Micah Challenge Australia Blog

 

The Micah Challenge blog is a space for discussion and debate about the issues of global poverty, faith, advocacy and justice and the Millennium Development Goals. This blog aims to provoke thought and challenge you to learn more about the issues discussed. We welcome your comments.

Micah Challenge is a global campaign of Christians speaking out against poverty and injustice. Click here to visit the Micah Challenge website.

  • Joining together for and with the world's poor

    Posted by Paul

    30 April, 2012

    For years now Micah Challenge has been advocating for and with the global poor - to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and address some of the worst aspects of global poverty by 2015. One of the reasons I feel honoured to be chair of Micah Challenge Australia is the amazing progress we have seen. Just twenty years ago, more than twelve million children died every year from preventable causes. Last year, that number was fewer than eight million. An additional 40 million children each year have been able to receive a basic education since 2000. Of course, behind every statistic like this, there are countless local and personal stories of transformation and hope. Australian aid has played its part. Former Prime Minister Howard began the process, promising to double the aid budget, and Labor have built on that by promising to increase aid to 0.5% of Gross National Income. This is now a promise that both the ALP and the Liberal-National Coalition have made. I have been impressed, and sometimes amazed, at how responsive politicians have been to Micah... read more

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  • How lamentation turned me from apathy

    Posted by David

    28 February, 2012

    “God whispers to us in our pleasures... but shouts in our pain: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” - C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain. During the past week of PrayACT, we have dwelt on the importance of prayer as action. As our week of focused prayer for the MDGs comes to a close, I have been reflecting on the last prayer of Jesus as he hung on the cross:
 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34). This prayer was Jesus’ lamentation – the cry that prefaced the overthrow of sin forever. It was this act of lamentation that opened the way for God’s hope for a new humanity and God’s reign of justice in our world. Generations before this moment, the prophets too, lamented the actions of the people of Israel – a cry of grief at consistent injustice. God met these cries of injustice with the sending of Jesus. Emmanuel; God with us – justice to be embodied and displayed amongst us. Allow me to share a story from my own walk... read more

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  • What will Mr. Rudd's resignation mean for the poor?

    Posted by John

    23 February, 2012

    My answer to the question posed in the title of this blog is simple – I don’t know yet. The obvious reaction to Mr. Rudd’s announcement for us here in the Micah Challenge office is to get focused on what this will mean for the campaign. How should we respond? What strategies should we develop to ensure Australia’s commitments to the world's poorest people are maintained and strengthened? I was in that space this morning when I read something from a Pastor friend of mine who said this on Facebook: ‘"@twitter reveals the dysfunctional heart of Aussies in response to the crisis. A better response? Pray with me 4 @JuliaGillard & @KRuddMP" It was a timely reminder for me. The focus for Micah Challenge this week has been our PrayACT campaign. We have been encouraging people to focus on prayer as the primary action we should take as Christian advocates for the poor. No doubt we will also spend time over the coming days, weeks and months thinking about how we can best use our voices on behalf of the poor in this... read more

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  • The beauty of repentant prayer

    Posted by Rebekah

    20 February, 2012

    “I used to spend a lot of energy asking God questions. Why must poverty persist in a rich country like the USA? Why does one continent, Africa, absorb like a sponge so many of the world’s disasters? When will ‘peace on earth’ ever arrive? Ultimately, I came to see these questions as God’s interrogations of us. Jesus made clear God’s will for the planet – what part am I playing to help fulfil that will?” – Philip Yancey, ‘Prayer - Does it Make Any Difference?' I often catch myself thinking about poverty as something outside of myself; something disconnected from the real world in which I live, day to day. It is hard to fathom that while I sit at my kitchen table each morning eating my muesli and yoghurt, starvation is a reality for a large majority of our fellow humanity. It’s so easy to maintain this disconnection and not stop to consider that I may somehow, in some way, actually be responsible for the poverty in our world. Poverty is often real enough to us that we can rant about the... read more

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