News

Church leaders call for action on poverty

June 29, 2005

A Forum of church leaders from around the world has called for decisive action and a firm commitment on poverty eradication from the G8 leaders.

The London Forum, meeting at Lambeth Palace and hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Rowan Williams, issued a final communiqué saying that the time for change is now:

"There is no place for apathy in a world which sees 30,000 children die each day because of poverty related conditions. The bible teaches that whatever we do to the poorest we do also for Jesus. We believe God judges nations by what they do to the poorest."

The leaders included Dr Alison Elliot, Convener of Action of Churches Together in Scotland; the Rt Revd Mgr Henry Docherty, General Secretary of the Scottish Catholic Bishops Conference; and the Rt Revd David W Lacy, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

The communiqué calls upon G-8 leaders to "provide courageous and costly leadership by providing the resources and making the structural changes necessary to eradicate poverty."

Archbishop Rowan underscored the "deep convergence" of churches from North America, Europe and the Global South regarding the issue of extreme poverty. Churches of all traditions, he said, have found that they have a "common moral base resting on the bible" which calls them to act for economic justice.

The Archbishop also observed that the eradication of poverty is a "generational issue". It is, he said, "the moral cause of the younger generation whose moral vision must be affirmed."

The Forum was attended by delegations from UK Churches, organised by Dr David Goodbourn of Churches Together and Britain and Ireland; US churches, organised by the Revd Jim Wallis, Director of the peace and justice network Sojourners; leaders of African churches; and representatives from faith based mission and development agencies. Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria and Bishop James Tengatenga of Malawi participated in the Forum.

Archbishop Akinola stated that the economic imbalances of the past must be corrected. Equally, he said, the governments of the Global South must identify and develop their own resources in order that "they may call themselves developed nations."

Bishop Tengatenga of Malawi expressed enthusiasm for the progress toward economic justice represented by both this Forum of church leaders from around the world and by the debt relief planned by the G8 governments. At the same time, he admitted concern about a lack of transparency in the debt relief selection process.

Earlier in the day, several of the Forum delegates had what they described as a "constructive" meeting with UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.

A prayer service for the Forum was held the previous evening at St John's Church Waterloo, London. Among the speakers at this service were the Revd Jim Wallis, Director of Sojourners, and Bishop David Greaves of the New Testament Assembly.

Mr Wallis called the daily death of 30,000 children due to poverty related causes a "silent tsunami" and pointed out that the yearly subsidy of an English cow is greater than the yearly income of most Africans. "Poverty is the new slavery", he said, calling on the gathered crowd of over 300 people to recognize themselves as the catalyst for change. "We are," he concluded, "the ones we have been waiting for."

Bishop Greaves echoed Mr Wallis' message, emphasizing Jesus' "manifesto of Good News to the poor". Jesus, he said, acted in the power of the Holy Spirit and the Church must do the same. Bishop Greaves related a story from his own trip to Ghana - a conversation with a chicken farmer named Lawrence whose livelihood had been decimated by the effects of free trade. Bishop Greaves hopes to be a public voice for men like Lawrence who - all too silently - are being "killed" by the West. He then spoke of his family's suffering under slavery in Barbados and declared that their journey out of oppression is a hopeful testament to the possibility of change. "Faith," he said, "can truly move mountains."

The full text of the full communiqué is as follows:

The London Forum Church Leaders' Statement on the G-8

There is no place for apathy in a world which sees 30,000 children die each day because of poverty-related conditions. The bible teaches that whatever we do to the poorest we do also to Jesus. We believe God judges nations by what they do to the poorest. This means all of us in the prosperous world, governments, churches, the media and populations stand under judgement, to the degree that we fail to respond to such a situation with costly compassion and generosity, so that we may help in God's name and by God's grace to secure justice for the poor.

The upcoming G-8 Summit is a challenge to the world's leaders to take decisive action on behalf of those living in extreme poverty. As leaders of churches and faith-based organisations from the United States and the United Kingdom in conversation with voices from the global South, we have gathered at Lambeth to strengthen our commitment to end extreme poverty on the occasion of the G-8 Summit.

For the first time in history, humanity possesses the information, knowledge, technology, and resources to bring the worst of global poverty virtually to an end. What is missing is sufficient political and moral will. As church leaders from diverse Christian traditions, we re-commit ourselves and our faith communities to help generate that moral will at this critical historical juncture. We call upon President George Bush, Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the other G-8 leaders to provide courageous and costly political leadership by providing the resources and making the structural changes necessary to eradicate poverty.

