Ministry to the Poor

This course is about social justice and ministry to the poor and oppressed. It is split into two sections Part One, by Quinton Howitt, has three emphases:

1. The truth about the “Dignity of the Human Being”, the shift that took place in people’s perception of “Human Dignity” post the Fall, and the consequences thereof.
2. The development of a “Biblical Theology of the Poor”, where biblical knowledge regarding the poor is utilized to reveal God’s concern for them and His expectation upon the ‘haves’ to help the “haves not”.
3. An analysis of current methods utilized by the local church to assist the poor.

Part Two, by Derek Morphew is about the relationship between biblical faith and human rights. It addresses the following topics:

1. Kingdom of God theology as the most suitable framework for substantiating human rights from scripture.
2. The history of human rights, showing its roots in biblical revelation and Greco-Roman thought, and then tracing its development through church history, the three Great Revolutions that from the basis of Western values, and finally its expression in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Contemporary human rights theologies and instruments and the way in which human rights advocates and activists operate through non-governmental organizations to address issues of justice, poverty and oppression.