temfwe
