By Tony Campolo
SEVERAL YEARS AGO, RON SIDER, A PROFESSOR AT PALMER THEOLOGICAL Seminary in Philadelphia, created an organization called Evangelicals for Social Action. Sider, author of one of the most important religious books of the last fifty years, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, was out to convince the Evangelical community that caring for the poor was a Biblical imperative. By using Scripture, Sider made many Christians aware that they could not avoid the call of God to live sacrificially and to give what they could to help those millions of persons, both in America and in the Third World, who have been oppressed by poverty.
At first, Sider's critics claimed that what he wrote was nothing more than another version of that "Social Gospel" that had become the hallmark of theological liberals. But Ron Sider persisted and was soon joined in his movement by a host of others who wanted to bring social and economic justice to the poor and oppressed of the world.
Today, there are very few Christians who do not readily acknowledge that Christians are responsible for helping the impoverished peoples of the world. Even the most fervent Fundamentalists who adhere to "that old-time religion" now fully subscribe to making help for the poor a requisite for living the Christian life. What is not agreed upon, however, is how to do this.
Many politically conservative Christians agree that reaching out to the poor and providing the help they need is part of declaring the whole Gospel, which they are required to bring to the whole world; but they contend that helping the poor is something that the Church should do, and they find nothing in the Bible that requires that the government should be taxing its hard-working citizens and handing out their money, in one way or another, to help the poor. There are many conservative Christians who claim that it is a form of robbery to take wealth from hard-working Americans and hand it out in welfare checks and "entitlement programs" to the needy, both at home and abroad. They say that benevolent giving to the poor is Biblically required of Christians, but that the redistribution of wealth, facilitated through taxation to provide services and handouts to the poor, is robbery. Ron Sider and his organization, Evangelicals for Social Action, have won the battle over whether or not we should care for the poor. Evangelicals everywhere presently acknowledge that requisite. Now the question, however, is, "How shall we live out this mandate which is prescribed by over 2000 verses of Scripture?"
Recently, a group of Evangelicals calling themselves "Red Letter Christians" (alluding to the words of Jesus which are indicated by red letters in some versions of the Bible) are asserting that charitable work by churches and other faith-based organizations is not enough to even begin to accomplish God's will on behalf of the poor and oppressed. The government, these Red Letter Christians say, must become a partner with the Church by helping the poor in ways that are beyond the means of the sacrificial giving of church goers. They say that raising the minimum wage, making provisions for universal healthcare, taking action for the cancellation of Third World debt, providing daycare for the children of the working poor, addressing the AIDS crisis among the poor of Africa, and addressing a host of other needs of the poor are beyond the ability of faith-based organizations. In opposition to these Red Letter Christians are those more politically conservative church folks who need to see some Biblical legitimization for this claim that the Church should partner with government in efforts to meet the needs of those whom Jesus calls "the least of the brethren."
Before getting into proof-texing, we Red Letter Christians declare that we believe that Christ is "Lord of All." That means to us that God is at work through all of the institutions of society to accomplish His will in the world, and that God's efforts are not confined to working trough the Church. When it comes to God's will being done "on earth as it is in heaven," we believe that God is at work endeavoring to transform the world that is into the world that God wills for it to be. Furthermore, we believe that it is through each and every "principality and power," which God created to this end that God struggles to make the Kingdom come on earth as it is Heaven. Government, Red Letter Christians believe, is one of those "principalities and powers" that are referred to in the Pauline Epistles (see Colossians 1; Ephesians 6:12). We believe that there is no sphere of society wherein God is not pressing to become Lord and to bring the values of His Kingdome into play. To deny that God wills to accomplish His will through government is to limit His Lordship in society.
Beyond such theological asserions, there is evidence throughout the Hebrew Bible that rulers are held responsible for their governments' caring for the poor. For instance, in Isaiah 10:1-3, there is condemnation of those legislators who create laws that fail to benefit the widow and the orphans and serve the interests of the rich and powerful. In our highly individualistic western culture, we often fail to see that collectives, such as nations, will be judged by how they have responded to the needs of the poor and oppressed (Matthew 25:31-46).
We Red Letter Christians are calling on those who are committed to doing God's Will to invade all sectors of the societal system (which includes the government, the world of business, the arts, and the educational institutions), and through them be a voice for justice on behalf of those who have no voice.
What we want to see happen is that faith-based ministries doing their works of charity on the micro level and cooperating with government initiatives on the macro level will bring about increasing evidence of God's Kingdom breaking forth here on earth. We are committed to this vision even as we wait for Christ's return, when He will complete the good work that needs to be done by God's people for the wretched of the earth (Philippians 1:6).
Anthony Campolo, Ph.D., Professor emeritus at Eastern University, founded the Evangelical Associationt for the Promotion of Education. His most recent books are The God of Intimacy and Action and Red Letter Christians.
