Christians try to fulfil Christ’s command to “love thy neighbour” which ultimately means need not greed. Live simply so that others may simply live. The Christian message is to share and to hold on to too much wealth is wrong. It is a crime against the rest of humanity. There is a real need for the richer western countries to help the poorer. After all, from the Christian viewpoint, we are all part of one family, we are the body of Christ and the stronger parts should help the weaker parts. Many Christians do give of their time very generously by electing to do the VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas). It is up to the individual how long they go for – a few months or years and they will be funded by a registered charity. Some go as missionaries and in this case will probably be funded by a local Church. Not everyone is able to do VSO work but they may give of their time in a different way e.g. working for charity shops in this country, collecting donations door to door for specific charity weeks, or by trying to raise people’s awareness e.g. a friend recently went to Ethiopia for three weeks. On her return she has been telling people including her own Church congregation about the country, the issues that it faces and how they can best support the people there.
Many Christians try to use their relative wealth wisely by buying goods supplied by Fair Trade schemes. These ensure that workers in developing countries earn a fair wage for their work and are not exploited. Often through Fair Trade villages and communities in developing countries are also provided with schools and health centres.
This year Ethiopia will be prevalent in the media because it is twenty years since Bob Geldof’s live aid concert. This concert was held to raise money for the many who have been struck by the famine. The problems of Ethiopia are typical of the problems faced by many developing countries- disasters like famine, corrupt governments, over population, aids etc. Twenty years on many would argue that very little has changed, all we have done is keep people alive. The issue then remains how do we improve the quality of life. Perhaps we can’t, perhaps as some would argue Ethiopia is a dying country. However there are many who would not accept this view and would say it is up to us, via charities like, Concern, Christian Aid to persist- to begin small and to hope that small changes will eventually lead to bigger changes. The Christmas edition of Ground Force made the point that you can make a big difference to a small community. They produced a wonderful garden with seating areas, play areas, banana trees, Chicken Coups and vegetable gardens. This will really improve the quality of life for the nearby school and surrounding families. So you begin small with projects like this, rather than simply turning your back and saying it is hopeless. Such projects however are not possible if they do not have backing from others, such backing needs to take various forms fro the giving of money to the giving of time to those with the vision and the ability to see such ideas become reality.
Christians are urged to give 10% of their earnings to charity. This is the sum mentioned In the New Testament. Obviously some will give more e.g. Philanthropists who can afford to and who are motivated to do so. Such vast sums of money can obviously make a huge difference. Others however will give when and as they can an example of this is written in the Bible when it tells the story of the old lady that gave all her money instead of the rich person who gave 10%. The rich person did what the bible told him to do however the old lady gave all her money which is was more valuable as it was all she could give.
Many Christians elect to give money to charity through a scheme called Wage Age which means that money comes directly out of their monthly earnings and in this way is not taxed, therefore the charities concerned receive a bit more.
Many people in the developed world feel that it is now time to wipe the debt which his owed by third world countries. Back in the year 2000 many felt that as we entered a new Millennium the time was right to wipe the slate clean. The charity, Christina Aid encouraged people to send a postcard to the Government with £1 attached, a token contribution towards the irradiating of third world debt. They based this action upon the Biblical teaching that if a debt has been owed for many years, then the debtor should be let off. The point being that clearly the debtor is never going to be able to pay off the debt and therefore both sides might just as well forget it. This is certainly true of the third world.
Christians will seek to fulfil their responsibilities through their day to day lives. One way in which they can do this is to buy fairly traded goods. These are goods which have been produced by people in third world countries and they guarantee that if you buy such goods, these people have been paid a fair wage. They have not been ripped off and although the goods might be a bit more expensive they are ethical.
Christians also recognise their responsibility to the environment and when buying goods would seek to ensure that they are environmentally friendly and would also endeavour to recycle and to ensure that key resources like water, electricity etc, are not wasted but are used sensibly.
Christians, like many others, feel strongly on issues like justice and if they feel that the government is not acting correctly on certain issues then they may seek to join pressure groups in order to make their protest. Such pressure groups use peaceful means to make their points such as writing petitions, marching etc. Many Christians would have been present at the march in spring 2003 to make the point that they felt it was wrong for the government to go so hastily into a war against Iraq. Organised pressure groups include Amnesty International which protests for prisoners of conscience, Pro-Life which campaigns against abortion, Christian C.N.D. which is against nuclear weapons and a variety of ecology groups which work hard for a greener Britain.
Christians can be particularly affective in the local community through the work of their own churches. Many are particularly supportive to the elderly which is usually a very needy group of people. Members of the congregation will organise activities for them, clubs, outings, having them round for meals, taking them to and from church, visiting them etc.
The Church however, will seek to meet the needs of all its congregation, mother and toddler groups, youth groups, outside speakers etc.
All Christians believe strongly in the power of prayer. This is the way that they communicate with God. Prayer can be offered in two ways, by the individual or by the church community. Prayer brings comfort and hope although Christians accept that their prayers may not always be answered in the way that they would expect. They realise that they can not possibly hope to see the bigger picture, only God can do that and they must have faith that God will do the right thing.
So in conclusion, you can see that there are many ways a Christian might carry out his/her responsibilities towards the world. A Christian would always try to fulfil their responsibilities towards the world and towards their own family etc to the best of their ability. There are endless ways in which a Christian can help the world and so there is no excuse for them not to!
