Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition

34 / CORNERSTONE CURRICULUM STUDENT WORKBOOK

A Brief Theological Reflection

Dr. Alvin Sanders

CONTENT

This lesson provides a simple practical theology for poverty work. We’ll talk about three themes that undergird why we do what we do. Our objectives for this lesson, A Brief Theological Reflection , is to enable you to: • Renew your thinking concerning people who live in poverty. • Reflect on how your preconceived ideas about those in poverty measure up to key biblical themes. • Provide a brief practical theology for your poverty work. Christians are much more likely than non-Christians to view poverty as the result of personal failure. This mentality leads to the poverty-stricken being treated as “projects” instead of people to serve, which is not what God intended. The Bible gives significant instruction concerning how we are to treat those in poverty. We will survey Old Testament principles of empowerment and then point out two things we know about Jesus: he favored the poor, and he warned against riches.

Summary page 25 & 2

1

R edemp t i v e P ov e rt y W ork

I. Poverty Is a Theme in Both the Old and New Testaments.

Video Outline page 26 & 3

A. Old Testament principles of empowerment

page 26 & 4

1. Definition: To empower someone is to provide pathways of opportunity to improve their situation.

2. In the Old Testament we see that:

a. Extraordinary attention was to be given towards making sure that justice was done regarding those who were poor (Exod. 23.6; Amos 5.12; Ps. 10.2, 9).

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