The Context:  Enslaving proverty in a world of abundance

The Presbyterian Hunger Program has a long history of supporting projects and programs aimed at combating hunger and addressing peoples’ immediate needs, both within the United States and worldwide. But while our partners expressed their gratitude for the funds that made those programs possible, they began to raise deeper questions about the complex forces that were at the root of their hunger. And the Hunger Program listened.

What we hear from the world

In South America, the people speak of 500 years of globalization, beginning with the arrival of Spain’s conquistadors. But our interconnectedness has never been more profoundly felt than in the past 20 years. In the wake of the events of September 11th, 2001, we feel that interconnectedness even more acutely.

Economic globalization — the process by which international, national and local economies become ever more interconnected and integrated — has been accompanied by a globalization of culture and information. But for many impoverished communities and nations around the world, the positive aspects of globalization — like access to the Internet — have been far outweighed by an increasingly precarious life.

From poor rural and urban communities around the world we hear that circumstances are becoming more difficult and that their survival is at risk. Increasingly, agri-business ventures encroach on traditional farming land, reducing formerly self-supporting farmers to day laborers. Scores of people are lured into cities only to become slum dwellers who join the unemployed or underemployed competing for work in unsanitary sweatshops for wages that are hardly enough to survive on. This scenario has been played out in numerous countries. Prior to implementing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, eight million Mexicans worked in the agricultural sector. By 2003, that number had fallen to six and a half million. Displaced farmers became economic migrants searching for ways to survive. ¹

While the United States and the World Trade Organization promote new free trade agreements as a way to alleviate poverty, many poor nations fear that they will do the opposite. Third World nations are pressured into opening up their borders to foreign trade and to remove "protectionist" measures and subsidies that protect their market. In doing so their local producers find themselves overwhelmed by cheap imports from highly industrialized nations that still provide enormous subsidies to their agricultural sector while restricting imports of textiles, cotton, meat, vegetables, fruits, fish and so on. Such practices cause major disturbances in the fragile local economies and disrupt the social and political dynamics in these countries.

In addition, poor nations saddled with heavy debt burdens (often accrued under corrupt dictatorships) have little leverage to negotiate better policies for their citizens. Instead, they remain dependent upon and subservient to wealthy, industrialized nations. The citizens of poor nations feel powerless to affect real change in their countries, yet grow increasingly frustrated with the status quo.

The combination of such extreme economic difficulties with explosive population growth, environmental crises and exacerbated religious/ethnic radicalism, create a dangerous context that threatens the very existence of many communities where our partners live and work. Many of them are caught in circumstances of national economic deprivation, social turmoil, or even armed conflict that make their development work and ministry among poor communities difficult and precarious.

Against this backdrop, short-term projects aimed at meeting immediate needs no longer seem adequate. Against this backdrop, our partners around the world challenged the Presbyterian Hunger program to take a deeper look at the root causes of poverty and how we in the United States may be contributing to them unknowingly.

The root causes of poverty and hunger are complex and multidimensional, and require both personal transformation and the transformation of unjust structures. Those root causes cannot be addressed by working in isolation or in a compartmentalized manner. Joining Hands is a holistic and coordinated approach to hunger ministry, one that includes initiatives at the local and the global levels and involves local churches and interfaith organizations, non-governmental organizations and community groups, as well as international/United States based organizations. In the next section we’ll explore the spiritual and ethical foundations of Joining Hands before delving in to what makes the program different and how it works.

The Spiritual and Ethical Foundation for Joining Hands

Hope for a Global Future: The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the struggle for just and sustainable human development

We are challenged to accept a ministry of reconciliation through the One who breaks down walls. This challenge calls Presbyterians to join with fellow Christians to seek the mind of Christ and to join with fellow Christians and people of other faiths to work together for peace and wholeness for all people. Gathering for God’s Future. Witness, Discipleship, Community: A Renewed Call to Worldwide Mission.

Though Joining Hands is not intended to remain within Presbyterian walls, nor be exclusively Christian or faith-based, we are Presbyterians and must start by speaking to and from our own tradition. Similarly, we cannot write what we do not intimately know. Our brothers and sisters from other denominations and faith traditions can speak more eloquently and accurately to their own traditions’ call for justice and peace. We will explore some of those shared values later in this section, but we want to begin close to home: the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

As Presbyterians, we believe that Jesus came so that we could have life and have life abundant. But the abundance of God’ s good creation is increasingly in the hands of an elite few. As Hunter Farrell, a Presbyterian pastor and Joining Hands facilitator in Peru has said:

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), as the wealthiest (per capita) church in the wealthiest nation in the world, possesses remarkable influence and power among leaders of congress and U.S. State Department officials, multinational corporation board members and journalists, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank officials. Some of our church’s international partners are challenging us to be as good stewards of our power and influence as we are of our financial resources. To dare to see the relationship between our increasing national wealth and most of the world’s increasing poverty. To dare to use the power God has given us to save many women, children and men from death by hunger.

