Micah Challenge Australia Blog

 

The Micah Challenge blog is a space for discussion and debate about the issues of global poverty, faith, advocacy and justice and the Millennium Development Goals. This blog aims to provoke thought and challenge you to learn more about the issues discussed. We welcome your comments.

Micah Challenge is a global campaign of Christians speaking out against poverty and injustice. Click here to visit the Micah Challenge website.

  • A new lens for Lent

    Posted by Joel

    17 April, 2014

    One of the remaining redeeming features of Easter is the fact that relatively speaking, unlike Christmas, it has not been over-commercialised. But it's still plagued by ignorance so that in many communities in our increasingly diverse and secularised cultures, the Passion story remains unknown. Lots of people are totally unable to recognise some of the historic facts associated with the story. There are thousands of people in so-called Christian countries who don't know who Pilate is. It wouldn't surprise me if there were people out there who think that Easter is some kind of story about giant eggs. The greater ignorance is the total lack of awareness that the Easter event 2,000 years ago was God's best expression of his love for the world expressed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that forgiveness, healing and wholeness remain at the heart of the story. So we must never undervalue the importance of this Lenten season which leads us to the way of the Cross and which cuts a path through the cynicism and hopelessness of… read more

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  • No choice but to persevere

    Posted by Matt

    10 April, 2014

    For me there is no choice as to whether or not to persevere in the fight against global poverty because for the people I advocate for, choice is not a luxury they have. Now before you think this is about to be a hard-nosed, "let's go hoo haa, stop whining and pull yourself up by the bootstraps" kind of call to arms, let me put you at ease. For those of us who care for the poor and marginalised, the last few years in Australia have been long, painful and at times utterly depressing. We have seen promises broken, cries for justice go unheard and what has felt at times to be not just a toughening of policies but a hardening of hearts. So if you would allow me, let me take you to the far West of Nepal, to meet a woman whose perseverance has been the difference between life or death for countless mothers and their babies, so that her incredible story of determination might refuel and restore you to continue in your own advocacy here in Australia. It was early in the morning when Basanti - a ‘Child Health Now‘ Ambassador trained by… read more

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  • The power of solidarity

    Posted by Christine

    8 April, 2014

    One of the most significant things that we’ve learnt over the last twenty years in the fight to end extreme poverty is the importance of working together. The Millennium Development Goals, for all their imperfections and shortcomings, have given us a shared set of global goals, the likes of which we have never before experienced. They have given us purpose, something to stand for as we simultaneously stand against the injustice of poverty. This has caused me to reflect on the nature of solidarity. When you see a group of citizens protesting, marching in a group, holding signs and chanting slogans – they could be seen as an image of solidarity. Solidarity can be as limited as those who choose a particular issue or line of thinking. It’s outcome could create more divisiveness amongst the bystanders who watch a protest if they cannot relate to the cause. My own spiritual tradition is very comfortable in a march while wearing uniforms and keeping in step to band music. The Salvation Army in that moment could be described as a church whose image is… read more

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  • An opportunity to build on progress

    Posted by Steve

    4 April, 2014

    In February 2003 a dozen or so people from across the world came together in Seattle. Our purpose was to give practical shape to an emerging global campaign. For several months the leadership of two global networks, the Micah Network and the World Evangelical Alliance, had been giving serious prayer and consideration to what on the surface seemed to many a highly improbable dream. The background to our gathering was a truly remarkable pledge made by the world’s political leaders a couple of years earlier – a millennium promise to halve world poverty by 2015. Was there something we could or should do to support those leaders to make good their pledge? How could we help them achieve their so-called Millennium Development Goals? How might we and the networks we represented be able to encourage them to keep their eyes on the goals? Or call them to account if they appeared to be shirking? Could we create an on-going campaign that would serve both as a catalyst for alerting millions of Christians around the world to God’s passion for justice and… read more

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