Churches have role to play in solving global problems, says Warren
by Anne Thomas
Posted: Sunday, September 28, 2008, 9:15 (BST)
Pastor Rick Warren told former US President Bill Clinton's global summit on Friday not to overlook the contribution that millions of people of faith around the world play in tackling some of today's biggest challenges.
"If we take the people of faith off the agenda, we've ruled out most of the world because most of the world has some faith," Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life and pastor of the southern Californian Saddleback Church, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. "There's already an army ready to be mobilised, an army of compassion."
Warren gave the example of Rwanda, where hundreds of churches are filling in the gap in the overstretched healthcare system, which has just a few hospitals and clinics trying to meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of people.
"Somehow we have to figure out how to get business and government and churches to work together," he was quoted by AP as saying.
Warren addressed the summit as part of a panel that included Nobel Prize winners, Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist and the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and Muhummad Yunus, a banker and economist from Bangladesh who came to prominence for his use of microcredit loans to the poor.
Grameen Bank founder Yunus said the focus had to shift from charity to the empowerment of people at the grassroots level.
"We have to get out of this mindset that the rich will do the business and the poor will have the charity," he said.
Maathai echoed his sentiments.
"It is very important that people do not rely on giving," she said. "We must empower these communities at the grassroot level to rise up and walk."
The three-day Clinton Global Initiative came to an end on Friday. Other speakers included Bono, Al Gore and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
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Added: Saturday, October 4, 2008, 10:01 (BST)
Of course everyone has a little faith, faith in Buddah, in gambling, in scientists, in Mohammed.
But how many truly have faith in God...the God of this Creation?
Rick Warren thinks Christians have to save the world.The trouble with this misplaced theology is that we can't even save ourselves. Jesus had to do it for us at Calvary
Brett Eden, Traralgon, Australia
Added: Wednesday, October 1, 2008, 1:35 (BST)
does any body even notice that rick warren doesn't even bother to preach the gospel?? to rick warren, the priority of the day is to save the world by meeting its temporal needs, or percieved temporal needs. the patriarch Job asks the question,"How then can man be justified with God?" Job 25:4. not 'how can we get social justice?' or 'how shall we "save the planet" ' What humanity really needs to know is they are all sons of adam, born unto wrath, and they need to repent and throw themselves on the mercies of God in Christ; to repent from sin and believe in the lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. THAT is the priority!!! You wanna save America??/Britain?? Then oppose the awful apostacy that poses as Christianity in our day, and pray that God will pour out His Spirit upon the churches of our land in true biblical revival, that as a result, we may have our priorities straight once again. Christians, pull your heads out of the sand and take your stand for Christ, preaching the Gospel, and contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints!!!!
frank, boca raton fl usa
Added: Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 1:05 (BST)
Really, what complete rot.
I suppose the whole ecomonic collapse of the US banking system was 'the Devils work' and not the result of so many greedy 'people of faith' this man is spruiking for, actualy believing in the 'gospel of wealth' that the Pentecostal Church and its vatrious clones promote.
And, what a cheek to even think that only those people of 'faith' have anything to offer in resolving either the economic mess or the environmental mess that so many 'people of faith' have helped to create.
The view that 'nature' is here to 'serve' man and that 'God will make it all better after a quick prayer' is a major factor in the steady, no, rapid, decline of the planet.
No doubt all these Wall Sreet bozzo's are crying that they knew it was all wrong while making themselves horribly wealthy too, and of course, remaining a 'person of faith'?
What absolute ROT.
howard haighter, sidney australia