Joining Hands challenges Unites States Presbyterians to take seriously the Biblical mandate to "do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly" with our God (Micah 6:8). The strategy behind Joining Hands grew out of an official mandate of the Presbyterian Hunger Program. That mandate, known as the "Common Affirmation on World Hunger" was first approved by the PC(USA)’s General Assembly in 1987, and was later reaffirmed in 1991. The statement challenges the PC(USA) and Presbyterians to respond to hunger in a holistic and comprehensive way, taking into account five key components when doing hunger ministry: direct food relief, development assistance, influencing public policy, life-style integrity, and education and interpretation.

In 1996, the 208th General Assembly adopted "Hope for a Global Future: Towards Just and Sustainable Human Development." This new policy statement — which provided an extensive analysis of the economic, social and political forces shaping world hunger — challenged the Presbyterian Hunger Program to re-think its international approach for a more effective hunger ministry around the world.

Joining Hands takes its inspiration from the principals for just and sustainable human development articulated in the document:

"Just and sustainable human development is the comprehensive enhancement of the quality of life for all, present and future; it necessarily involves the integration of economic, social, political, cultural, ecological and spiritual dimensions of being."

The same policy statement emphasizes that "The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seeks just and sustainable human development because the church believes that God wills the fullness of life for all people. Yet the conditions necessary for such fullness are sorely lacking today for a large part of the human family." (Chapter seven: Definition)

The Joining Hands strategy is under-girded by numerous policy areas articulated by "Hope for a Global Future." They include sufficient production and consumption, full respect for human rights, just and effective governance, environmental sustainability and food sufficiency, ethical universality with cultural and religious diversity, equitable debt relief, just and sustainable international trade, and more and better development assistance. (Chapter seven, Hope for a Global Future).

Similarly, in 2003, the 215th General Assembly adopted "Presbyterians Do Mission in Partnership." In that policy statement, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) "claims responsibility for sharing the Good News," which includes:

(a) healing and reconciling and binding up wounds,
(b) ministering to the needs of the poor, the sick, the lonely and the powerless,
(c) engaging in the struggle to free people from sin, fear, oppression, hunger and injustice,
(d) giving itself and its substance to the service of those who suffer,
(e) sharing with Christ in the establishing of his just, peaceable and loving rule in the world. ²

As the writers of Hope for a Global Future concluded:

'[Our] hope is in the Lord [our] God, who made heaven and earth; the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry [and] sets the prisoners free’ (Ps. 146:5-7, NRSV). But such hope, rooted in faith, is inseparable from faithfulness.

As faithful Presbyterians, we listen for how God is speaking to us today, in the midst of increasing inequality and environmental destruction, hunger and displacement, war and oppression. And we listen for how God’s Word is challenging us to act.

God’s call to loose the chains of injustice: The Biblical basis for Joining Hands

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim
release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord;
(Isaiah, 61:1-2; Luke 4:18-19)

Jesus Christ stood in the synagogue at Nazareth, quoting the prophet Isaiah, and asserting to the astonishment of those gathered that, " ... today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:21) With this first recorded public statement of Jesus, he began his ministry to the least of these, joining with the weak, the despised and the suffering.

Repeatedly through his earthly ministry, Jesus called upon others to become instruments of God’s transforming grace. He carried out his witness, not only by way of preaching and verbal challenges, but also through personal example. The “Word became flesh” as Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, put his hands on lepers, fed the multitude and entered into relationship with Samaritans, tax collectors and children.

Rooted in Scripture and in the Reformed heritage, Joining Hands invites Presbyterian churches and other Christian congregations to view the world with the eyes of the poor, to see reality not from the center of power, but from the margin, and to read the Gospel from the perspective of the underprivileged.

Joining Hands strives to embody the example of Jesus Christ by providing Christians with the opportunity to work directly with overseas communities and partners in lifting up the oppressed and feeding the hungry.

