A Justice Heart Checkup
A Justice Heart Checkup
While finance in ministry is welcome and often vital, does it have the power to save apart from our greater calling of genuine loving relationships?
Ps. Shane Baxter recently challenged the western church on an attitude that is more comfortable to simply make a financial contribution than to genuinely engage in a heartfelt relationship with people.
Shane’s challenge made me question if we are vulnerable to similar misunderstandings in other areas of life. The contemporary catch phrase “happy wife, happy life” and its sobering Christian rendition “happy Christ, happy life” suggests so. These highlight an easy predicament to which we can succumb. The absurd notion that if we could only do or give enough to please someone enough that this would somehow redeem our selfishness and excuse us from having to genuinely love them.
Let’s take this principle even further to evaluate our motives in responding to injustice. Melbourne’s obsession with coffee is as good an example as any. Many of us are driven by the consumerism of this coffee culture. Yet many feel concurrently uneasy about it, that somehow we may be contributing to exploitation. To help us with this dilemma, many cafes now champion Fair Trade coffee. The claim is that for every cup of their coffee we consume, they donate the above-market-value premium they charge towards better pay and conditions for the farmers.
But does this really help? Surprisingly, current research suggests that years of Fair Trade have not improved the conditions and pay of its workers, and instead creates artificial and unsustainable markets (cf. Grudem & Asmus 2013). Have we ever stopped to consider the role that the destructive effects of consumerism itself has played in creating this exploitative predicament in the first place? Let’s consider this: is our motivation to buy Fair Trade coffee really a genuine attempt to address injustice or just a way of placating our conscience? Can we really redeem ourselves from the injustice caused by our consumerism by the very act of our consumerism?
Am I suggesting we abandon the pursuit of fair wages? Not at all! I am, however, highlighting that to bring salvation to this space, what is required is not simply donations. Instead it requires holistic empowerment which begins with the heart and ends in genuine saving relationships with the farmers and suppliers.
How do we do this? That question is open for the church to lead the way and be the loving answer that we are called to be. I believe that we’re up to the challenge; we are Holy Spirit inspired and empowered to be ice breakers and world changers, and leaders of justice and compassion.
This post was written by Matthew Jarlett. Photo by Nathan Dumlao.
Jarlett, M. (2016, April 14). A Justice Heart Checkup. Retrieved April 2018, from the HBC Web Site: https://www.harvest.edu.au/blog/2016/04/a-justice-heart-checkup