Social Justice and the Global Church

Imagine yourself as part of a church where you are by far the richest person in the community, but most of the others in the congregation have next to nothing — or worse are starving and homeless. Would you be able to just go on living as if your wealth and the reasons you have it are yours alone. What would you do? Would you tell them that you will pray for their situation to improve? Would you give to the person next to you since they’re the ones who happened to make eye contact? Would you divide up your wealth so everyone has the same? Would you use it to create a business so others could make their own way?

Well, you can see where this is going — You are a part of that Church. Being a just church and living a just life requires you to see yourself as a part of the Church global, as if you were sitting in the pew next to “one of the least of these” holding hands, praying and singing to the same Jesus — because that is exactly how God views His community.

1 Corinthians 12:24-26: 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.