The Silence of the Church
Photo Credit: Gülce Dayıoğlu
In recent years, the church (the body of Christ), has found itself under harsh criticism, yet across the globe, Christians and the church has stayed silent in the face of deep societal crisis’s, writes KB Chakela
Here in South Africa, the silence of the church has been very loud. I know I don’t often speak on societal issues, but the church has stayed silent long enough. South Africa has five times the global average on femicide, between April 2023 and March 2024, 5578 woman and 1656 children were murdered, a 33.8% increase in femicide from the previous year. During that same period, 42569 rape cases reported, with an estimated 95% going unreported. These are alarming figures I know, but an organisation called Woman For Change has been leading the fight, on 21st November woman for change called for South Africans to change their profiles to purple and sign the petition to declare GBVF in South Africa a national disaster so that much needed resources and help can go to the fight. In this time the church has been eerily quiet, my question is, is activism un-biblical?
The Bible says in James:
“If one of you says …’Go in peace; keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?... Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” James 2:16-17(NIV) while Proverbs 31:8-9 (NIV) says “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy”
What does our faith look like if we do nothing while people around the world are suffering.
A powerful example of this circulated recently on social media, a social experiment on TikTok where a woman was calling churches around the United States pretending she had a hungry baby and needs a can of milk. A majority of the churches refused to help her, can you imagine Jesus doing that? He would have never refused to be kind, He would have not turned away a child.
To stay silent is a failure to live out our calling, to be the hands and feet of the Kingdom of God. These are not political or societal issues, this is humanity crying out for the manifestation of the sons of God. In a world that is becoming increasingly anti-God, Christian and the church of God are not beating the allegations. In our silence, others will fill the void with their own narrative about God, and about Christians.
This is actually not a rant, this is a call to reflection for each of us, for every time we stayed silent, for every time we ignored someone else’s suffering, for every time we were not moved by the afflictions of Joseph (Amos 6:6), this is a call to look and ask ourselves “What would Jesus do” and I can definitely tell you that He would have never remained silent.
I pray that the church rises up, and that the silence comes to an end, because faith without works is not faith at all.
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