Ron Sider: Getting in Touch with the Poor Grows the Church

Engaging in regular interaction with at least one economically challenged person can have quite an impact on both Christians and their churches.

Renowned author, teacher, and evangelical voice Ron Sider, founder of The Sider Center, is encouraged to see American Christians embracing a more holistic framework, of right belief as well as right action.

However, there’s still much to do, as Ron outlines in this interview – and at the heart of it all is for the Church to more fully live into its counter-cultural identity.

Watch the Full Program.

Rather Listen? Click here to download the Mp3 to your mobile device.

Click here to visit Turnaround 20/20

Synopsis
Finding ways to remind our congregations that they are, ‘in the world but not of the world,’ may be job #1 for today’s church leaders. Here are my notes from the interview:

We’re Lukewarm
That’s the fundamental problem Ron recognizes in today’s North American Church – that there’s an influential and fundamental movement to conform with the surrounding culture.

Preach Biblical Principles
Sure, Ron has a well-known opinion on how to curb the national deficit, but he says local churches can do this quite effectively not by choosing sides with a political party, but by outlining biblical principles that underlie proper spending habits.

Seek to Be with the Poor
Ron says this is one thing our churches should be doing regularly, not simply checkbook charity, but actually putting people in one-on-one contact with those less fortunate. It changes them and us.

About Ron Sider
Ronald J. Sider (Ph.D., Yale) is Professor of Theology, Holistic Ministry and Public Policy and Director of the Sider Center on Ministry and Public Policy at Palmer Theological Seminary and President of Evangelicals for Social Action. A widely known evangelical speaker and writer, Sider has spoken on six continents, published thirty-one books and scores of articles. In 1982, The Christian Century named him one of the twelve “most influential persons in the field of religion in the U.S.” His Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger was recognized by Christianity Today as one of the one hundred most influential religious books of the twentieth century and named the seventh most influential book in the evangelical world in the last fifty years. His most recent books are The Scandal of Evangelical Politics and I Am not a Social Activist. Among his other publications are: The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience, Just Generosity, and Churches That Make a Difference (with Phil Olson and Heidi Unruh). Sider is the publisher of PRISM magazine and a contributing editor of Christianity Today and Sojourners.

Books Ron Recommends
Walking with the Poor – Bryant Myers
Celebration of Discipline – Richard Foster
Surprised by Hope – N.T. Wright

Sponsors I Mentioned
Turnaround 20/20 – Learn from experts who have conquered obstacles to growth and watched God turn things around. Turnaround 20/20 is a unique congregational development conference that brings together 20 experts who speak for 20 minutes each. People like Nelson Searcy, Charles Arn, George Hunter, and Elmer Towns will focus on a specific area of congregational development and are out to spark new ideas and innovations for you and your church. Turnaround 20./20 is Tuesday, October 23 in Nashville, TN.