By Mark Kelly
With the passing of Jerry Falwell, voices in the major media have been musing about the “new breed” of evangelicals. Some seem to think evangelicals will be less concerned about political “hot button” issues.
That’s not very likely, but there does seem to be a new spirit of understanding among followers of Jesus that God cares about the whole gamut of problems that keep people from experiencing the full, free, and forever life he created them to enjoy – and that Jesus died to give them. While the major media have made a big deal out of renewed evangelical concern for “creation care,” the new awareness reaches far beyond that.
More and more evangelicals are realizing that God’s concerns transcend political platforms. His heart breaks for the oppressed. Injustice makes him angry. And he has a special love for the poor – the weak, vulnerable, voiceless half of the world’s people who live in extreme poverty. Jesus made it very clear that when we help “the least of these my brothers,” we have helped him. (Matthew 25:31-46) If Jesus cares like that, his followers ought to do something about it.
Saddleback’s P.E.A.C.E. initiative envisions God’s people all over the world rising up to tackle the “global Goliaths” – spiritual emptiness, self-serving leaders, extreme poverty, pandemic disease, and lack of education. In this issue of The Better Life, Rick Warren focuses on the problem of poverty: what causes it and what you can do about it.
