ISSUE 76 - Weighed Down
Dear Readers,
Have you ever been in a situation where you had no power? I remember being in a foreign country among refugees, learning that some of them had no documented status; they had entered the country years ago to avoid being killed in their home country, and now had no hope of education and no visible hope of what we would consider a viable future. Due to the existing power struc- tures, they would have to bribe their way to schooling or bribe to keep their businesses open. Despite my status as an American citizen, I had no ability to change their circumstances. I felt helpless and unable to do anything.
More recently, in my own church circles, I have seen oppression in the form of forcing the desire of senior leadership upon the congregation where disagreement means either the firing of a minister or being told to go find another church.
Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini write in their insightful book, Humanocracy:
Throughout the long history of social progress, the most powerful argument for change has been the assertion that every human being deserves the fullest possible opportunity to develop, apply, and benefit from their natural gifts, and that unnecessary hu- man-made impediments to this quest are unjust.1
While we are not speaking of progress only in a social aspect, I believe this quote reflects the truth that we are all made in the image of God. When we lose sight of the image of God in each person around us (and therefore, fail to act), we fail to live up to our calling as followers of Jesus.
Andy Crouch, author and former executive editor at Christianity Today, once said, “to disengage from the profound needs of those caught in suffering is to reject the call to bear the image of God.”2 Proverbs 14:31 reads, “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”3
Scarily, it is easy to speak against injustice and oppression in distant lands, but it is much, much harder to speak against it and to live differently when the oppression is in our midst (or even more terrifyingly, when we have oppressed others without realizing it).
In this edition, our first writer describes the many injustices done in the past by Christians, Scott describes the often unseen dan- gers of having one culture rule over other cultures, and Jonathan challenges us to not only see what shouldn’t be done but what can be done.
These articles will be challenging to read, but I believe we must let light shine upon the past and see how God will renew us and redeem what has been broken.
Church attendance among young people (under the age of 30) has been dropping4 and I believe part of this is due to an unwilling- ness of the Church to confront the past, learn from it, and move towards the future. I am not saying this in terms of conservative and liberal values but in the willingness to allow light to shine upon the darkness and see where God will take things. While some may be concerned with the whats of theologies (which are also very important!), in this edition I am concerned about how we have been doing things.
Throughout this edition you will find worksheets we hope the Spirit will use to challenge us to see ourselves more clearly and convict us towards humility and an opening of our hands towards the future.
May God speak through this edition and may anything not from Him be clarified and corrected. May we know God’s love for us and grow in the knowledge of His Son, that His love may expand in all the dimensions of what we think, say, and do.
Thankful for each of you,
Jonathan
Jonathan Ho, editor
P.S. In seeking to live in the light, please reach out if you find anything misleading or concerning in what we have written here. We may not be able to publish a response in our print edition but given questions, may seek to publish those questions and our responses on our website. Reach out to us at hello@projectarctos.com. We need one another and whatever we print, we print with open hands, knowing we are merely human. May God ultimately be glorified in all we do.
References:
“Andy Crouch Quote: ‘To Disengage from the Profound Needs of Those Caught in Suffering Is to Reject the Call to Bear the Image of God.’” Quotefancy. Accessed May 15, 2024. https://quotefancy.com/quote/2178974/Andy-Crouch-To-disengage-from-the-profound-needs-of-those- caught-in-suffering-is-to.
Hamel, Gary, and Michele Zanini. Humanocracy: Creating organizations as amazing as the people inside them. Boston, MA: Harvard Busi- ness Review Press, 2020.
Roach, David. “Church Attendance Dropped among Young People, Singles, Liberals.” News & Reporting, January 9, 2023. https://www. christianitytoday.com/news/2023/january/pandemic-church-attendance-drop-aei-survey-young-people-eva.html.
It is a mistake to think that being a Christian believer, church, or nation means that we will have a stronger moral character or a clearer conscience. It is even more of a mistake to think that one’s beliefs are right because they are “Christian?"