February, 2006

God's Economy of Grace and Alternatives for the Poor

Rose Wu

With Hong Kong hosting the sixth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) from Dec. 13 to 18, 2005, HKCI, together with several ecumenical organisations and seminaries in Hong Kong, initiated a project to educate Christians and the wider community in Hong Kong about the impact of globalisation on their lives and the lives of people in other parts of the world. Among the components of this project have been globalisation forums for seminaries, lay Christians and local church pastors. We have also formed four task groups to do more in-depth research on the effects of globalisation in Hong Kong. The topics include tourism, the privatisation of public services, investment and labour issues.

At a seminar on Jan. 19, in addition to hearing the four research reports from the above task groups, we also invited four church leaders to give responses from the perspective of local churches. The four leaders included Bishop Tai Ho-fei from the Hong Kong Lutheran Church, the Rev. Ralph Lee from the Methodist Church, the Rev. Chow Wing-fu from the Anglican Church and Fr. Chan Mun-hung from the Catholic Church. This article will highlight three major challenges with which the Church in Hong Kong is grappling as a result of the impact of economic globalisation that most speakers discussed during the seminar.

1. The pervasive influence of the neo-liberal economic model has provided the rules and norms, not just for mainstream economic development, but also for politics and even the cultural aspects of society. As many theologians have pointed out, the free market economy has gradually become a new religion, a phenomenon which poses a great challenge for the Church to resist as it is very tempting and seems to offer security for many people, even the Church, as they join the flow of mainstream society.
2. Most Christian congregations in Hong Kong are from the middle-class sector and have adopted individual survival skills and a defensive "everybody-for-themselves" mindset that spurs people to become overly individualistic and self-centred. In addition, middle-class culture is more tempted to embrace the Gospel of personal salvation that focuses on converting people to Christianity and planting new congregations. Christians are encouraged to neither make a social witness in the community nor seek political justice. As a result, economic justice is seldom adopted as part of the agenda of the Church.
3. While the mainline churches have administered thousands of hospitals, schools and social welfare centres, they have relied primarily on the Hong Kong government and the contributions of wealthy individuals in the community to finance their operations. Consequently, the Church has lost its independence. Since the mid-1990s, the government has cut subsidies for this work; and with privatisation and the opening up of subsectors of social services to others, the institutional Church thus faces competition and pressure from all directions as care-providing non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Instead of creating alternatives for the poor and oppressed, however, the Church finds itself imprisoned by the existing system.

In view of the above obstacles, how do we liberate the Church in order to liberate the poor and oppressed? As we know, the Greek word from which we derive economy, oikonomia, is a compound of oikos, household, and nomos, law or management. Thus, economy means literally "the law or the management of the household." Theologically, economy shall refer to the whole economy, which is the household of God.

M. Douglas Meeks in his book God the Economist: The Doctrine of God and Political Economy describes God as the economist who constructs the household with a radically different assumption; for if the righteousness of God is present, there is always enough to go around. From the manna in the desert to Jesus' feeding of the multitudes to the Lord's Supper, God's economy is, in fact, the practice of God's hospitality, a hospitality which is inclusive and merciful. For Christians, our mission is to make the world into a household of God in which all of God's creatures will find access to life.

Prof. Ofelia Ortega, a visiting theologian from Cuba, reminded us in her public lecture "The Challenge of Economic Globalisation to the Christian Church" that "the Church is called to be non-conformist and [a web of] transformative communities because life is not possible unless we do transformation that addresses the roots of injustice. We are called to let ourselves be transformed by the renewing of our minds from the dominating, conquering and egoistic imperial mindset, thus doing the will of God which is fulfilled in love (agape), solidarity (Rom. 13:10) and grace (Isa. 55). Transformative communities are transformed by God's loving grace and practice an economy of solidarity and sharing. We as churches are called to create spaces for, and become agents of, transformation, even as we are entangled in and complicit with the very system we are called to change."

With this understanding, the Church can serve as an alternative community that participates in building the household of God, a household characterised by solidarity and justice. The above perspective opens up a vision of hope and gives permission to act differently. For practical actions, the churches in Hong Kong should first extend our attention to the neighbourhood around us and find the needs of the people of our communities, working together to develop alternative economic projects which enrich us as human beings and are life-energising and sustainable. In addition, we should also resist the temptation of cooperating with the powers of this world and its unjust systems so as to try to live faithfully to the calling of the incarnate Jesus Christ.

Let us remember the meaning of the Eucharist and the acts of Jesus of taking, blessing, breaking and giving bread and saying, "This is my body which is broken for you and for many [all]." He is explaining the shared communal meaning of the social good—bread. For me, the Eucharist is the best living symbol of God's economy of grace.

I believe that when the structures of power and wealth become totalitarian the people of God must refuse cooperation and resist at the cost of losing privileges and security. "Be not conformed to the structures of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Rom. 12:1–2)

Farewell and Thank You

Through the support of the professional exposure programme of Mission 21, HKCI was very happy to receive Regula Kaufmann from Switzerland in May 2005 as a programme assistant to assist our work related to the ecumenical cooperation project on globalisation.

In the past nine months, Regula helped to organise two ecumenical conferences in December and was a liaison with the Hong Kong People's Alliance (HKPA), a local group responsible for organising activities in Hong Kong related to globalisation and a link to regional and international responses to globalisation. Regula also produced a special section of our newsletter entitled "Globalisation With No Exclusion" that offered insights and reflections on various aspects of globalisation.

On behalf of the HKCI family, I want to extend our sincere appreciation for Regula's strong commitment to her work and service to HKCI and the wider ecumenical movement during her internship in Hong Kong. Her honesty and dedication will be remembered by all of us. As we say farewell to Regula, we want to wish her a bright and meaningful future as she continues her journey.