Reformed Church Head Urges Lifestyle Changes to Bring Justice

Reformed Christians should expose the "false doctrines" that limit God's sovereignty to a narrowly defined spiritual realm, says Setri Nyomi, General Secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC).

"If we had followed these false doctrines in the 16th century or in the 1930s or in the decades of apartheid in South Africa, our witness would have been tarnished," Nyomi said in an address earlier this month in Belfast to the Christian Lifestyle Conference of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

The WARC general secretary applauded the church for organising a workshop on commitment to justice and its implications for the lifestyles of Reformed Christians. He urged participants to resist consumerism through ethical investing, the use of fairly traded products and by advocating for economic and ecological justice.

"We cannot yield to the rather mediocre view in which the powers that manage God's household today convince us that individual needs and greed are more important than the needs of the community and that privatisation and the motif of unbridled profit are paramount even if they oppress large numbers of people.

"Without a critical analysis, we could be engaged in idolatry in which particular economic systems become gods - the only solution. This is one reason WARC is engaged with some of its sister organisations in the building of a covenanting for justice movement."

Nyomi challenged Reformed Christians today to remember that God is sovereign over all and ensure that they did not stand by as millions of people around the globe continue to suffer and die because of the way the world's economic system operates.

Many people do not have enough money to buy food, privatised drinking water, decent health care or education while Structural Adjustment Programmes imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank further exacerbate their plight, WARC said.

"Reformed faith has taught us that we cannot stay silent in the face of these realities," Nyomi said.

The Bible tells us that God cares for those who suffer and calls on believers to challenge systems that fail to exhibit concern for those on the margins of society through no fault of their own, said WARC. Reformed theology, it said, "refuses to blame the poor for their poverty".

"How can we stay silent when the way the household is managed leads to death for some people in the household?" Nyomi asked.

Nyomi said that it was the responsibility of the church community to respond when church members are experiencing troubles in their lives. "We are called not to keep silent but to stand on the word of God to be actively engaged in resisting anything that denies fullness of life."

The general secretary reviewed the Accra Confession, a statement on neoliberal economic globalisation by WARC's 24th General Council, which states that it is contrary to Christian faith to remain silent in the face of the current economic system that kills millions.

"The Accra Confession places demands on us. It is humbling and we too, churches and church structures, stand in judgement under the claims of faith inherent in this confession. Therefore a commitment on our part is called for," Nyomi said.

"We thank those Christians and churches in Northern Ireland who continue to work hard in seeking peace and pursuing it even in a context where religious sentiments have been used to foment conflict. The obvious question is: can the churches which were courageous enough to stand up in faith in times past be courageous enough to adopt the Accra Confession - with all its demands on us?"