Jesus and Justice

In 1994, Gary Haugen was a Harvard-educated lawyer working for the U.S. Department of Justice when 800,000 people in Rwanda were slaughtered in an 8-week genocide. He was loaned out to the United Nations to direct its investigation of the murders.

His investigation changed his life. His eyes were opened to suffering and injustice in our world on a scale he had never seen. A few years later, Gary Haugen founded the International Justice Mission, an organization committed to freeing victims of oppression, prosecuting perpetrators, securing safe places of caring for victims, and changing communities so that injustice is no longer acceptable.

In his book Terrify No More, Mr. Haugen wrote,

"In former jobs I had traveled the world, witnessing the results of injustice, from abusive and murderous police and soldiers in the Philippines to South African apartheid to genocide in Rwanda. I had frequent conversations with attorney friends from church about a gap that existed in the great humanitarian efforts established worldwide. Wonderful organizations addressed many needs of the poor---providing comfort, housing, medical care, and food. But an obvious question emerged: Why don't we rescue them when they are being abused?

"There were, for instance, efforts in Cambodia to feed the hungry, heal the sick, shelter the homeless, and preach the gospel; some of these ministrations were offered within yards of the brothels of Svay Pak. Although some of these efforts might reduce the risk of some children being sold as sex slaves, what about the kids who were inside the brothels and getting abused now? Who was going to get them out? And who was going to do the most powerful thing to prevent it from happening again; that is, who was going to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice? What were we doing when the poor suffered because of the abuse and oppression of other people?

"The question became even more acute as I considered the commitments of my community of faith, and especially as I considered the teachings of Scripture on the matter. When I was directing the UN's genocide investigation in Rwanda, it became clear in the aftermath of those massacres that at the point of most critical need, as blood-hungry mobs circled the churches in which the victims huddled, those victims were not crying out for food, medicine, or housing. They were crying out for someone to restrain the hand of the oppressor. And likewise for the girls in the brothels of Svay Pak; their very souls were crying out for someone to rescue them from the hands of those who, day by day, abused them in ways that cannot be described in polite company. Who was going to respond to that need and see that the purveyors of such brutality were actually made to pay a price for their crimes?" (pp. 33-34).

Today Gary Haugen and his team of private investigators, attorneys, and social workers risk their lives to rescue victims of abuse and oppression around the globe.

In many ways, he is following the example of Jesus Christ. At the beginning of his ministry, Christ announced,

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18-19, NIV).

At the cross, Christ gave his life to rescue us from the abuse, oppression, and slavery of sin. He defeated Satan and his co-conspirators of injustice. He built a church to provide a safe place of caring for victims. His actions continue to change the world as more and more of us are no longer satisfied in doing nothing while our neighbors are being oppressed by sin.

Ethnic Violence in Kenya

Since its presidential election a few days ago, Kenya has been in turmoil. Ethnic violence has been compared to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. People are losing their lives because they belong to the "wrong" ethnic group.

The Christian Chronicle has an online story about the violence. I am proud of the members of the Churches of Christ who are risking their lives to protect fellow citizens from the violence, despite ethnic differences. However, we need to pray for the peace of Kenya. The situation could get worse before it gets better. Please pray for Kenya.

The report may be read at http://www.christianchronicle.org/article887~Kenyan_church_members_injured,_displaced_after_post-election_violence

Christians Adopting Rwandan Orphans Part II

In The Oklahoman newspaper today, Carla Hinton has written a good article about the Henderson family of Oklahoma City. Mark and Sharon Henderson recently returned from Rwanda with their newly adopted sons. Mark is a minister with the Quail Springs Church of Christ in Oklahoma City. The article may be read at http://www.newsok.com/article/3152025/1192832320.

Christians Adopting Rwandan Orphans

"For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing" (Deuteronomy 10:17-18, NASB).

I read a great story in The Oklahoman today about Christians who are adopting orphaned children from Rwanda. They are members of the Quail Springs Church of Christ in Oklahoma City, a congregation that supports missionaries serving Christ's Church in Rwanda. After visiting an orphanage in the capitol city of Rwanda, a family decided to go beyond giving money (which is a very godly thing to do, of course). They decided to start the process of adopting two of the children. When other members of the church found out, they were inspired to do the same. The entire article may be read at http://newsok.com/article/3064040.

Churches and the Rwandan Genocide

"You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more" (Psalm 10:17-18, NIV).

Last week, I wrote about the start of Christ's Church in Rwanda. In that post, I mentioned that the Rwandan people were disillusioned about Christianity because of the involvement of that country's churches in the genocide of 1994. Today, I found an article from an African web site as I was following some links from Christianity Today's web site. Mike O'Neal was correct about how Rwandans view the historical churches of Rwanda after their support (and lack of repentance afterward) of the mass murders. See the story at http://allafrica.com/stories/200703260402.html. I'm thankful that Christ's Church has an opportunity to live out faith in Jesus Christ in such a rightfully skeptical society.

Christ's Church in Rwanda

We have been attending the International Soul Winning Workshop at the Fairgrounds in Tulsa for the last few days. The ISWW is an annual conference of the Churches of Christ and Christian Churches.

Yesterday, I attended a session in which participants were informed about new mission work in Rwanda, the African country that was torn apart by genocide in 1994. During 100 days in the spring and early summer of that year, at least 800,000 people were murdered because of "ethnic" hatred.

Oklahoma Christian University President Mike O'Neal and faculty member Brian Hickson presented the following information about the new mission work:

The Challenge:
1. Poverty---Rwandans earn less than $1 a day, but gasoline costs more than $6 per gallon. The nation has a 40% unemployment rate.
2. HIV/AIDS---250,000 people are infected.
3. Orphans---Genocide and AIDS have left 500,000 orphans. Twenty-six percent of the children are orphans.
4. Education---Only 7.5% of Rwandans have completed secondary school.
5. Loss of Faith---Public institutions, governments, families, churches, and neighbors have failed the people.

When Rwandan President Paul Kagame visited Minneapolis in 2003, he met the Lawson family, a Christian family with ties to Oklahoma Christian University. They invited Mike O'Neal and Uganda missionary Dave Jenkins with them on a trip to Rwanda as guests of President Kagame.

Because of the friendship formed with President Kagame during that trip, the Churches of Christ have been allowed to enter Rwanda. In fact, the government has allowed a church to purchase some nice property in the capitol city. So, three weeks ago, Christ's Church in Rwanda had its first worship assembly. (The church is called "Christ's Church" in Rwanda, because "Church of Christ" had been registered with the government by a group without theological ties to the Churches of Christ and Christian Churches in America.)

Christ's Church in Rwanda has a great opportunity to help many people who have been turned off by the "Christianity" in their country that either condoned or encouraged the ethnic murders of a few years ago. Christ's Church has a opportunity to practice and promote genuine faith in Jesus Christ. "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world" (James 1:27, NASB). I hope that the new church makes a great difference for good in an area that has experienced so much evil.

More information about the mission in Rwanda can be found at http://www.rocfoundation.org.