Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity

by Ronald J. Sider

God wants every person and family to have equality of economic opportunity, at least to the point of having access to the resources necessary (land, money, education), so that by working responsibly they can earn a decent living and participate as dignified members of their community.

Sometimes I think, “If I die, I won’t have to see my children suffering as they are.” Sometimes I even think of killing myself. So often I see them crying, hungry; and there I am, without a cent to buy them some bread. I think, “My God, I can’t face it! I’ll end my life. I don’t want to look anymore!”1 —IRACEMA DA SILVA RESIDENT OF A SLUM IN BRAZIL

It is difficult to obtain precise statistics, but the World Bank estimates that 1.2 billion people live in that kind of grinding poverty—trying to survive on $1.25 a day.4 In addition to these 1.2 billion who live in almost absolute poverty, another 1.2 billion are very poor, living on two dollars or less a day. That means almost one-third of the world’s people (2.4 billion) struggle to exist on two dollars a day or less.

Government policies play a significant role in whether economic growth improves or bypasses the lot of the poor.

Children are the first victims. In 2012, low-income countries had a child mortality rate thirteen times higher than in high-income countries.51 Of the 6.6 million kids under 5 who die every year, half is due to under-nutrition.52 It is estimated that in 2011, there were 165 million children under five years of age who were stunted due to lack of food.

Where will you and I stand? With the starving or the overfed? With poor Lazarus or the rich man? Most of the rich countries are at least nominally Christian. What an ironic tragedy that an affluent, “Christian” minority in the world continues to hoard its wealth while hundreds of millions of people hover on the edge of starvation!

Instead, we could become generous nonconformists who love Jesus more than wealth. In obedience to our Lord, we could empower the poor through generous giving, community development, and better societal systems. And in the process, we would learn again His paradoxical truth that true happiness flows from generosity.

I used to think when I was a child, that Christ might have been exaggerating when he warned about the dangers of wealth. Today I know better. I know how very hard it is to be rich and still keep the milk of human kindness. Money has a dangerous way of putting scales on one’s eyes, a dangerous way of freezing people’s hands, eyes, lips and hearts.1 —DOM HÉLDER CÂMARA

We in the U.S. spend more money on advertising than on all our public institutions of higher education.

The increasingly affluent standard of living is the god of twenty-first-century North America, and the adman is its prophet.

A few years later Newsweek did a story titled “The Middle Class Poor,” calmly reporting that U.S. citizens earning $58,700, $70,400, or even $90,800 a year felt they were at the edge of poverty.32 One resident of New York City grumbled that “you just can’t live in this city” on $180,000 a year.33 A presidential candidate said in 2012 that Americans making $200,000 to $250,000 were middle class.34

When we want to effect change, we almost always contact people with influence, prestige, and power. When God wants to save the world, he often selects slaves, prostitutes, and sundry other disadvantaged folk.

First, God wants all people to have the productive resources to be able to earn a decent living and be dignified members of their community. We should work to structure society so that all people who can work have access to the resources to earn a decent living in today’s global economy. Second, God wants the rest of us to provide a generous share of the necessities of life to those who cannot work.

Neglect of the biblical teaching on structural injustice or institutionalized evil is one of the most deadly omissions in many parts of the church today.

Pope John Paul II has rightly insisted that evil social structures are “rooted in personal sin.” Social evil results from our rebellion against God and our consequent selfishness toward our neighbors. But the accumulation and concentration of many personal sins create “structures of sin” that are both oppressive and “difficult to remove.”

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure: you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. —JAMES 5:1–5 I read some time ago that Upton Sinclair, the author, read this passage to a group of ministers. Then he attributed the passage to Emma Goldman, who at the time was an anarchist agitator. The ministers were indignant, and their response was, “This woman ought to be deported at once!” —UNPUBLISHED SERMON [1 JUNE 1975] BY DR. PAUL E. TOMS, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF EVANGELICALS

Before God and a billion hungry neighbors, we must rethink our values regarding our present standard of living and promote more just acquisition and distribution of the world’s resources.1 —THE CHICAGO DECLARATION OF EVANGELICAL SOCIAL CONCERN, 1973

Those of us who live in affluent circumstances accept our duty to develop a simple life style in order to contribute more generously to both relief and evangelism.2 —LAUSANNE COVENANT, 1974

The rich must live more simply that the poor may simply live.3 —DR...

