Steps to Releasing the Oppressed

Required Steps to Releasing the Oppressed

Oppression has run rampant from biblical times (555 references to oppression and its synonyms in the OT) to modern times and on every continent.  For example, Haiti has suffered from 500 years of Spanish, French and American external oppression plus internal oppression by Haitian dictators and an elite.

Tragically, the church has little or no theology of oppression, little theology and practice of Jubilee justice that releases the oppressed.  The oppressed of the world immediately need thousands of experts on oppression, on Jubilee justice, on the present and social dimensions of the kingdom of God.  Remember, biblically, oppression smashes the body and crushes the spirit.  Are we going to stand idly by while thousands more bodies are smashed and thousands more spirits are crushed causing PTSD/PTSS?

Here are some specific steps we can and must take:

1.  Read James 5:1-6 to learn God's perspective on arrogant rich oppression.  Summarize in one sentence.
2.  The two NT key verses on how to release the oppressed: Luke 4:18-19 and Mt. 6:33  "Set your mind on God's kingdom and his justice above everything else."  A key OT verse, Amos 5:24 (The Message): "I want justice---oceans of it.  I want fairness---rivers of it."
3.  James 1:27:  "Pure religion---minister to orphans and widows---the oppressed poor."
4.  James 2:  honor/favor the oppressed poor.
5.  Think long term; in one location/community for a whole generation.
6.  Two or three couples relocate among the oppressed under indigenous leadership.
7.  Read A Quiet Revolution by John Perkins; At Home with the Poor by Jean Thomas; The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.
8.  Attend the week long Chicago April Immersion on Christian Community Development sponsored by CCDA.

For those flying to Haiti: as you are between Miami and Port-au-Prince, read again Exodus, chapter one and James 5:1-6.

As you drive by the horrible slums of Port-au-Prince, remember that you are seeing more than terrible poverty, you are seeing the results of 500 years of oppression.  Some of the rich oppressors are living in the hills above the city.

When you you arrive on Fond-des-Blancs. reread James 5:1-6 and Luke 4:18-19.