The Millennium Development Goals and the Church – Finishing

well!Revd. Dr. Dion Forster

Three important stories.

1. Why are we poor?

Philip’s story

The earth is the Lords, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.

Psalm 24.1 (NIV)

• Globally, 854 million people are undernourished.1

• Annually Americans spend $558 billion on takeout food.2

• And, $33 billion on weight loss products and diets.2

• A child dies every 5 seconds due to hunger related causes.1

• Half of the world’s population lives on less than $2 per day.2

• 1.6 billion people have no access to clean drinking water.2

• Each day 29000 children die from preventable diseases.3

• Providing malaria prevention to the developing world would only cost $4.2 billion.1

• $25 billion a year would be enough to give life saving medical services in low income countries.2

• The cost of eradicating Global Poverty is only 1% of Global Income.3

SOUTH AFRICA• Unemployment

of 25.5% • 1.3 million

children and 1.2 million adults suffer from hunger each day.

• 6.7 million people live in informal housing

• 31% of South African households subsist on less than R800 per month

SOUTH AFRICA• In 2011 between R25

and R30 Billion rand went missing from state coffers as a result of corruption.  

• These funds could have dealt with two of the above problems completely.

•  In fact the R70 billion rand that has been spent on the arms deal could have dealt with all 4 of the above problems.

SOUTH AFRICA• Highest gini

coefficient (Inequality index) in the world!

• Our TI ranking has dropped by an average of to 10 places per year since 1

• 2010 (54) 2011 (64) 2012 (69)2

% Christians in SA: 1911-2001

“We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected.”

(Millennium Declaration Sept 2000)

The Millennium Development Goals

Listing the challenges:The Millennium Development goals•Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger•Achieve universal primary education•Promote gender equality and empower women•Reduce child mortality•Improve maternal health•Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases•Ensure environmental sustainability•Develop a global partnership for development

Each year 1 Trillion Dollars goes missing as

a result of Global Corruption.

The result is most acutely felt by the

poor!

What does a Trillion Dollars look like?

• All this talk about "stimulus packages”, "bailouts” and corruption...

• A billion dollars...• A hundred billion dollars...• Eight hundred billion dollars...• One TRILLION dollars...

What does that look like? Think about it…

• We'll start with a $100 dollar bill (About R900!)

• Currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation.

• Most everyone has seen them, slightly fewer have owned them.

• Guaranteed to make friends wherever they go.

• A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 5cm thick and contains $10,000 (that’s almost R1 million)

• Fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for week or two of serious fun!

• Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million dollars (100 packets of $10,000).

• You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it.

• While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable.

It fits neatly on a standard pallet...

• And $1 BILLION dollars... now we're really getting somewhere…

• Next we'll look at ONE TRILLION dollars.

• This is that number we've been hearing so much about. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it's a million million.

• It's a thousand billion. • It's a one followed by 12 zeros.• You ready for this?• It's pretty surprising.• Lets take a look

• Ladies and gentlemen... I give you $1 trillion dollars...

Notice those pallets are double stacked.

..and remember those are $100 bills.

So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase

”one trillion dollars"...

that's what they're talking about.

A map of the world (land area)

The spread of wealth (a representational map)

The most impoverished places in the world (a representational map)

Christians in the world (a representational map)

But, is there enough for all of us?

Military spending (a representational map)

AIDS deaths in the world (a representational map)

Christians in the world (a representational map)

Each year over US$ 1 Trillion goes missing from the global economy through bribes, dishonest deals and tax evasion. It’s called corruption.Corruption is more than bad business: it kills people

So, is there enough for all of us?

Just 1% of the world’s GDP could end Global

Poverty!

Yet, US$ 1 Trillion goes missing!

2. A Biblical story: God’s economy.

Economics: • Oikos (οἶκος)

– household• Nomos

(νόμος) – to manage

God’s economy and the economic systems of the

world.

Which Jesus shapes our faith and mission?

Is this how you view the Lord?

Meeting Tony Campolo:Read only the RED letters.

“When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food they call me a communist.”

Dom Helder Camara

Claude Nikonde

ha’s story

Unearthing the real Jesus

HistoricalJesus

Pre-Pauline Jesus

Pauline Jesus

SynopticJesus

Apostolic Jesus

PopularJesus

“Both religion and politics are concerned with how we should organize societies. Yet the tendency for Christians has often been to begin with the politics and work back- wards to find religious rationale for our political beliefs. As a result, most people read the Bible not to challenge our deeply held beliefs, but to affirm the decisions we've already made with our lives.”

(Tim Suttle God’s Politics)

Prayer and justiceGod’s ‘economy’

He has showed you, what is good. And what does the Lord require of

you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with

your God.(Micah 6.8)

Learn to do good.Seek justice.