We need to make some dramatic, concrete moves to escape the materialism that seeps into our minds via diabolically clever and incessant advertising. We have been brainwashed to believe that bigger houses, more prosperous businesses, and more sophisticated gadgets are the way to joy and fulfillment. As a result, we are caught in an absurd, materialistic spiral. The more we make, the more we think we need in order to live decently and respectably. Somehow we have to break this cycle because it makes us sin against our needy brothers and sisters and, therefore, against our Lord. And it also destroys us. Sharing with others is the way to real joy.

Communal living, of course, is not for everyone. In fact, I personally believe that it is the right setting for only a small percentage of Christians. We need many more diverse models. No one model is God’s will for everyone. God loves variety and diversity. Does that mean, however, that we ought to settle for typical Western individualism, with each person or family doing what is good in its own eyes? By no means.

1. Question your own lifestyle, not your neighbor’s 2. Reduce your food budget by: • Gardening: try hoeing instead of mowing. • Fasting regularly. • Setting a monthly budget and sticking to it. 3. Lower energy consumption by: • Keeping your thermostat (at the home and office) at 68 degrees Fahrenheit or lower during winter months. • Supporting public transportation with your feet and your vote. • Using bicycles, carpools, and, for short trips, your feet. • Making dish washing a family time instead of buying a dishwasher. • Buying a fan instead of an air conditioner. • Substituting plant-based protein for meat. It requires 11 times more fossil fuel energy to produce the same amount of animal-based protein as plant-based protein.17 4. Resist consumerism by: • Laughing regularly at TV commercials. • Developing family slogans like: “Who Are You Kidding?” and “You Can’t Take It with You!” • Making a list of dishonest ads and boycotting those products. • Using the postage-paid envelopes of direct-mail advertisers to object to unscrupulous advertising. 5. Buy and renovate an old house in the inner city. (Persuade a few friends to do the same so you can enjoy Christian community.) 6. Reduce your consumption of nonrenewable natural resources by: • Resisting obsolescence (buy quality products when you buy). • Sharing appliances, tools, lawnmowers, sports equipment, books, even a car (this is easier if you live close to other Christians committed to living more simply). • Organizing ...

Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don’t Give Away More Money is a stunning, powerful presentation of the puniness and possibility of American Christian giving. American Christians are the “most affluent single group of Christians in two thousand years of church history.”

Genuine recovery of the Sabbath is just what both materialistic consumers and workaholic social activists need. One day out of seven, we should just stop. Stop feverish production of more gadgets. Stop even passionate pursuit of social justice. Just stop, pray, and enjoy.

God’s provision of the Sabbath is not some harsh legalism but a divine reminder of our finitude and limitations. We are not God.45 And we are not made to find our ultimate fulfillment in an ever-greater abundance of material things—or even an unlimited pursuit of justice for the poor.

Congregations composed of clusters of house churches make up, in my opinion, a viable alternative to the typical congregation.

Almost everyone expects small groups to dissolve in six months or two years and that life will then continue as before. These short-term, “limited liability” groups serve a purpose, but people today desperately need a church that functions as the church—a body of believers who accept liability for one another, are available to one another, and make themselves accountable to one another.

In his book on church structures, Howard A. Snyder proposed that denominations adopt the house church model for church planting, especially in the city. This structure is flexible, mobile, inclusive, and personal. It can grow by division, is an effective means of evangelism, and needs little professional leadership.13

In early 1976, Eastminster Presbyterian Church in suburban Wichita, Kansas, had an ambitious church construction program in the works. Their architect had prepared a $525,000 church building program. Then a devastating earthquake struck in Guatemala on February 4, destroying thousands of homes and buildings. Many evangelical congregations lost their churches. When Eastminster’s board of elders met shortly after the Guatemalan tragedy, a layman posed a simple question: “How can we set out to buy an ecclesiastical Cadillac when our brothers and sisters in Guatemala have just lost their little Volkswagen?”

study of biblical teaching and world poverty, a congregation could decide to expand their giving and volunteer time to empower the poor by 5 percent each year for three successive years. They could also urge each member to do the same. After they have completed the first three-year cycle, the congregation could then write to political leaders asking government to expand effective programs for the poor by 5 percent each year for three years. To add authority to their appeal to government, the congregation could report their three years of growing church commitment to the poor and promise that as a congregation they will expand their church giving in the same way in the next three years. Politicians might listen to that kind of appeal.

Robert Frykenberg of the University of Wisconsin lamented the growing gulf between rich and poor. “No amount of aid, science, and/or technology,” he concluded, “can alter the direction of current processes without the occurrence of a more fundamental ‘awakening’ or ‘conversion’ among significantly larger numbers of people . . . Changes of a revolutionary character are required, changes which can only begin in the hearts and minds of individuals.”27