My friend Brian Helsby just emailed me some preview video clips for the new "For Good" campaign. It's probably something fundamentalist Christians don't care about, because it's not explicitly about saving people's souls by placing their faith in Jesus - it's about changing the moral landscape of South African society by encouraging a grassroots movement to encourage people to take action to change South Africa for the better.

This is the second example of an emergent-type approach (the theory - not the church - which examines how a network can highly organised without a heirarchical command structure) aimed at bettering South Africa society I've come across in the last week. The other one is Stop Crime, Say Hello (I met Justin, who is one of the creators of this idea, last week) which uses the Broken Windows Theory (mentioned in Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point) as a way to create high level change by local action.

In this case, the desired high level change is removing crime from our society so it becomes an all-round friendly, welcoming place, and the local action is to simply say hello to a stranger. This is a superb example of emergent theory, where local behaviour creates global change.

So back to my previous unfriendly swipe at fundamentalists: I can imagine them writing off both of these campaigns as, "Oh, that's just the social gospel." As if God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven won't lead to social change? Last time I checked, that was something we were supposed to pray for...and, by implication, work towards.

Its not social gospel - in fact its not gospel at all. I would subscribe to the above type of initiatives because the bible tells me that as a transformed recipient of grace I must do good to all people (both those inside and outside the family of faith - Galatians). Jeremiah tells me to work for the good of the city (which is exemplified by Daniel) while in exile. I see these all as entailments of the gospel.

What I have a hard time reconciling in my own head is why God asks us to uplift people socially when he also seems to indicate that unless they respond to the gospel in faith they will never truly be uplifted. Those two sides of the coin just don't seem to go for me but at the same time I can't deny that scripture seems to teach both. So for now I just obey.

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Posted by: Stephen 21 Apr, 2008 - 23:44:16

I agree with you Stephen - I also see these initiatives as a consequence of the gospel, things that happen when we start working out the gospel in our world.

I understand what you're saying the 2nd paragraph in this way: we are called by G-d to shape our world in preparation for His return, which means working to reconcile the world to him. This works both on a large level - societies, nations, creation - and on a small level - individual people. That's at least how I bring the 2 "sides" together.

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Posted by: Roger Saner 21 Apr, 2008 - 23:54:09

I was just having a look at the For Good and Stop Crime, Say Hello websites. Wow, what amazing initiatives. Especially SCSH.

I kindof reconcile these things in my mind like this...
When we are saved, we are saved from sin and death. But we are also saved *to* something. We are saved to the family of God, to a new life and a new nature and we are given the Holy Spirit to live with us.

And part of the new life is the good works God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10), which surely includes socially uplifting people! Also, part of the new life is having our minds transformed, seeing the world in a different way. And we learn to see people as beloved creations of father God, all people, whether they know him or not, created in his image. And when we see people like this, surely something in our hearts must want them to live with dignity? With health and food and happy families?
And finally, the fact that the kindness of God leads people to salvation! So I try (in my better moments!!) to show the world the kindness of Jesus, hoping that he will use it to draw them to him.
:)

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Posted by: Laura 26 Apr, 2008 - 00:04:48

These look fantastic! I'm currently in London but can't wait to get home and take a good look at these initiatives.

I often struggle to find an initiative that I can fit into naturally. In other words, sometihng that I feel my skills can actually contribute towards. Hoping to see something I can sink my teeth into, as I've been looking for something more socially orientated for quite some time.

As for reconciling these two in my mind, I think it's pretty obvious that we need to tell people the Gospel in action and word. Neither of these should fall by the wayside (using no words, or having no action.) They must coincide side by side because what we do and say is how we love people. You don't love by words only; and you don't love by actions only. You must love by both.

Even 1 John talks of how God SHOWED his love for the world; so, we too, must SHOW our love.

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Posted by: Ryan Peter 29 Apr, 2008 - 00:13:07

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