Feature: Choose hope to change society, urges Wallis
Christians must choose hope over cynicism if they are change society, says US activist and
author Jim Wallis ...
Speaking at a leadership breakfast at Holy Trinity Brompton, London, this week, organised by World Vision and as part of a number of speaking engagements around the publication of his new book Seven Ways To Change The World – Reviving Faith and Politics, Wallis stressed that in a world hungry for spirituality and social justice, a new generation is waiting for these two things to be connected.
"When politics is broken, social movements rise up to change it. The best social movements have spirituality at the heart of them. History shows that it is ordinary people who change politics, more than politicians."
He added that in searching for 'revival', Christians needed to understand that genuine revival changes society – the abolition of the slave trade, child labour reform and the civil rights movement were all examples.
"Today there are three billion people living on less than £1 a day. There are more women and children being trafficked now than when Wilberforce fought to abolish the slave trade. Some 30,000 children die daily because we don't care enough.
"These all feel like huge mountains to move. Yet ... faith as small as a mustard seed can change things."
He sensed a new generation who were prepared to commit their lives to seeing change – and they sought change on three levels:
"Personal - lifestyle choices, parenting, the need for integrity; communal – churches should lead on these issues; public policy – budgets are moral documents."
He related the experience of spending hours speaking to 80 men at New York's notorious Sing Sing Prison. "One of them said to me: 'we're all from four or five neighbourhoods in New York. It's like a train: you get on it when you're four or five and eventually you end up here'.
"Now, a New York seminary is training up these men for ministry. As one said to me: 'When I get out, I'm going to my neighbourhood and I'm going to stop that train'."
He stressed the importance of teaching Jeremiah – seeking the welfare of your neighbourhood – and Jesus' commission in Luke 4: "If our gospel isn't good news to poor people, it isn't the gospel."
He concluded: "Believers have to choose between hope and cynicism. Cynics get disillusioned and end up a few steps back from engagement – their cynicism is their buffer against commitment. Hope is a decision, because of faith – believing in spite of the evidence, and watching the evidence change!"
* Seven Ways To Change the World is published by Lion at £8.99
