Congregations in communion with the poor

Abstract

In this article the writers demonstrate that congregations can and should get involved in poverty-stricken communities. That they should, is taken for granted based on the Biblical imperative. How to get practically involved is in many a situation an obstacle. The article therefore, first deals with an understanding of poverty from the evangelical and ecumenical perspectives. Subsequently, as it is not wise to deal with the results of poverty alone, the article also endeavours to spell out the causes of poverty, the challenges of development and the church’s role in confronting social injustice. The article finally demonstrates that a church or a Christian organisation can get involved by following certain developmental models, which would vouch-safe relative success for the empowerment of the poor. For this purpose a case study is described and analysed to illustrate integrated self-reliant people-centred participatory development.