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The Church of the Absolutely Poor
by Justin D. Long
Our world today can be divided in several different ways. Last week, we discussed the world's abandoned children. This week, we examine the situation of the world's absolutely poor, particularly those Christians who find themselves in this terrible situation.
In our 1990 book, "Our globe and how to reach it," we noted that Christians could be divided by their income levels in two categories: rich (54% of the world making more than $1,000 per year per person); and the poor (46% of the world, or those making less than $1,000 per year per person). The extremes can be further noted as 9% affluent (with incomes of greater than $10,000 per year) and the megarich (0.05% of the world making more than $100,000 per year) and the absolutely poor (18% of the world making less than $100 per year) and the megapoor (2% of the world with no income whatsoever). I draw your attention to the fact that the poverty extreme represents more than double the rich extreme.
Out of 1.9 billion church members worldwide, some 13% are in a state of absolute poverty, or 247 million individual Christians. They have no personal televisions, radios or computers. The Internet means nothing to them. Their basic situation is one of seeking daily for the means to simply survive.
There are some interesting parallels between church growth and poverty. Of 79 countries where the average person's personal income places them in a situation of absolute poverty, 61% of those countries have churches growing faster than the population, while 39% are growing slower. In those countries which are simply "poor", 41% of the churches are growing faster, while 59% are growing slower. In "rich" countries, 18% are growing faster, while 82% are growing slower. (And of those 18%, about half of the countries are rich, restricted-access Arab nations with small Christian populations).
One can argue that when people have little, there is less to distract them from Christianity, Christian living, and Christian evangelism. One can also argue that rich countries already have large populations of Christians, so church growth will by nature be limited. Whatever one thinks about the 'cause' of Christian growth in poverty-stricken lands, this much can be said: the situation of Christians in absolute poverty is growing worse since the church is growing faster in situations of poverty than in situations of wealth.
We can rest assured Christian poverty will be with us for some time. Doesn't the Christian church have a responsibility to do something about this? Will the wealthy half of the church live in utter disregard for the sad state of its poverty-stricken brethren?
One avenue being taken by some of the mainline traditions is to advocate for making the year 2000 a year of Jubilee, where the debts of the less-developed world are forgiven. Whether the church will be successful in this attempt it unknown and, this editor thinks, doubtful. Nevertheless it demonstrates one way in which Christians are actively seeking to improve the lives of those in poverty.
Another avenue is through microenterprise programs and community development initiatives of the kind pioneered by Christian humanitarian aid agencies. Vocational training and basic education are both welcomed in these lands and can make a sizable difference in the lives of Christians residing there.
However, one danger in our efforts is that, in our labor to help raise Christians and others out of poverty, we give them a taste of materialism. This is a bug that is insidious and highly dangerous to the spiritual quality of a nation. Already several China-watchers consider materialism to be the big enemy of the Chinese church. Knowing when to say "I have enough" must be taught along with entrepreneuralism--and yet the Western world itself has proven time and time again that it doesn't understand this basic principle.
It is up to the Church, then, to teach the principles of "doing business and making a profit" while at the same time preaching the virtues of selflessness and the avoidance of greed. Unfortunately at the same time it must model what it preaches, and this it has so far failed in large part to do.