Help the oppressed.Defend the cause of orphans.Fight for the rights of widows.

(Isaiah 1.17)

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of

sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the

Lord’s favor.”(Luke 4.18-19)

There can be no personal holiness without social holiness.

(John Wesley – Parent of Methodism, social activist, revivalist, Anglican Priest!)

“Justification by faith leads to doing justice, and doing justice can make many seek to be justified by faith”

Tim Keller (Generous Justice p.140)

"The chief political concern of the Scriptures is for God's wise and loving ordering of his world to be operative through humans who will share his priorities, especially his concern for the poor, the weak and the vulnerable. This concern was embodied by Jesus in his inauguration of 'God's kingdom' through his public career and especially his self-giving death, which together set the pattern for a radically redefined notion of power." — N.T. Wright, New Testament Scholar at

University of St. Andrews

"The chief political concern of the Bible is the restoration of God's shalom on the entire world: human and nonhuman, animate or

inanimate. That encompasses all aspects of the human polis and thus politics but also the

entirety of creation so that nothing is left outside this primal 'political' concern."

— Brent Strawn, Old Testament Scholar,

Candler School of Theology at Emory University

"I believe that the central political question is the management of public power in order that there should be an economically viable life for all members of the community. Thus justice is front and center and some texts, especially in

Deuteronomy, are for the distribution of wealth in order that all may be viable.

Obviously such justice is marked by mercy, compassion and generosity. The purpose is to

create a genuine neighborhood for all the neighbors.”

— Walter Brueggemann, Old Testament Scholar, Columbia Theological Seminary

"The vision of the city of God is the goal. We work for it not by forcing it down from heaven

to earth, but by treading in the footsteps of the crucified and resurrected Christ."

— Miroslav Volf, Systematic Theology, Yale Divinity School

"God's solidarity with the poor, oppressed, outcast and forgotten."

— Brian McLaren, Author and theologian

“[W]e may well be coming to the end of the era of the sovereign nation-state as we have

known it for the past three centuries. Economic, financial, and technical forces have

created a global system that is far more powerful than most existing states. The secular

powers shaping human life are increasingly transnational If the Church is to speak the

truth to Caesar, it is these powers that must be more and more in our sights.”

— Lesslie Newbigin, Truth to Tell: The Gospel as Public Truth p89

3. A new story: God’s story and our story.

Listing the challenges:The Millennium Development goals•Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger•Achieve universal primary education•Promote gender equality and empower women•Reduce child mortality•Improve maternal health•Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases•Ensure environmental sustainability•Develop a global partnership for development

Since 1990• 2 billion people have

been lifted out of abject poverty and the proportion of people living below that line has been halved.

• Child stunting from poor nutrition has dropped from 40% to 27% of all children.

Since 1990• An additional 110 million

children are in school, over 90% of all children are now enrolled in primary education.

• In almost all countries girls now have the same chance of completing school as boys.

Since 1990• Child deaths have been

cut by 37%.• Maternal deaths have

been cut by 47%.• New infections from HIV,

TB and Malaria are all dropping.

Since 1990• Access to an improved

water source has risen from 76% to 89%

• Adequate sanitation has risen from 49% to 63%

Let’s finish well!

The SAME mission in an ever CHANGING world

"The gospel must be constantly forwarded to a new address because the recipient is always changing his place of residence.” Helmut Thielicke (German Theologian)

www.exposed2013.com

David Korten 4 stages of engagement:

1. Relief / Charity2. Training / Projects3. Policy / Activism4. Social movements

www.exposed2013.com

1.Light in my heart: personal action is vital! Preach, Workshop, Pray, Engage!

2. Light in my Community: Join or plan a public Vigil during 14-20 October 2013. Local action (Bribe box)

3.Light in my world! Sign the Global Call on the website!

www.exposed2013.com

1.Light in my heart:

personal action is vital!

Preach, Workshop, Pray, Engage!

www.exposed2013.com

2. Light in my Community:

Join or plan a public Vigil during 14-20 October 2013.

Local action (Bribe box, Visit a politician)

Three examples!

Three examples!Promising Life

www.micahchallenge.org.za

Three examples!

Visit your politicianwww.micahchallenge.org

.au

Three examples!

91 countries, 200 communities, one voice!www.unashamedlyethica

l.com

www.exposed2013.com

3.Light in my world!

Sign the Global Call on the website!

Why the Global Call?

Where does all the money go?

Corruption

Dictators 5%Criminals 30%Tax evasion 65%

Do a little bit of good wherever you are;

its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world

- Desmond Tutu

http://www.exposed201

3.com

Thank you!

Revd. Dr. Dion Forster