Our resolve
Chapter 5
SIMPLICITY
A fifth characteristic of radical disciples, I suggest, is simplicity, especially in relation to the whole question of money and possessions. We postponed from Chapter 1 the challenge of materialism.
In March 1980 an International Consultation on Simple Lifestyle took place in England. It made a little impact at the time but in my view has received insufficient attention either then or since. So, let me introduce you to someone who attended the Consultation and whose life was influenced by it.
A SIMPLE LIFE
Dan Lam was born and brought up in a Christian home in Hong Kong. His father died when he was a young boy. So his mother brought up the family alone. She was a good and godly woman. On Sundays she would give each of her children some money to put in the offering plate, although they were quite poor. But Dan would take his share, sneak out of church, rent a bicycle and ride all over Hong Kong. When the service was over he would show up and return home with the family. According to one of his former classmates, he was ‘a very bad kid’.
When he was a teenager he fell ill and became so sick that he nearly died. It was then that he decided that God meant him ‘good, not harm’, and so he committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ. He never looked back. It was a 180-degree change for him, to the amazement and relief of his family!
When the time came for him to earn his own living, he was employed by Bechtel Corporation, a multi-national engaged in heavy engineering work. At different times they have been involved in the construction of airports and seaports, in hurricane relief, in building the ‘Chunnel’ (the channel tunnel linking England and France) and in ‘BART’ the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system. Dan was not of course personally involved in all these projects, but he rose to be a manager responsible for several hundred employees.
In 1976 the company transferred him and his family to Saudi Arabia and in 1978 to London. It was then that I first met Dan and his wife Grace, for they joined All Souls Church, Langham Place, of which I was Rector, and were members of the same fellowship group.
Dan had a great concern for the poor and needy and he was generous to his family and his church, although his personal lifestyle was frugal. But he was also beginning to feel the pressures of business. Then came the Consultation on Simple Lifestyle and the challenge it brought. Dan had always tithed his income but now, he said, he must simplify his lifestyle even further. On a visit to India he saw real poverty, and also noticed that too high a percentage of mission funds went on overheads. He resolved not to accumulate wealth but to give it away.
In 1981 he resigned from Bechtel. It was not that he felt unable to serve God in a multi-national corporation, for Jesus Christ is Lord of all life. It was rather that he felt a particular calling to the countries of South East Asia to which he himself belonged: Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, together with Myanmar and Mongolia. He understood and applied indigenous principles in mission. He believed strongly in teaching and training Asians to win Asians and to equip Asians for mission. He was motivated by the knowledge that a majority of the world’s population lives in Asia. Further, it is far more economical and efficient for Asian nationals to win Asians since nationals have no problem with culture or language, food or travel restrictions.
Dan started the first Bible School in Mongolia, and the Bible School in Phnom Penh (Cambodia) was at first registered in his name, though it is now registered as Phnom Penh Bible School. One heard of this significant growth with expectation. But it was not to last.
Suddenly Dan’s leadership was taken away. For on 22nd March 1994 he was involved in a fatal air crash. He was flying in a Russian airbus (Aeroflot flight 593 from Moscow to Hong Kong) when it collided with a Russian hillside and all seventy-five passengers and crew perished. The cause was traced to the son of one of the pilots playing with the controls in the cockpit.
Grace, Dan’s widow, and their two young children (Wei Wei and Justin) were of course devastated. But the work of the Lord went on.
Providentially, Dan’s elder sister, Winnie, was in a position to take over with her husband, Joseph. They had travelled to the mission fields in which Dan had laboured and knew personally the Asian leaders with whom Dan had cooperated. And Dan had set up two foundations – one launched with his own funds and private, and the other a public charity named ‘Country Network’. Through these foundations the unique work he had pioneered could be carried on.
Dan’s legacy will last in the Asian believers he touched, and all because of the simple lifestyle he had embraced. ‘The Simple Lifestyle Seminar,’ Grace wrote in a letter to me, ‘changed all of us.’
So let me now turn to the Consultation on Simple Lifestyle itself, and set out the evangelical commitment to simple lifestyle which so influenced Dan. Here it is.
AN EVANGELICAL COMMITMENT TO SIMPLE LIFESTYLE
Introduction
‘Life’ and ‘lifestyle’ obviously belong together and cannot be separated. All Christians claim to have received a new life from Jesus Christ. What lifestyle, then, is appropriate for them? If the life is new, the lifestyle should be new also. But what are to be its characteristics? In particular, how is it to be distinguished from the lifestyle of those who make no Christian profession? And how should this lifestyle reflect the challenges of the contemporary world – its alienation both from God and from the earth’s resources which he created for the enjoyment of all?
