Kairon meaning9/20/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Do you remember the story of the Good Samaritan? Realising that the needs around us are overwhelming, and that our resources are limited, an expert Bible teacher asked Jesus to give a sensible limit to who we should try to love – “who is my neighbour?” he asked. When he was quizzed on this (Luke 10), Jesus confirmed that attempts to limit the class of people who we owe love to are contrary to the intention of the law. ![]() ![]() 19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. This is based on nothing less than God’s own character:ġ8 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. Even in ancient Israel, Moses made clear that love for neighbour included love for the marginalized. Loving your neighbour has always been there, and it has always included caring for the needs of the poor – including those excluded in society. Churches which fail to teach on this or encourage each other in this are failing their mission – they are making converts but not disciples. Saying “I’m not going to love my neighbour because I’m focusing on evangelism” makes about as much sense as “I’m not going to honour my parents because I’m focusing on evangelism” or “I don’t have time to address my porn habit because I’m too busy evangelising”. So if this is our mission, is there any room for doing other good things in the world as well? Absolutely… Because after baptism comes obedience. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. I take it that the mission of the church is summed up pretty well in Matthew 28:18-20.ġ8 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Our mission is evangelism, not social justice. And more recently, a few different people have raised this question with me again, so I thought I’d put some of my thoughts into writing. Then I started getting involved in advocacy in churches through a Christian non-profit and I learned that it is a live question in a few circles within Sydney evangelicalism. Having to choose between the two of them sounded like one of those silly hypothetical games (a bit like “would you rather leave the house without your pants or without your shirt?”). I just assumed that loving our neighbours and spreading the gospel were two vital parts of discipleship. Until 2004 I had never really come across the “evangelism vs social justice” question. “We cannot afford to take resources away from evangelism to put into addressing social needs – there is always going to be more need, and we’ll just be trying to top up a leaky bucket.” And since our resources are limited, we must limit ourselves to those priorities.” “Our church recognises the physical needs in the community, but our priority must be evangelism. Anyone can get behind aid and development, but if Christians don’t support the spread the gospel then who will?” But as my funds are limited, I’m only going to give money to evangelism. “It would be good to give to World Vision. ![]()
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