If you were to browse the websites of any Christian organization involved in addressing poverty and social injustice, you will not be able to avoid the word transformation. Speak to college students about their aspirations, it would not be unusual to hear some of them talk about wanting to change the world. Images of emaciated children in Yemen, devastated cities in Syria and Iraq, and stream of refugees, and stories of racism, terrorism, brutal gang warfare, human trafficking, and chronic poverty that is so corrosive that it destroys any semblance of human dignity, remind us daily that our world needs changing and transformation. But, by promising the poor transformation are we making promise we cannot keep? By encouraging people to change the world, are we setting them up for frustration and disappointment?
How do we as followers of Christ respond to the reality of poverty and evil that confronts us in a globalized world? A human reaction, whether one is a Christian or not, is a deep sense that this is not the way the world was meant to be. So, we focus on providing the poor with the basic necessities of life. By focusing on social justice, we hope that the lasting and enduring change can happen. We are called to make a difference in this world – to be salt and light; salt, that prevents further decay, and light that overcomes darkness. Throughout the New Testament, the exhortation is to “do good”, which as N.T. Wright reminds us was a phrase that was in regular use in the Apostle Paul’s world, referring to financial contributions to civic and community life. The acts of goodness that Paul encouraged were focused on the poor and social problems.
Unfortunately, none of the present discussions on addressing poverty and social injustice factor in the reality of human sin. Sin, evil, arrogance, and greed are not only the causes of much of what is wrong with the world, but also prevents lasting change or transformation. As soon as some degree of social or political change is achieved, evil resurfaces in some form or the other to destroy, diminish, or undermine what has been achieved. By not acknowledging the reality of sin, we promise the poor lasting change to their social circumstances, which we cannot deliver or assure. We also set ourselves up for disappointment when sustainable change does not happen or what has been achieved is reversed because of the greed of powerful individuals.
If sin and evil are a reality in our world, is social and political transformation possible? Is it a biblical concept – something that we as Christians are called to achieve?
Transformation is a valid biblical concept. But it is God who transforms and He invites us to partner with Him. Nowhere in Scripture are we called to transform the world. However, God is already in the process of redeeming human beings and creation, and will transform all when created time melds into eternity. On this side of eternity, Christians are urged to “do good to all people” (Gal. 6:10) and be faithful stewards of the world that God has created (Gen. 1:28). However, among Christian development professionals, the power of God is often functionally not part of their consciousness in planning social change. The reality is that community development and efforts at transformation are anthropocentric, where human beings see themselves central and the main actors of social change. The focus is on mobilizing the community, on getting the community assessment and project designs right, on implementing properly, while ensuring participation, local ownership, and sustainability. The assumption is that if this is done effectively, transformation will occur. If it does not, then the planning or the process was flawed. What is ignored is that God is the author of history and is involved not only in the rise and fall of nations, but is present in local communities seeking ways to accomplish His will and establish His Kingdom. Our prayers, rather than being “Lord bless the work of our hands which we have planned,” should be, “Lord, where and how are you already working, and how do you want us to be involved? May Your Kingdom come, may Your will be done in this community, just as it is in heaven.”
The centrality of God in any kind of ministry is stated in I Cor. 3:6, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.” It is not that human effort is of no value, as Paul and Apollos were both involved, using their gifts within their calling. God requires us to be agents of change, but it is God who transforms. As co-laborers with God in His mission, Christians work for change and social justice so that human beings can enjoy the blessings of God in this life. Yet these need to be done with a deep and constant awareness that evil is real, that human beings are sinful and that sin permeates and warps social, economic, and political structures.
While change is possible, evil pushed back, and the quality of the life improved, complete, lasting, and sustainable social transformation on this side of eternity will never be a reality, because we live in the in-between times where evil and the Kingdom of God coexist in this world. Jesus described it as the wheat and tares growing side by side till the end of time (Matt. 13:2-30). It is disconcerting to see a new generation of Christians naively believe that this world can be transformed on this side of eternity, as it shows a lack of understanding of the concept of sin and how insidious, corrosive, and destructive evil is. They are unaware of the frustrations and disillusionment that are involved, nor do they know how to address the issues of sin imbedded in society or how to confront evil without it destroying them in turn.
Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr writes about the flawed nature of individuals and society, which prevent transformation from happening.
However much human ingenuity may increase the treasures which nature provides for the satisfaction of human needs, they can never be sufficient to satisfy all human wants; for man, unlike other creatures, is gifted and cursed with an imagination which extends his appetites beyond the requirement of subsistence. Human society will never escape the problem of the equitable distribution of the physical and cultural good which provide for the preservation and fulfillment of human life.
There is a major difference between believing that one can transform the world, and being a partner with God in the transformation that He is bringing about. Ron Sider provides perspective and identifies what the true motivation should be when he stated, “Working for peace and justice is not based on naive thinking that there will be transformation – but with an understanding of where history is going.” God is in the process of establishing His authority in a rebellious world, and one day He will reign here on earth in glory.
Theologian N.T. Wright roots the transformation God is bringing about, in the twin doctrines of creation and judgment.
It is striking how the earliest Christians, like mainstream rabbis of the period, clung to the twin doctrines of creation and judgment: God made the world and made it good, and one day he will come and sort it all out. Take away the goodness of creation, and you have a judgment where the world is thrown away as so much garbage, leaving us sitting on a disembodied cloud playing disembodied harps. Take away judgment, and you have this world rumbling on with no hope except the pantheist one of endless cycles of being and history. Put creation and judgment together, and you get new heavens and new earth, created not ex nihilo but ex vetere, not out of nothing but out of the old one, the existing one.
It is reassuring that in the midst of a flawed human race and decaying creation, God has not forgotten the goodness of what He had created. He is dealing with evil and will one day complete the new creation (ex vetere) that He has inaugurated with the resurrection of Christ. He calls us to partner with Him in His work. I yearn for the day when “A crescendo of voices in Heaven [will sing] out, the kingdom of the world is now the Kingdom of our God and his Messiah! He will rule forever and ever!” (Rev. 11:15, The Message)
As we co-labor with God in the transformation that He is bringing about, may our prayer be what Jesus taught us – Your Kingdom come; Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…For Yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. This is the only way transformation can actually happen.
To read more about transformation, ministries of compassion, and being a witness, you may want to read Compassion and the Mission of God: Revealing the Hidden Kingdom.
Compassion and the Mission of God 