All Christians claim to have received a new life from Jesus Christ. What lifestyle, then, is appropriate for them?
It was such questions as these which led the participants in the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization (1974) to include in paragraph 9 of their Covenant these sentences:
All of us are shocked by the poverty of millions and disturbed by the injustices which cause it. Those of us who live in affluent circumstances accept our duty to develop a simple lifestyle in order to contribute more generously to both relief and evangelism.
These expressions have been much debated, and it became clear that their implications needed to be carefully examined.
So the Theology and Education Group of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization and the Unit on Ethics and Society of the World Evangelical Fellowship’s Theological Commission agreed to co-sponsor a two-year process of study, culminating in an international gathering. Local groups met in fifteen countries. Regional conferences were arranged in India, Ireland and the United States. Then in March 1980, at High Leigh Conference Centre near London, England, the international consultation was convened. It brought together eighty-five evangelical leaders from twenty-seven countries.
Our purpose was to study simple living in relation to evangelism, relief and justice, since all three are mentioned in the Lausanne Covenant’s sentences on simple lifestyle. Our perspective was on the one hand the teaching of the Bible, and on the other the suffering world, that is, the billions of men, women and children who, though made in his image and the objects of his love, are either unevangelized or oppressed or both, being destitute of the gospel of salvation and of the basic necessities of human life.
During the four days of the consultation, we lived, worshipped, prayed and studied the Scriptures together; we listened to background papers (later published in a book) and heard some moving testimonies. We struggled to relate the theological and economic issues to one another which we debated both in plenary sessions and small groups. We laughed and cried and repented and made resolutions. Although at the beginning we sensed some tensions between representatives of the West and Majority Worlds, yet by the end the Holy Spirit of unity had brought us into a new solidarity of mutual respect and love.
Above all we tried to expose ourselves with honesty to the challenges of both the word of God and the world of need, in order to discern God’s will and seek his grace to do it. In this process our minds were stretched, our consciences pricked, our hearts stirred and our wills strengthened.
We recognize that others have been discussing this topic for several years and we are ashamed that we have lagged behind them. We have no wish therefore to claim too much for our Consultation or commitment. Nor have we any grounds for boasting. Yet for us the week was historic and transforming. So we send this statement on its way for the study of individuals, groups and churches, with the earnest hope and prayer that large numbers of Christians will be moved, as we have been, to resolve, commitment and action.
John Stott
Ron Sider
Chairman
Convenor
Theology and Education Working Group
Unit on Ethics and Society
Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization
Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Fellowship
October, 1980
Preamble
For four days we have been together to consider the resolve expressed in the Lausanne Covenant (1974) to ‘develop a simple lifestyle’. We have tried to listen to the voice of God through the pages of the Bible, through the cries of the hungry poor, and through each other. And we believe that God has spoken to us.
We thank God for his great salvation through Jesus Christ, for his revelation in Scripture which is a light for our path, and for the Holy Spirit’s power to make us witnesses and servants in the world.
We are disturbed by the injustices of the world, concerned for its victims, and moved to repentance for our complicity in it. We have also been stirred to fresh resolves, which we have expressed in this commitment.
1. Creation
We worship God as the Creator of all things, and we celebrate the goodness of his creation. In his generosity he has given us everything to enjoy, and we receive it from his hands with humble thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4; 6:17). God’s creation is marked by rich abundance and diversity, and he intends its resources to be husbanded and shared for the benefit of all.
We therefore denounce environmental destruction, wastefulness and hoarding. We deplore the misery of the poor who suffer as a result of these evils. We also disagree with the drabness of the ascetic. For all these deny the Creator’s goodness and reflect the tragedy of the fall. We recognize our own involvement in them and we repent.
2. Stewardship
When God made man, male and female, in his own image, he gave them dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26–28). He made them stewards of its resources, and they became responsible to him as Creator, to the earth which they were to develop, and to their fellow human beings with whom they were to share its riches. So fundamental are these truths that authentic human fulfilment depends on a right relationship to God, neighbour and the earth with all its resources. People’s humanity is diminished if they have no just share in those resources.
By unfaithful stewardship, in which we fail to conserve the earth’s finite resources, to develop them fully, or to distribute them justly, we both disobey God and alienate people from his purpose for them. We are determined therefore to honour God as the owner of all things, to remember that we are stewards and not proprietors of any land or property that we may have, to use them in the service of others, and to seek justice with the poor who are exploited and powerless to defend themselves.
We look forward to ‘the restoration of all things’ at Christ’s return (Acts 3:21). At that time our full humanness will be restored, so we must promote human dignity today.
