Terrorism. Global warming. Poverty. Skyrocketing food and gas prices. Some mornings just opening the newspaper is enough to make me want to crawl back under the covers.

I walk around the house turning off lights. I give socks and mittens to local homeless shelters. I write an occasional letter to Congress, and vote, and pray for peace. But can such small acts make any real difference?

Now humanitarian agencies warn of the worldwide resurgence of an old evil — slavery. In fact, as the cover article in this issue observes, the number of people enduring the horrors of slavery today is higher — by millions — than the total number of Africans enslaved from the 16th to the 19th centuries. This includes thousands of people right here in the United States — farmworkers, nannies and domestic workers held in servitude and sometimes sexually abused.

Modern-day slavery provides stark evidence that we live in a sin-infested world. Human efforts alone will not make it better. But as Christians we also believe this is the world that our all-powerful God created, redeemed and still loves. In Jesus Christ, God came to walk the dusty roads of first-century Palestine, confronting the world’s evils by feeding and healing and loving — and empowering his followers to do the same.

These convictions propelled the writing of “A Social Creed for the 21st Century,” a document to be considered by this year’s General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The one-page creed opens with words to remember while reading the morning headlines: “We churches of the United States have a message of hope for a fearful time.” It goes on to outline a vision for a world that truly reflects the goodness of its Creator — a world with clean air and water, and without war, hunger, slavery and other evils.

Presbyterians took the lead in developing this creed, which is being considered for adoption by a number of U.S. denominations. It commemorates the 1908 endorsement of a similar document to address harsh working conditions spawned by the Industrial Revolution. The 1908 social creed committed U.S. churches to work for an end to child labor, sweatshop conditions and other abuses in the nation’s workplaces. History testifies to the difference their commitment has made.

Today some of the problems threatening society have changed. But our prayers and actions still make a difference, especially when combined with those of millions of other people of faith. The 2008 social creed closes with these words: “We make this commitment together — as members of Christ’s body, led by the one Spirit — trusting in the God who makes all things new.”

If we trust God and belong to Christ’s church, it’s time to get up and get moving.

Eva Stimson is the editor of Presbyterians Today.

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