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A document by Street Level:
the National Roundtable on Poverty and Homelessness
This document was received with enthusiasm at the
Street Level conference, held in Ottawa March 25 – 28.
Some 400 people from more than 100 frontline groups
across Canada attended the event.
We, the members of Street Level – the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada’s
National Roundtable on Poverty and Homelessness – are representative
of the many Canadian people of Christian faith who believe that the care of
poor and vulnerable people of all ages is a central tenet of our faith.
We believe that this commitment is grounded in the evangel – the good
news of God’s action, through Jesus, to bring transformation and
restoration to our world. Bearing witness to this good news calls us
to a response that includes both words and actions, proclamation and
prophetic acts, mercy and justice. These are all essential facets of our
response to, and expression of, the gospel. They are, in fact,
interdependent, rather than being at odds one with the other.
The Good News
We believe that, through Jesus’ death and
resurrection, God has acted in love to defeat the powers of sin, injustice
and death in order to reconcile humanity to its Creator. We are invited to
respond to this good news by repenting of our sin, living in obedience to
Jesus, participating in God’s new community – and sharing in
God’s mission, to transform our world by the power of the Spirit.
Jesus described his own mission as proclaiming good
news to the poor, bringing freedom for the prisoners, comfort for the
brokenhearted, recovery of sight for the blind and release for the
oppressed. He calls us to follow him into this new way of living –
characterized by welcome, forgiveness, grace and liberation.
Bearing Witness to the Gospel
At its core, then, evangelism is about bearing witness
to the evangel, the good news that Jesus proclaimed and inaugurated in his
life, death and resurrection.
We believe that it is essential to speak, in the
appropriate times and places, about the gospel. But verbalizing the
good news is only a part of the larger whole, of bearing witness to the
compassionate embrace God extends to his world. We also believe that our
actions and lifestyle bear witness to the gospel.
When Jesus was amongst us and set about announcing his
message of good news, he both told stories announcing the kingdom of God
and engaged in practical works of healing the sick, raising the dead,
giving sight to the blind and embracing the outcast. Since this is how he
bore witness to the Good News, we do well to follow his example.
We attempt to bear witness to the gospel by opening
our homes and our churches, and by creating spaces in which all people,
including those normally excluded from the mainstream of society, are
welcomed and embraced. We believe that failing to love all of our
neighbours in practical ways would be to live unfaithfully to the One whom
we claim to follow.
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Evangelism and Social Justice
The Bible teaches clearly and consistently throughout
that care of people who are poor, oppressed or marginalized is intrinsic to
the church’s mission in the world.
We believe that the dichotomy of social justice vs.
evangelism is, from a biblical standpoint, profoundly false. Bearing
witness to the gospel involves calling people to a personal faith in Christ
– which includes a new vision of a just and compassionate society.
Therefore when we, as the church, engage in social justice, we are
implicitly engaged in evangelism.
What This Means for the Church in Canada
We do not pursue social justice as an alternative
strategy for church growth. Nor do we pursue social justice as an action
separate from the proclamation of the good news that calls every person to
be reconciled to God through Christ. Rather, we bear witness to Christ by
uniting our words and actions.
As members of the body of Christ, we love the church
and desire, as Christ does, to see the welcome of God extended farther into
our world – and to see the church grow, both in numbers as well as in
influence. But we also believe that the church in Canada will only
experience renewal if it takes seriously the plight of those who are
specifically valued by Jesus himself.
We also believe that, if we are to bear witness to the
gospel of Jesus Christ, we must first be shaped by that good news
ourselves. This means being faithful to the freedom, justice, peace and
well-being – for our neighbours and for our world – that
are at the heart of that good news.
Therefore, as believers in the good news announced by
Jesus Christ, we commit to:
* Live in a way that seeks to reflect the life and
teachings of Jesus.
* Share the good news in a way that is faithful to the
biblical witness, and is considerate of the sensitivities of the recipient.
* Remind the church consistently of the biblical
imperative to love our neighbours as ourselves.
* Participate in the life of the church, as we engage
and walk alongside our neighbours.
* Pray fervently in faith to God for his kingdom to
come on earth, as it is in heaven.
Options Spring 2009
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