3. Poverty and wealth
We affirm that involuntary poverty is an offence against the goodness of God. It is related in the Bible to powerlessness, for the poor cannot protect themselves. God’s call to rulers is to use their power to defend the poor, not to exploit them. The church must stand with God and the poor against injustice, suffer with them, and call on rulers to fulfil their God-appointed role.
We have struggled to open our minds and hearts to the uncomfortable words of Jesus about wealth. ‘Be on your guard against all kinds of greed,’ he said, and ‘life does not consist in an abundance of possessions’ (Luke 12:15). We have listened to his warnings about the dangers of riches. For wealth brings worry, vanity and false security, the oppression of the weak and indifference to the sufferings of the needy. So it is hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:23), and the greedy will be excluded from it. The kingdom is a free gift offered to all, but it is especially good news for the poor because they benefit most from the changes it brings.
We believe that Jesus still calls some people (perhaps even us) to follow him in a lifestyle of total, voluntary poverty. He calls all his followers to an inner freedom from the seduction of riches (for it is impossible to serve God and money) and to sacrificial generosity (‘to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share’, 1 Timothy 6:18). Indeed, the motivation and model for Christian generosity are nothing less than the example of Jesus Christ himself who, though rich, became poor that through his poverty we might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). It was a costly, purposeful self-sacrifice; we mean to seek his grace to follow him. We resolve to get to know poor and oppressed people, to learn issues of injustice from them, to seek to relieve their suffering, and to include them regularly in our prayers.
4. The new community
We rejoice that the church is the new community of the new age, whose members enjoy a new life and a new lifestyle. The earliest Christian church, constituted in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, was characterized by a quality of fellowship unknown before. Those Spirit-filled believers loved one another to such an extent that they sold and shared their possessions. Although their selling and giving were voluntary, and some private property was retained (Acts 5:4), it was made subservient to the needs of the community. ‘None of them said that anything he had was his own’ (Acts 4:32). That is, they were free from the selfish assertion of proprietary rights. And as a result of their transformed economic relationships, ‘there was not a needy person among them’ (Acts 4:34).
This principle of generous and sacrificial sharing, expressed in holding ourselves and our goods available for people in need, is an indispensable characteristic of every Spirit-filled church. So those of us who are affluent, in any part of the world, are determined to do more to relieve the needs of less privileged believers. Otherwise we shall be like those rich Christians in Corinth who ate and drank too much while their poor brothers and sisters were left hungry, and we shall deserve the stinging rebuke Paul gave them for despising God’s church and desecrating Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 11:20–27). Instead, we determine to resemble them at a later stage when Paul urged them out of their abundance to give to the impoverished Christians of Judea ‘that there may be equality’ (2 Corinthians 8:10–15). It was a beautiful demonstration of caring love and of Gentile-Jewish solidarity in Christ.
In this same spirit we must seek ways to transact the church’s corporate business together with minimum expenditure on travel, food and accommodation. We call on churches and para-church agencies in their planning to be acutely aware of the need for integrity in corporate lifestyle and witness.
Christ calls us to be the world’s salt and light, in order to hinder its social decay and illumine its darkness. But our light must shine and our salt must retain its saltness. It is when the new community is most obviously distinct from the world – in its values, standards and lifestyle – that it presents the world with a radically attractive alternative and so exercises its greatest influence for Christ. We commit ourselves to pray and work for the renewal of our churches.
5. Personal lifestyle
Jesus our Lord summons us to holiness, humility, sim- plicity and contentment. He also promises us his rest. We confess however that we have often allowed unholy desires to disturb our inner tranquillity. So without the constant renewal of Christ’s peace in our hearts, our emphasis on simple living will be one-sided.
Our Christian obedience demands a simple lifestyle, irrespective of the needs of others. Nevertheless, the fact that 800 million people are destitute and that about 10,000 die of starvation every day make any other lifestyle indefensible.
While some of us have been called to live among the poor, and others to open our homes to the needy, all of us are determined to develop a simpler lifestyle. We intend to re-examine our income and expenditure, in order to manage on less and give away more. We lay down no rules or regulations for either ourselves or others. Yet we resolve to renounce waste and oppose extravagance in personal living, clothing and housing, travel and church building. We also accept the distinction between necessities and luxuries, creative hobbies and empty status symbols, modesty and vanity, occasional celebrations and normal routine, between service of God and slavery to fashion. Where to draw the line requires conscientious thought and decision by us, together with members of our families. Those of us who belong to the West need the help of our Majority World brothers and sisters in evaluating our standards of spending. Those of us who live in the Majority World acknowledge that we too are exposed to the temptation to covetousness. So we need one another’s understanding, encouragement and prayers.