We applaud the progress being made in some of the poorest nations of the world on governance issues and commend the part played by churches and other faith-based communities in those countries in sustaining and supporting essential health and education infrastructures for the benefit of all. We recognise the necessity of proper investment in that infrastructure by governments and NGOs. We also commit to continuing our solid support for the role played by partner churches and pastors in those countries ensuring ongoing delivery of progress on poverty reduction by their governments.
We also applaud momentum being built by grass roots campaigns around the world who are addressing these issues and pledge to mobilise our energies, in partnership with faith leaders from the Global South, to realise common goals emerging from these campaigns and the Millennium Development Goals:

Debt - The recent agreement on 100% debt cancellation for eighteen of the world's poorest countries represents a major step forward that should now be expanded to include all multilateral creditors and more impoverished and heavily indebted nations.

Aid - The moral scandal of extreme poverty requires that the wealthy nations do much more to assist the poorest countries in fighting poverty, hunger and disease through a dramatic improvement in the quantity and quality of aid. We are also united in the call for good governance and an end to the corruption that undermines all nations and people. Conditions attached to aid and debt cancellation must not be used to reinforce existing patterns of inequality that undermine pro-poor policies of local governments.

Trade - The structural inequities and power imbalances in trade rules that tilt toward the rich nations at the expense of impoverished nations must be reformed so that people can earn a sustainable income and the private sector can generate jobs and wealth for the common good. Rich countries must reform their subsidies to prevent the dumping of produce on world markets and strengthen special and differential treatment for poor countries so that they are able to protect vulnerable producers and develop new industries.

This is the agenda for young people and old together. We are all too aware that it is the poor who pay the greatest price of ecological degradation. It is women and children who bear the disproportionate costs of poverty while bearing also the greatest hope as agents for change. This is the time for change. We trust that by the grace of God we may all have the courage to change the course of history in favour of the world's poorest.

Full list of participants:

Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

Co-Chairs
The Revd Jim Wallis, Director of Sojourners and Convener of Call to Renewal
Dr David Goodbourn, General Secretary, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland

Delegation from the USA
The Revd David Beckmann, President of Bread for the World
The Revd Rich Cizik, VP of Government Affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals
Dr. Robert Davis, Director, Mennonite Central Committee
Dr. Glenn Palmberg, President, Evangelical Covenant Church
The Rt Revd Peter Rogness, Bishop of St. Paul Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America
The Revd Ron Sider, President and Founder of Evangelicals for Social Action
Father Andrew Small, Policy Advisory, International Economic Development, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Mr. Rich Stearns, President, World Vision United States
Revd Adam Taylor, Campaigns Director of Sojourners
The Revd Geoff Tunnicliffe, International Director/CEO, World Evangelical Alliance
The Rt Revd Peter Weaver, Presiding Bishop of the United Methodist Church Council of Bishops

Delegation from the UK
The Most Revd Peter Akinola, Archbishop of Nigeria
Christine Allen, Director, Catholic Institute for International Relations
HG Bishop Angaelos, Coptic Orthodox Church
Mgr John Arnold, Vicar General of Westminster
Mr Andy Atkins, Advocacy Director, Tearfund
Mr Charles Badenoch, Director, World Vision
Mr Doug Balfour, Executive Director, Integral, Evangelical Alliance
Mr Chris Bain, Director, Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)
Lt-Col Keith Burridge, Territorial Secretary, Salvation Army
The Revd David Coffey, Free Churches' Moderator (Baptist)
The Rt Revd Mgr Henry Docherty, General Secretary of Catholic Bishops Conference
Dr Alison Elliot, Convener of Action of Churches Together in Scotland
Mr Martin Gordon, Senior Campaigns Officer, International, Christian Aid
Bishop Greaves, New Testament Assembly
Ms Trish Heywood, Worldwide President, Mothers' Union
The Revd John Kennedy, Methodist Church
Ms Katei Kirby, Director of African and Caribbean Evangelical Alliance
The Rt Revd David W Lacy, Moderator, General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
Ms Anne Martin, Director of Commitment for Life Programme, United Reform Church
Dr Daleep Mukarji, Director, Christian Aid
The Very Revd Ken Newell, Moderator, Presbyterian Church in Ireland
Mr Brian Peterson, World Vision
The Rt Revd Peter Price, ex-General Secretary, United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
The Revd Matthew Reed, Director, Church & Communications, Christian Aid
The Revd Dr Kenneth Ross, Council Secretary of the World Mission Council
Mr Peter Scott, World Vision
Archdeacon Taimalelagi, Anglican Observer at the United Nations
The Rt Revd James Tengatenga, Bishop of Malawi
Ms Hellen Wangusa, Africa Coordinator, Millennium Development Goals Campaign
The Revd Peter West, Area Coordinator, South London, Christian Aid
The Rt Revd Pierre Whalon, Bishop of the American Convocation of Churches in Europe