Christian Mission and Poverty

Introduction

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Scriptures offer various perspectives on this question. In the Bible, poverty is sometimes presented as the result of a lack of initiative on the part of individuals (see Prov 6:10–11). However, more often, the text presents poverty as the result of oppression from people who are rich and systems that support unjust accumulation of wealth (see Isaiah 5, Amos 4, and Micah 3, for instance). Either way, the Bible does not focus as much on the causes of poverty as on what the people of God are to do about it. God’s people are to “seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” (Isa 1:17). They are to put away the “melody of [their] harps” and instead “let justice roll down like waters” (Amos 5:24). They are to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with [their] God” (Mic 6:8). The early Jewish Christians sold land and shared resources so that “there was not a needy person among them” (Acts 4:34) and even developed systems to provide food to those most in need (Acts 6:1–7; 1 Tim 5:3–16). The people of God are the community in which the poor are central and are not pushed to the side. Today, church communities engage in this work in a variety of ways. Both charity and justice for people who are poor have always been part of the Christian tradition. Charity entails giving or providing resources to people in need; justice means correcting or resisting systems that make people poor in the first place. Some Christians tend to favor charity programs that provide things like food, clothing, or temporary housing to individuals or families in need. Some Christians seek to correct injustice by fighting against structural forces like predatory lending or human trafficking. Still other Christians work toward development