What should we focus on?

I remember that more than ten years ago, I had the opportunity to go to Chicago to visit the team of the Christianity Today magazine group (which publishes more than ten publications). After entering the conference room and saying hello, I couldn’t wait to ask the first question I had prepared:

"How do you decide the theme of each issue of the magazine?" The CEO sitting opposite me replied without thinking:

"Any controversial issue." I asked why?

"Controversy arises because of things that people care about and value."

This answer brought me great shock and reflection, and it also became the direction of thinking for the theme of "Kingdom of God" magazine in the future. Whether it is various issues that everyone pays attention to in family, society or church but may not be discussed in depth, they may become the subject of our reflective reporting.

Indeed, our faith never avoids problems, but always leads us to face the core of the problem and solve the problem from the root.

Since 2008, the economic crisis has swept across the world, exposing the increasingly serious problem of wealth inequality. Poverty is always a problem, but what does it have to do with you and me? When 21,000 people die of hunger or malnutrition in the world every day (United Nations UNICEF data), and at the moment you are reading this sentence, 14 people are falling to the ground and dying of hunger, what can you and I do? ?

When the editorial team discussed and planned this year's cross-cultural album 7 "Facing Universal Poverty and Trying to Share the Lord's Love" that looks to the ends of the earth, we discovered that there are few friends around us who are truly poor, and we have no real friends who have benefited from poverty. There are no people living on relief funds or food stamps, no people without three meals a day or homeless... and there are no people in the church where I live!

My son Junan has a deep burden for poverty ministry. The editorial team asked him to share this issue, but he always felt that what he did was limited and he was not qualified. Several questions he asked me made me think deeply: Are there no poor people in Chinese churches? Or the poor cannot enter the church? still……. Finally, he said excitedly: Serving the disadvantaged has always been a theme of Christianity. If we don’t pay attention to this, what should we pay attention to? If the church is just a rich club, if we don't make friends with the poor, then where is the testimony?

In this issue, the editorial team has devoted its efforts to provide in-depth analysis and reporting on poverty issues. I hope that you will be deeply shocked like me and ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to do your part in helping the poor. Maybe Either join the ranks of volunteers serving the poor, donate your time, or adjust your donation budget, add a new amount to actually help the poor, or contribute more creative ways to eliminate poverty!

In addition to the full-color special issue attached to this issue, there are also wonderful masterpieces from the Talents, Outreach, Culture, KRC and You, Relationship, Community, and English units. Don’t miss each chapter. The Pennsylvania camp in July is coming soon. We hope you will leave a few days for yourself to rest and recharge with us, and to sharpen the gifts and talents God has given you. Please see pages 6 to 10 for details and pages 23 to 26 for the Taiwan camp.

作者小檔案 高俐理，神國資源為基督協會創辦人兼執行長，曾在美國大企業任高階主管多年，目前全職事奉。常在北美及亞洲各地演講及帶領營會，對培訓合神心意的領導管理模式極有負擔。