Issue 35 PovertyBlog | Poverty – essential reading for preachers
Poverty – essential reading for preachers
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 24.06.23
I recently met a boy who was struggling at school. When I asked him why he found education so difficult he said matter of-factly: ‘My dad’s unemployed, my uncle’s unemployed and when I leave school, I will be unemployed too.’ The lad was from an area where three generations have struggled with severe job shortages.
Poverty is multidimensional: it impacts more than simply what we eat and wear. It harms our relationships, our education, our emotions, our communities, our aspirations and more.
The Bible grasps this very well but too often Christians are slow on the uptake. (I cringe as I write, remembering several sermons I have heard recently where preachers have insensitively mentioned their second car, luxury holiday, or the escalating cost of their house renovations). The following books have helped me develop a deeper understanding of what poverty is and does, and how we can not only speak about it but also work together to alleviate it.
Founding God’s Nation: Reading Exodus Leon R. Kas (Yale University Press, 2022)
The book of Exodus is replete with theological wisdom to help us understand God’s compassion towards the poor and marginalised. It opens with God attending to the cry of those facing slavery and oppression, hearing the cry of a baby, and blessing the courageous resistance of women who dared to challenge the edict to murder baby boys. Slave, sister, midwife or princess – no simplistic hero and villain tropes here. Kas’ commentary wrestles with huge political and philosophical questions by a close reading of the text.
A Call to Act: Building A Poverty-Busting Lifestyle Natalie Williams and Martin Charlesworth (David C Cook, 2020)
Williams and Charlesworth have been equipping the church to fight poverty for many years now through the Jubilee Campaign. In this book, one of several they have authored together looking at different aspects of the church’s role in fighting poverty, Williams and Charlesworth provide a helpful overview of the different ways in which our daily lives can resist poverty.
