When we look around our world, we see many people who are suffering. People may suffer from different kinds of injustice in their work (or in their lack of work), in their living conditions, in their access to education or healthcare, or for political reasons. People who are poor tend to suffer much more from the results of injustice. For example, in our world:
- 800 million people (12% of the world’s population) do not have enough to eat
- 1.1 billion people (17% of the world’s population) lack access to safe water
- 2.6 billion people (39% of the world’s population) are without basic sanitation
- Over 10 million children under 5 die each year from preventable diseases.
These figures represent great suffering for those involved. Sometimes it is hard to know what we can do to change so many difficult situations. However, God wants his church to be active in bringing justice to those who are poor or oppressed.
Discussion
- Consider our own community. What people are suffering most? Are their difficulties a result of people misusing power in our community? What are the most important kinds of injustice in our community?
- Read Jeremiah 2:7-9. The prophet Jeremiah is looking back on what had gone wrong since the Israelites entered the Promised Land. Who were the four groups he blamed for what was going wrong? Can we identify similar groups today?
- What is the church doing to challenge injustice?
- What is the government doing to challenge injustice?
- What are we doing to challenge injustice in our community?
- What am I doing to challenge injustice?
Articles 3, 22, 25 UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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