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.

  • Voices for Justice 2014 Day 3

    Posted by Benton

    23 June, 2014

    Well I’m sitting here typing this in the middle of Queens Terrace Cafe in Parliament House and the buzz from Voices for Justice participants is infectious and so exciting! It’s actually hard to hear yourself above it all! I think all 220 Christians here at Voices for Justice feel the immense privilege it is to be able to speak truth to our nation’s leaders so that, as Joel Edwards spoke to us about last night, we may join in God’s mission in this world of proclaiming good news to the poor and setting the oppressed free. And as Tom Wright would say, the good news of Jesus and his resurrection is that God’s mission is not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonise earth with the life of heaven. For me, Voices for Justice puts flesh and blood on this idea. At Voices, when we engage with our politicians we are all seeking to respond to these critical questions: who is being oppressed or treated unfairly, and am I standing with them as Jesus would? And as Dereje Alemayehu stressed to us, tax justice isn’t… 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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  • Public Christians in a post-Christian society?

    Posted by John

    21 March, 2014

    The Micah challenge team has spent the last few days at the Rethinking: Public Faith Conference in Sydney. Our teacher, guide and conversation partner over these days has been Yale Professor Miroslav Volf, who many saw on the Q&A program on Monday night. The central concept of the conference has been rethinking the way we engage with society, as opposed to what we say when we do engage. It’s an important topic. We have looked at the church’s complicity and/or lack of response on a variety of issues including child sexual abuse and our response to refugees. We have much to rethink! What do you think? What are your impressions of the way that Christians are engaging in the public space? The Conference has been food for thought personally. It has caused me to begin the process of rethinking, or engaging in fresh thinking, about the nature of our engagement around the three issues Micah Challenge is currently campaigning about. For example, as we enter into a heightened period of campaigning about transparency and tax dodging, I am reminded that we… read more

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