Public Lecture Featuring ash barker
make poverty personal
TAKING THE POOR AS SERIOUSLY AS THE BIBLE DOES
Wednesday 18 July 2012 | 7.30 pm (Auckland)
You are warmly invited to attend a public lecture on Make Poverty Personal by Ash Barker (Founding Director of Urban Neighbours of Hope) on Wednesday 18 July at Laidlaw College's Auckland campus.
Jesus enjoyed socialising with real people, genuine people. He wasn’t embarrassed or uncomfortable with those who were poor, sick, or of low status. Instead, he treated them with kindness and compassion. This was counter-cultural in the society in which Jesus lived, as much as it is counter-cultural today. In ancient Jewish culture, poverty or sickness was often understood as a judgement from God, and therefore the poor and sick as deserving of their condition. In mainstream culture today, success is measured in large part by material wealth and individual achievement. Those who fail to be ‘successful’ by these standards are viewed with some awkwardness or embarrassment by the rest who think, even if they don’t say so, that some flaw of character or birth must be to blame.
Jesus was “good news to the poor” (Luke 4). The scriptures call us to be people shaped by the Gospel rather than our culture and to engage with the poor, the broken hearted and the oppressed with the same kindness and compassion that Jesus showed.
Ash Barker believes that the Bible is the best resource we have for fighting poverty. He has searched the scriptures to see what the Bible says about both the nature of poverty and about how God calls his people to respond. In this public lecture Ash will share some of the insights he has gained and talk about his personal response [which included the formation of Urban Neighbours of Hope] once he began to take poverty as seriously as the bible does.
Ash’s books will be available for sale (cash and cheque only) and light refreshments will be served at the end of this free public lecture. Come and be inspired and challenged as you consider what your response to your own neighbourhood might be.
Date, Time and Place
Date: Wednesday 18 July 2012
Time: 7:30-9:00 pm
Place: Laidlaw College Auckland Campus, 80 Central Park Drive, Henderson
Cost: Admission is FREE.
RSVP: by Monday 16 July to Mary Hockey on 09 836 7818 or mhockey/laidlaw.ac.nz
About ash barker
Since 2002, Ash and Anji Barker have lived with their family in Klong Toey, the largest slum in Bangkok, committed to transforming their neighbourhood through the love of Christ. Practically, this means they focus on building relationships, discipleship, church planting, education and the creation of employment and recreation opportunities.
Ash is the founding director of Urban Neighbours of Hope (UNOH) which began in Melbourne in 1993. They now have nine teams of Christian workers loving God and neighbours in some of the world’s neediest urban neighbourhoods. He is the author of seven books including Make Poverty Personal and Slum Life Rising. He completed his PhD addressing a Christian response to the rise of slums and is the convenor of the International Society of Urban Mission.