There are a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit;
and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
(1 Corinthians 12:4-5)

Paul encouraged early Christians to take a look at their own particular and unique life circumstances and to embody the love of Jesus Christ in light of those circumstances. Paul’s words to the Corinthians imply that there are many valid approaches to living out Christ’s call to service.

Joining hands congregations engage in exciting ministries of compassion, justice and transformation as they join directly with our brothers and sisters who are suffering the effects of hunger.

...For I am longing to see you,
that I may impart some spiritual gift
to strengthen you, that is,
that we might be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith,
both yours and mine.
(Romans 1:11-12)

Paul often lived at a distance from the brothers and sisters in Christ with whom he was in relationship. Yet, Paul was able to experience communion with Christians in far away places. His letters address specific situations within communities of Christians, and indicate that Paul had a great deal of love and concern for those with whom he was in mutual ministry. We say "mutual," because Paul realized that his relationships were a two-way street: he offered strength and encouragement to others, and he also received similar gifts from them.

Joining Hands is also a mutual experience, not only between Christians, but also with people of other faiths. It is an opportunity for Christian congregations not only to give of themselves to those in need, but also to receive the gifts that sisters and brothers overseas can offer to them. It challenges us as Christians to rediscover the spirituality of simple living, of hope and of communion among people across cultures, distances and economic differences.

It would have been easy for Jesus just to preach and for Paul to stay in one place and write letters. Good thing they didn’t. Good thing we don’t have to, either.

Joining Hands: Ecumenical and inter-faith: Spirituality and Ethics — Shared values and common concerns — different ways of expressing them.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will seek new opportunities for conversation and understanding with non-Christian religious bodies in order that interests and concerns may be shared and common action undertaken where compatible means and aims exist. (Book of Order, G-15.0104)

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Book of Order, which governs PC(USA) church life, makes an explicit commitment to openness and relationship with other Christian denominations, secular groups and social movements, as well as other faith traditions. Presbyterians are encouraged to build interfaith relationships and cultivate solidarity with other religious communities, as well as other social groups, especially when they face persecution. Presbyterian guidelines for interfaith dialogue also encourage Christians to take responsibility for violence and oppression committed in the name of Christianity, seeking healing and reconciliation with aggrieved people.

Through Joining Hands, we discover that despite our differences we have much in common. People throughout the world may use different languages to describe an understanding of God, the divine, the transcendent, but our values are often the same. Similarly, we share many concerns, two of the most compelling being the existence of great inequality and suffering in the world.

Nearly all faith traditions incorporate laws aimed at preventing prolonged inequality and injustice. Many faith traditions encourage or even require that their followers give to those in need. Muslims practice zakat, or obligatory giving, while Buddhism encourages sharing through dana. Buddhists speak of their duty to care for the poor, and seek to free themselves from the illusion that a self-centered, individualistic and greedy life will lead to satisfaction and fulfillment. Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikh and Baha’í view poverty as a matter of justice, and a searing indictment of human failing. ³

There is no religion in the world which does not condemn the hoarding of riches by some, while others live in extreme misery, particularly because of the causal relationship between the two. This is summed up by the Hindu adage: ‘Whenever you take more than you need, you are stealing from someone else.’
Poverty and Development: An Interfaith Perspective, World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD)

In the Jewish and Christian traditions, the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy outline numerous laws and practices such as the jubilee year and the cancellation of debts, tithing, and laws for harvesters. Those laws seek to protect vulnerable people who are deeply indebted or facing hunger, poverty and enslavement. Psalms and much of the Torah and Christian New Testament depict God as having a special concern for the poor, and warn against those who seek to benefit at their expense.

The Muslim faith holds that the whole world belongs to Allah, and that human beings are responsible for its care. Similarly, many indigenous communities, such as the Aymara and Quechua of Bolivia and Peru, and religions like Taoism and Jainism, believe in the sacredness of all creation. They emphasize the need for balance, harmony and respect between humans and the natural world.

The values articulated by different religious traditions are not solely the property of people of faith. Many secular groups, community organizations and individuals hold to their personal and organizational ethics as the foundation for their work for justice. They speak of compassion, solidarity, sustainability, respect, balance, reciprocity and other values that serve as their guideposts for “being” in the world. In addition to promoting ecumenical and interfaith cooperation, Joining Hands is also about finding common ground with grassroots groups, social movements and institutions that express shared values and shared concerns.

Notes

¹ Public Citizen “NAFTA at Ten” Series.
² Book of Order (G-3.0300)
³ “Poverty and Development: An Interfaith Perspective.” World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD)