Doing Justice and Loving Mercy: Compassion Ministries, Student Workbook, SW16

/ 1 4 7

D O I N G J U S T I C E A N D L O V I N G M E R C Y : C O M P A S S I O N M I N I S T R I E S

Doing Justice and Loving Mercy (3) Society and World

Welcome in the strong name of Jesus Christ! After your reading, study, discussion, and application of the materials in this lesson, you will be able to: • Discuss the ramifications of applying a kingdom ethic of doing justice and loving mercy to the very ends of the earth. • Explain our responsibility as disciples of Christ in today’s society to live as world Christians, striving to think globally but act locally. • Lay out the ways in which the Church is both an outpost and beachhead of the Kingdom, called to demonstrate freedom, wholeness, and justice in its engagement with the world, responding in love, obeying the leading of its head, the Lord Jesus Christ. • Provide a basic knowledge of four of the critical issues pertaining to world justice today: poverty and oppression, the human environment, ethnocentrism and difference, and war and violence. • Rediscover our roles as representatives of Christ and his Kingdom, and our duty to be aware of and engage with clarity the great issues of our time, and lead our congregations to act consistent with our calling to be salt and light in them. • Outline the biblical understanding of the concept of difference from a kingdom perspective, and detail how wrong uses of the categories of difference can fuel bigotry and hatred among people. • Explore the three historic models of Christian approaches to mass violence and war, and the rationale behind each model. • Give evidence of the need for Christian disciples to embrace a dynamic ministry of Christian peacemaking that will bring forgiveness, reconciliation, and grace to communities and societies torn by malice, vengeance, and disunity.

Lesson Objectives

4