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Wrestling with World-sized issues: Christian Responses to Global Poverty and Oppression

Wrestling with World-sized issues: Christian Responses to Global Poverty and Oppression. Grace Chapel Spring 2012. Agenda for today. Course overview Who is my neighbor? (Table discussion of Luke 10:25-37) Nurturing compassion toward neighbors

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Wrestling with World-sized issues: Christian Responses to Global Poverty and Oppression

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  1. Wrestling with World-sized issues:Christian Responses to Global Poverty and Oppression Grace Chapel Spring 2012

  2. Agenda for today • Course overview • Who is my neighbor? (Table discussion of Luke 10:25-37) • Nurturing compassion toward neighbors • First steps toward compassion: Statistics, stories and imagination • Prayer and homework

  3. Course overview • poverty and oppression definitions • course goals • course structure and logistics • introductions

  4. Course overview • poverty and oppression definitions • course goals • course structure and logistics • mix of scripture study, informative presentations, conversations with members and partners, class discussion • index cards for questions • registration cards • introductions

  5. Who is my neighbor? (Table discussion) • Read Luke 10:25-37. • The expert in the law asks “Who is my neighbor?” What kind of an answer do you think he was looking for? • *What reasons might the Samaritan have had for not helping the man attacked by robbers? • What might have driven him to help anyway? • What is Jesus’ answer to the question “Who is my neighbor?”

  6. Nurturing compassion toward neighbors • Compassion as a spiritual discipline • Why compassion is difficult

  7. Good Samaritan experiment Darley, J. M., and Batson, C.D., "From Jerusalem to Jericho": A study of Situational and Dispositional Variables in Helping Behavior". JPSP, 1973, 27, 100-108.

  8. Charitable donation experiment Two appeals D. Small, G. Loewenstein and P. Slovic, 2007, “Sympathy and Callousness: The Impact of Deliberative Thought on Donations to Identifiable and Statistical Victims,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.

  9. Appeal 1 Food shortages in Malawi are affecting more than 3 million children. In Zambia, severe rainfall deficits have resulted in a 42% drop in maize production from 2000. As a result, an estimated 3 million Zambians face hunger. Four million Angolans – one third of the population – have been forced to flee their homes. More than 11 million people in Ethiopia need immediate food assistance”

  10. Rokia, a 7-year-old girl from Mali, Africa, is desperately poor and faces a threat of severe hunger or even starvation. Her life will be changed for the better as a result of your financial gifts. With your support, and the support of other caring sponsors, Save the Children will work with Rokia’s family and other members of the community to help feed her, provide her with education, basic medical care and hygiene education. Appeal 2 Which appeal raised more money?

  11. First steps toward compassion: statistics, stories and imagination • poverty • oppression

  12. Poverty: Statistics 1.4 billion people live on less than $1.25/day 2.6 billion live on less than $2/day

  13. I$13 per day (U.S. Poverty line) I$130 per day (U.S. average) 10 times higher! I$2 per day I$1 per day

  14. 1.4 billion 1.3 billion >$13 <$1.25 $1.25-$2 $2-$13 1.2 billion 2.6 billion

  15. Poverty: Statistics

  16. Poverty: Statistics

  17. Poverty: Statistics

  18. Poverty: Statistics

  19. Poverty: Statistics

  20. Poverty: Statistics

  21. Poverty: Statistics

  22. Poverty: What if I lived in rural Ethiopia?

  23. Poverty: What if I cut sugarcane or made bricks? Photo of sugarcane cutters Photo of child carrying bricks

  24. Poverty: What if my kids went to school in Ethiopia?

  25. Poverty: What if I had to raise my kids on $1 per day? UN photo

  26. From Voices of the Poor (Ethiopia): “Living by scratching like a chicken.” “We are above the dead and below the living.” “We simply watch those who eat.” “A life that is like being flogged.” “Just a sip and no more drop is left.” “If one is full, the other will not be full.” “Always calf, never to be bull.”

  27. Poverty: Glimpse from movie 58: • Workitu in Ethiopia

  28. Oppression: Examples • sex trafficking • forced labor/slavery • illegal detention • illegal property seizure • oppression of women

  29. Oppression: Statistics and stories • numbers in the 10s or 100s of millions • mostly women and children • Unicef estimates that 2 million children are being trafficked for sex at any time • maybe 27 million in modern day slavery • Dacie’s story (from Haugen and Hunter, Terrify no More)

  30. Oppression: Glimpse from 58: • Sanjiv and Shivammain India

  31. Closing • Time of prayer around tables • Homework

  32. Closing • Time of prayer around tables • Think of someone suffering in some particular way that caught your attention today. Recognize that God knows the person’s name, even if you don’t. Pray for him or her. • Homework

  33. Closing • Time of prayer around tables • Homework • In some mundane moment, stop and notice what you have that you enjoy or value in that moment. Think about what life for people who do not have this. Pray for them.

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