I still love Tony Campolo. But he is pretty challenging, so I am writing this feeling a little uncomfortable, wondering what my limits are in following Jesus.
Tony had a student who got infected by his passion for the poor. So this student gave away all he owned, and went to live among the poor. His Dad was pretty mad, and came to see Tony, berating him for the influence he had on his son. The Dad said: “I am happy to be a Christian, up to a point”. And there is the rub, we all follow Jesus up to a point.
At his school, there was a kid called Roger, who was homosexual. All the kids picked on him and made his life miserable. One day the kids pushed Roger into the corner of the showers, and urinated on him. Roger went home that night and hung himself. Campolo said: “I realised I wasn’t a Christian that day. If I had been, I would have stood up for Roger, been a friend of his, and taken all the criticism for that.”
Our calling is to stand up for those who are marginalised, oppressed, the outcasts, the poor. Will we do that? What is my point? Or yours?
Notes in the “read the rest” section… but they may not make much sense. I just enjoyed (mmm, perhaps not the right word?) listening tonight, rather than taking good notes or thinking too deeply about what Tony was saying.
Tags: Incarnate, Incarnate Conference 2007, Missional Church, Poverty, Tony Campolo
Session 5 - Tony Campolo
We are destined to be here.
We are good at beating ourselves down…
St. Ignatius - prayer at the end of the day. Think of the ways in which people have been blessed through you today.
Phil 4 - Whatever noble, holy etc … think on these things.
We have got to be energised to go out and serve the poor. The more we feel good about ourselves, the more we have to give to others.
Our sins have been forgiven … we must press on towards the high calling of God. When we have believed in Jesus, and have surrendered to Jesus (there is a big difference between those two) …
Rom 8:15 - no longer will we be afraid of God. Abba is the ultimate intimacy with God.
Too many people minister to the poor motivated by guilt. But guilt will only take so far.
… we must sense that intimacy. We must feel that intimacy in every fiber of our being. To feel that love for God, and His love for us.
Rom 8:16 - we becomes sons of God. With that comes responsibility.
Our mission, should you choose to accept it …
… called and predestined … in order that God might do something splendid through you.
Retirement is only found once in the Bible … but Jesus condemns the man who builds barns for his retirement. Then he drops dead. Retirement from employment is just to free us up to serve the poor in other ways. There is tremendous suffering. You were predestined … this is not an option.
The fact that God has plans for you, doesn’t mean that you will live out that calling.
At school, there was a kid called Roger who was homosexual. All the kids picked on him and made his life miserable. One day the kids pushed Roger into the corner of the showers, and urinated on him. Roger went home that night and hung himself. TC … I realised I wasn’t a Christian that day. If I had been, I would have stood up for Roger, been a friend of his, and taken all the criticism for that.
We are to stand up for the poor and the oppressed.
War of Iraq …
Don’t get rid of terrorists by killing the terrorists. You don’t get rid of malaria, but killing mosquito’s, but by getting rid of the swamps.
- USA President - go the UN and apologise. You meant well, but the information was lousy. It is time to apologise.
- Replace the US / UK army with an Arab army … an international force made up of Saudi and other Arabs.
The major cause of poverty in the world is war. Even more so than climate change. War is even more devastating than poverty. People are starving wherever there is a war going on.
TC had a student who gave all his money to poor, lived among the poor etc. His dad came in, angry with Campolo … “I am happy to be a Christian up to a point”. And isn’t that like all of us … be a Christian up to a point.
Be faithful with the small things … we can’t dream of large scale social justice, without first doing the small things eg. support a child…
You have called, you have predestined, you have been called …
… it is about time to stop living selfishly …
You don’t have to go to the third world to find oppression. Just walk to the centre of town on a Friday or Saturday.
Can we really change the world? Of course we can. We have the resources, we have the technology to do it, to end world hunger.
The only question is: do we have the will?
A few years ago I witnessed a fight between three women. Two of them had another woman on the floor and was hitting her. Observing this fight were their children who were of course crying. I steemed in without thinking and got between the women and shelded the victim.
This ended the fight and the attackers moved on, children and all. I helped the victim up and asked if she was ok, her response was f**k off.
Charming I thought, but I didn’t take offence. I thought about what I had done and realised that I didn’t really think about the consequenses before I acted. I saw a woman being beated up by two others and some children in distressed and felt this woman needs some help even though I don’t like seeing fights and I could have got punched myself, somehow I had the courage to intervene.
Another time I was in a packed shopping centre when I saw from a distance an elderly lady fall backwards on some marble stairs. She laid there upside down with blood poaring from her head. There were many people around her but they either carried on walking or just stood there staring. I was with a friend who had a baby and so I grabbed a nappy and ran towards the woman. When I reached her I placed the nappy onto the back of her head to absorb the blood and waited with her until help arrived.
Again I didn’t think about the fact that I don’t like seeing blood, I just reacted. I have been in many situations where my own life was in danger when I’ve helped others or I have done things that I normally would never do, but what I want to say is, those two times above was when I wasn’t a Christian.
I don’t totally agree with what Campolo said about if he was a ‘Christian’ that day he would have intervened. I believe that being a Christian does make us think more about helping others, but during my pre-Christian days, I believed it was part of my character that made me intervene.
Do you think the Holy Spirit works in people before they accept Christ or is it purly character driven?
Hi Tanya - great stories … i love them.
I think you are right Tony Campolo being a Christian … I don’t think he would really say that doing kind things to people makes someone a Christian, but you could interpret that from what he said.
I think he was probably trying to say he didn’t act as a Christian - but he didn’t actually say that!
Yes i think the HS is at work in people who aren’t Christians. We certainly see that in Scripture, where people who aren’t in the community of faith that God is working in or through. eg. King Cyrus (2 Chron 26:22). What do you think?