6. International development
We echo the words of the Lausanne Covenant: ‘We are shocked by the poverty of millions, and disturbed by the injustices which cause it.’ One quarter of the world’s population enjoys unparalleled prosperity while another quarter endures grinding poverty. This gross disparity is an intolerable injustice; we refuse to acquiesce in it. The call for a new international economic order expresses the justified frustration of the Majority World.
We have come to understand more clearly the connection between resources, income and consumption: people often starve because they cannot afford to buy food, because they have no income, because they have no opportunity to produce, and because they have no access to power. We therefore applaud the growing emphasis of Christian agencies on development rather than aid. For the transfer of personnel and appropriate technology can enable people to make good use of their own resources while at the same time respecting their dignity. We resolve to contribute more generously to human development projects. Where people’s lives are at stake, there should never be a shortage of funds.
But the action of governments is essential. Those of us who live in the affluent nations are ashamed that our governments have mostly failed to meet their targets for official development assistance, to maintain emergency food stocks or to liberalize their trade policy.
We have come to believe that in many cases multi-national corporations reduce local initiative in the countries where they work, and tend to oppose any fundamental change in government. We are convinced that they should become more subject to controls and more accountable.
7. Justice and politics
We are also convinced that the present situation of social injustice is so abhorrent to God that a large measure of change is necessary. Not that we believe in an earthly utopia. But neither are we pessimists. Change can come, although not through commitment to simple lifestyle or human development projects alone.
Poverty and excessive wealth, militarism and the arms industry, and the unjust distribution of capital, land and resources are issues of power and powerlessness. Without a shift of power through structural change these problems cannot be solved.
The Christian church, along with the rest of society, is inevitably involved in politics, which is ‘the art of living in community’. Servants of Christ must express his lordship in their political, social and economic commitments and their love for their neighbours by taking part in the political process. How then can we contribute to change?
First, we will pray for peace and justice, as God commands. Secondly, we will seek to educate Christian people in the moral and political issues involved, and so clarify their vision and raise their expectations. Thirdly, we will take action. Some Christians are called to special tasks in government, economics or development. All Christians must participate in the active struggle to create a just and responsible society. In some situations obedience to God demands resistance to an unjust established order. Fourthly, we must be ready to suffer. As followers of Jesus, the Suffering Servant, we know that service always involves suffering.
While personal commitment to change our lifestyle without political action to change systems of injustice lacks effectiveness, political action without personal commitment lacks integrity.
8. Evangelism
We are deeply concerned for the vast millions of unevangelized people in the world. Nothing that has been said about lifestyle or justice diminishes the urgency of developing evangelistic strategies appropriate to different cultural environments. We must not cease to proclaim Christ as Saviour and Lord throughout the world. The church is not yet taking seriously its commission to be his witnesses ‘to the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8).
When Christians care for each other and for the deprived, Jesus Christ becomes more visibly attractive.
So the call to a responsible lifestyle must not be divorced from the call to responsible witness. For the credibility of our message is seriously diminished whenever we contradict it by our lives. It is impossible with integrity to proclaim Christ’s salvation if he has evidently not saved us from greed, or his lordship if we are not good stewards of our possessions, or his love if we close our hearts against the needy. When Christians care for each other and for the deprived, Jesus Christ becomes more visibly attractive.
In contrast to this, the affluent lifestyle of some Western evangelists when they visit the Majority World is understandably offensive to many.
We believe that simple living by Christians generally would release considerable resources, finance and personnel for evangelism as well as for development. So by our commitment to a simple lifestyle we recommit ourselves wholeheartedly to world evangelization.
9. The Lord’s return
The Old Testament prophets both denounced the idolatries and injustices of God’s people and warned of his coming judgment. Similar denunciations and warnings are found in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus is coming back soon to judge, to save and to reign. His judgment will fall upon the greedy (who are idolaters) and upon all oppressors. For on that day the King will sit upon his throne and separate the saved from the lost. Those who have ministered to him by ministering to one of the least of his needy brothers and sisters will be saved, for the reality of saving faith is exhibited in serving love. But those who are persistently indifferent to the plight of the needy, and so to Christ in them, will be irretrievably lost (Matthew 25:31–46). All of us need to hear again this solemn warning of Jesus, and resolve afresh to serve him in the deprived. We therefore call on our fellow Christians everywhere to do the same.
Our resolve
So then, having been freed by the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, in obedience to his call, in heartfelt compassion for the poor, in concern for evangelism, development and justice, and in solemn anticipation of the day of judgment, we humbly commit ourselves to develop a just and simple lifestyle, to support one another in it, and to encourage others to join us in this commitment.
We know that we shall need time to work out its implications and that the task will not be easy. May Almighty God give us grace to be faithful! Amen.
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The Evangelical Commitment to Simple Lifestyle is a lengthy document. So let me highlight its essential emphases: