When people heard him, what did they understand?

1. PROCLAIMING GOOD NEWS TO THE POOROF A KINGDOM JUBILEEViv Grigg Urban Leadership FoundationJune 2006(to be edited)

2. Jesus came to preach good news of the Kingdom of God to the poor, to set the captives free, to declare the acceptable year of the Lord (– the year of Jubilee) (Luke 4:18, 19). When people heard him, what did they understand?

3. The Jubilee (Lev 25: 8-55) – proclamation, celebration • 8. Count off… 49 years, then have the trumpet sounded everywhere…proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants…The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines…eat only what is taken directly from the fields… • 13. In this year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property.

4. Jubilee – Economic Redistribution • 14. If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him do not take advantage of each other. You are to buy on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. When the years are many, you are to increase the price and when the years are few you are to decrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the number of crops.

5. Jubilee – Freedom from bondage • 23. The land must not be sold permanently because the land is mine and you are but aliens and tenants... • 39 If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work until the Year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released…

6. 1. The Jubilee (Lev 25:8-55) Every 50th year A time of equalizing. I. SLAVES ARE SET FREE II. DEBTS ARE TO BE CANCELED. III. CELEBRATION. IV. REDISTRIBUTION

7. 2. Jesus’ Message of the Jubilee • Jesus describes it as • a proclamation of freedom • a release from oppression • the coming of a special year. • Not a year but an age of Jubilee

8. I. A LIBERATING GOSPEL • To be released from oppression is good news. • Did you come this morning oppressed? • financial bondage?

9. II. A CELEBRATING GOSPEL • In the Jubilee, life is a celebration. • Our task is to bring the joy of Christ into situations of darkness, the hope of Christ into situations of despair.

10. III. AN ECOLOGICAL GOSPEL • The Jubilee involves the redistribution of the land • Christians work with slum dwellers to gain land rights • In NZ, evangelism last decade hinged on leadership in land rights issues for Maori • This decade it will hinge on Christian leadership of environmental issues • And the fight for young couples to have their own land Raineer Chu – Lawyer who rescues communities in land conflicts

11. IV. A RECONCILING GOSPEL • Immediately after declaring his mandate in Luke 4:18, Jesus began to talk about ministering to Gentiles. • They tried to throw him of a cliff • The jubilee is reconciling. • That is the basis for a multicultural church. V. AN ECONOMIC GOSPEL

12. 3. Jubilee Economics in the Acts Community (Acts 2:42-44) FIRST PRINCIPLE: CELEBRATION SECOND PRINCIPLE: COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS THIRD PRINCIPLE: FORSAKING FOURTH PRINCIPLE: MEETING NEEDS FIFTH PRINCIPLE: PRIVATE OWNERSHIP WITHOUT POSSESSIVENESS SIXTH PRINCIPLE: VOLUNTARY GIVING SEVENTH PRINCIPLE: THE EQUALIZING GOSPEL AN EQUALIZING GOSPEL A RANGE OF JUSTICE & EQUALITY

13. 4. Summary of Principles of Kingdom Economics 9. Ownership / Own home / Forsake all, / Provide family (Levites) yet own home (1 Tim 5:8)

14. Gospel Transformation of Poverty • Upon Conversion • Release from sins of drunkenness, gambling, immorality, bitterness • Release from demons • Stability in work • God answers prayers • Supportive community of faith • New vision, new zeal • A passion for learning • Faithfulness, honesty lead to promotions

15. Gospel Transformation of Poverty IICooperative Economics: Savings in the Slums • II. Credit Cooperatives • Savings: 10 people contributing $1 per week into a common fund • Given to one person to capitalise a small business • They repay week by week, others keep contributing • Trains people to do basic bookkeeping • III. Microfinance • Only viable after 1-2 years of savings and credit cooperatives, only works with the proven • Too high a level of management for most poor

16. 5. Jubilee and International Redistribution (2 Corinthians 8,9) • The Principles of Jubilee • seen in Jesus community • then in the Acts community • are further extended globally in Paul’s teaching on global redistribution between the churches

17. Sacrificial Simple LifestylesInternationalRedistributionII Cor 8,9

18. I Tim 6:6-10

19. Credit Cooperatives in a Western Church • What would happen if the church cut out the moneylenders (Banks)? • What if twenty families paid in $40 per week to a common fund? • What if the common fund was then used to pay off one mortgage…

20. What to Do Internationally? • Repent, Engage, Go • Sit down with family and determine what to do to simplify lifestyle • Commit to costs of training one pastor ($50) • Seed fund one project, one co-op ($1000) • Buy a church (set a congregation free, $10-20,000) • Work with us in one training program, assist with video, typing CD

21. Be set free • Time of symbolic commitment • Or time for reflection with your small group • Leaders can pray with you at front

22. Towards 50,000 Cross-cultural Churchplanters in the Slums • Recent Training in Kampala, Uganda • Hyderabad, India Setting up a masters training program with three institutionsfor slum movement leaders

23. Urban Leadership Foundation • 30 years catalysing slum movements • By faith… • Expanding simple base • Need to move from garage to 2 room office for 5 people • Need volunteer bookkeeper, database manager, conference organiser Free? Cheap? ^