The Timothy Conference

T H E T I M O T H Y C O N F E R E N C E

It is therefore significant that the Apostle James takes up the very same concept in regard to the poor.

(James 2.5) Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen [eklegomai] those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the Kingdom he promised those who love him?

When the theology of the Old Testament and the Gospels about the poor is held together with the theology of the poor in the Epistles, a remarkable picture emerges.

James B. Adamson, “James 2.5,” The Epistle of James , The New International Com mentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976), p. 110.

Bestowed exclusively on Israel, the chosen people ( ‘am segullah ), as a mark of God’s election-love the Shechinah now rested on the poor, who, as the new Israel would inherit its splendor in the coming messianic Kingdom.

In the New Testament the poor replace Israel as the focus of the Gospel.

C. M. N. Sugden, New Dictionary of Theology

Key Team Leader Virtues: Leads the team in a group prayer life that wrestles with God by reminding him of his own stated promises and purposes (Deuteronomy 9.25-29; Psalms 74; Jeremiah 14.20-21; Luke 18.1-8). Guides the team into finding every opportunity for evangelism because of the confidence that the team is working among those whom God has chosen.

IV. Is Our Mission Among the Poor Characterized by Respect and Expectation?

“If you want to do something and have no power to do it, it is talauchi (poverty).” - Nigeria

“When one is poor, she has no say in public, she feels inferior. She has no food, so there is famine in her house; no clothing, and no progress in her family.” - a woman from Uganda.

“Voices of the Poor.” PovertyNet,http:/ /www.worldbank.org/ poverty/voices/ listen-findings.htm#1

“For a poor person everything is terrible - illness, humiliation, shame. We are cripples; we are afraid of everything; we depend on everyone. No one needs us. We are like garbage that everyone wants to get rid of.” - a blind woman from Tiraspol, Moldova

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