Thought Leaders Series: 2018
Many factions saw rebellion and insurgency as a means of resisting Roman occupation in Palestine, but for Jesus, as well as his introspective approach towards personal transformation, prayer was also a necessary discipline in resisting the urge to repay their oppressors with evil.
Prayer was an outlet, a release valve, a means of purging the transference of injustice, pain and violence they suffered under Roman occupation.
But this did not limit or demean the importance of social action and advocacy. His prophetic voice was regularly heard loud and clear in houses, street corners, mountains, the seaside, synagogues, and the Temple.
He led his disciples in creating a community of common goods, where they all had ‘things in common’, and those at the fringes of society were rehabilitated back into community.
Exemplified in real transformation through: healing the sick, feeding the hungry, visiting those in prison, and debt cancellation.
But sadly today, prayer is treated as a silver bullet – especially in Evangelical settings. It is presented as the answer to all the ills and challenges facing humanity, while advocacy and social action are often relegated to the peripheral – a nice to have, but not a necessary element in bringing about God’s kingdom on earth.
However, much of the progress achieved through history, most of what we enjoy today were achieved through social action and advocacy.
Through people who kept knocking the doors of those in power, through people who kept seeking solutions to the difficult problems, through people who kept asking and demanding equal rights and justice.
Reachout | Revive | Recover
Healingsprings fellowship 