The pressure of poverty has always been with the Church and will remain until the Lord’s return. There have been many manifestations of this pressure point with each bringing numerous problems into the lives of those it engulfs. When Paul was delighted to “remember the poor” (Galatians 2:10, ESV), he was not simply referring to an intellectual experience–such is to be the same for us today.
While poverty is characterized by material, social, and spiritual aspects, the material category is generally the one that most of us consider first. Global poverty is often measured in cost per living per day. In 2008 the World Bank revised its standard poverty line from $1.00 (US) per day earnings to $1.25, based on 2005 prices. Between 2000 and 2008, the percentage of people living below the poverty line (in every region of the developing world) declined. Yet during 2008, an estimated 1.3 billion people in the world were still living on no more than $1.25 per day. That is 22 percent of the developing world.
Across the various regions of the world, the World Bank notes the following poverty rates (2008 data):
• East Asia and the Pacific, 14%
• South Asia, 36%
• Latin America and the Caribbean, 6.5%
• Middle East and North Africa, 2.7%
• Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 0.5%
• Sub-Saharan Africa, 47%
Many of the world’s major cities have massive populations living in slums. By 2050 the number of slum dwellers is expected to reach 2 billion people. Across the world 1.5 billion people do not have access to a latrine, which helps contribute to the death of 1.5 million children each year who are raised in areas without proper sanitation and safe drinking water.
This is the world in which we live. This is the world to which we are called to make disciples of all nations. Preparing global disciple-makers to serve in such a world is a great challenge today.
Will such poverty overwhelm us and we do nothing to serve those in need? Will such poverty cause us to redefine mission as a physical relief effort, knocking us from our biblical foundation of mission being to make disciples of all nations? Will we simply ignore the billions in poverty? Will we see the pressure and prayerfully discern future strategy as the Spirit leads us to the least of the least?
This quote from Paul Borthwick, taken from his book Western Christians in Global Mission, draws our Western attentions to one way this pressure point influences us as we go into all the world:
The rich-poor gap presents us with many challenges. How can Western missionaries be prepared to go to the poorest, most hostile areas of the world when our life-style adjustment is so severe? Can a generation raised on lattes costing three dollars per cup be effective in a world where millions have no access to clean drinking water? Can Westerners who routinely spend eight to twelve dollars to see a movie live effectively alongside the one billion abjectly poor people living on less than one dollar per day?
Borthwick continues on to call the Church to a change in lifestyle in order to reach the nations. The pressure point of poverty shapes how the Church moves forward with the Bread of Life.
Postscript
Even the U.S. suburbs have seen a substantial increase in the number of people living in poverty. According to U.S. standards (much higher than $1.25 per day), there are now more people living in poverty in the suburbs than in the city. Here is a recent five minute video I did for Multiplication Matters on this topic:
In case you missed any of the posts in this series, you may find them below. Also, at the time of this writing, Amazon is offering Pressure Points: Twelve Global Issues Shaping the Face of the Church at the lowest rate yet (of course this will change over time as with all of their books).
Pressure Point #6 Globalization
Pressure Point #5 International Migration
Pressure Point #4 Pluralism and the Plurality of Faiths
Pressure Point #3 Growth of the Majority World Church
Pressure Point #2 The West as a Mission Field
Pressure Point #1 Unreached Peoples
The Church and the Pressures of the Age
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I guess at first glance the oboivus choice to anyone who cared about the state of the world would be number 2 except that the effects of idolatry on behaviour always end up destroying people. It’s not just that other religions Get the God question wrong on a theology exam, it’s that their objects of greatest devotion dehumanize them and others (cf. Romans 1). In the end, I think a world with a backslidden church has better long term prospects (e.g. the possibility of waking up and fulfilling their duty) than a world with nice pagans (e.g. falling deeper into their sin as God eventually judges them for their idolatry).