Foundations for Christian Mission, Student Workbook, SW04

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F O U N D A T I O N S F O R C H R I S T I A N M I S S I O N

people’s lack of discipline and determination to better their situation. It is quite fashionable, even in Christian settings, to blame them for their situations. This view would claim that there are plenty of opportunities available for anyone who truly wants to better themselves and their condition. If a person is poor for a long time, it is their own fault—there is no reason that anyone needs to live that way. What do you make of this position, which is so popular among many non-Christian, middle class cultures, and even among Christians as well?

True Religion

In discussing the issue of faith and salvation, a major question has remained through Christian history: What truly is “saving faith?” How do we know that a person has legitimately repented from their sin and idolatry, and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ? In the history of evangelical tradition, we have usually relied on outside indicators at the time of salvation to serve as evidence of authentic faith. A hand that goes up at the end of preaching, someone standing up to indicate their desire for salvation, going down front and praying with the pastor, and praying the “Sinner’s Prayer” have all been used as solid evidences of saving faith. However, more of the biblical evidences occur long after the initial claim to faith: does the person love their brothers and sisters in Christ (John 13.34-35), have they demonstrated a real heart for those who lack basic food and clothes (James 2.14-16), and have they opened their heart of compassion to those who need help (1 John 3.16-18)? True religion, according to James, is to meet the needs of widows and orphans in their distress, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world (James 1.27). How do you think the traditional evangelical evidences of saving faith line up with what the Bible says here and elsewhere about our conduct toward the poor being the proof of our relationship with God?

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Give Them a Fishing Line

The old adage, “If you give a person a fish you feed them for a day, but if you give them a fishing line, you feed them for a lifetime” is taken nearly universally to be good social policy for our treatment of the poor. Many actually believe that the welfare systems have failed for this very reason; unbroken financial support with little or no stipulation as to how the money is spent is seen as aiding dependence and undermining personal responsibility. Unfortunately, many who have received aid actually have come to see the government as their provider, spawning some to