Total Church - chapter 3 - social involvement

Thanks to Kerryn for this summary....

Jesus and his care for the poor is the basis for this chapter. We see this in examples from Luke’s gospel, including the ‘lost parables’ (Luke 15) and numerous occasions of Jesus eating with the outcasts of society. The authors point out that Jesus is accused of being ‘a friend of sinners and tax collectors’. When we think of social action we often think of ‘doing something for’ the poor, rather than including them in community with us. Jesus didn’t just heal people, but ate and drank with them, he treated them as friends.

The authors then bring our attention to the imbalance we often see in western churches. They argue that Evangelicalism is most successful amongst the well educated middle to upper classes of society, and that the way we run our churches is targeted toward this group. For example, we may assume a level of literacy or education which can prevent some people from being as involved or encouraged during our meetings together.

The authors also spoke of the separation that often exists between evangelism and social action, because we place an emphasis on one over the other. They suggest that we need to remember that the most loving thing we can do for the poor is proclaim the gospel to them, but it is by no means the only loving thing we can do. They claim: ‘The best thing we can do for the poor is offer them a place of welcome and community. Our first priority in social involvement is to be the church, a community of welcome to, and inclusion of, the marginalised.’

Some thoughts for discussion:

1. Do you think the church in the west failing to reach the poor and marginalised in society? Why do you think this is/ is not the case?

2. In this chapter the authors assert that social involvement and evangelism are separate activities, but they are inseparable from each other - is this a fair distinction to make?

3. I was slightly disappointed at the lack of practical examples of this chapter - can we think of any practical examples that we could put into place within our church?