Skip to content

Ending Poverty Means Ending Violence

11227576253_dbd49be55e_b

“Without an end to the violence that plagues so many in slums, labor camps, brothels, villages, and neighborhoods, our work to end extreme poverty, stop senseless disease among children, and create sustainable economic solutions could erode and even altogether unravel.” –Stephan Bauman, President & CEO of World Relief

As World Relief empowers the local Church to serve the most vulnerable, we come face to face every day with the reality that poor people are extremely vulnerable to violence. Many of the countries in which we operate are war-torn and lack a just rule of law. Around the world, nearly 30 million children, women and men are held as forced labor slaves. One in 5 women will be a victim of rape or attempted rape – and sexual violence makes everyday activities like going to school, gathering water, using a communal restroom or taking public transport dangerous.

At World Relief, we see firsthand that those without protection often lack access to the opportunities, services and materials required to meet their most basic needs. In fact, four billion people – most of the world’s poorest people – live in places where their justice systems do not or cannot protect them from these crippling forms of violence. To advocate for the impoverished, we must also be advocates of peace and protection.

We are joining hands with our friends at International Justice Mission to address the violence directly contributing to poverty around the world. Today, IJM President Gary Haugan and co-author Victor Boutros are releasing their new book, The Locust Effect, to explain why the end of poverty requires the end of violence.

Learn more about The Locust Effect and ways to get involved with the fight for peace. Don’t miss IJM’s unforgettable new video showing what the world is up against as we work together to help the most vulnerable.

IJM Locust Effect Graphic

#Justice2013: Sound Bites of the Justice Conference

by Larissa Peters, your Official World Relief Tweeter…(thanks to Paul Kim and Allison Harp for these excellent pics)

If you’re like me, perhaps you felt that the Justice Conference was similar to those meals where you scarfed down as much good food as quickly as possible without truly tasting or savoring it.

I found myself frantically trying to record all the great quotes of the week end. My fear, however, was that I spent more time tracking the sound bites (pun intended) than I did remembering them, let alone digesting and internalizing them.

For those who weren’t able to taste everything, I thought I would put a couple of the favorite here (allowing one per speaker). My hope is that these bites become more than sound bites (as John Perkins so eloquently said), but that they become realities in each of our lives.

  • “We’re not called to be them [the saints of Philly], we’re called to be us. Get inspired.” @ShaneClaiborne
  • “When you study God, you learn about justice, when you study justice, you learn about God.” @KJWystma

IMG_9033

  • “Your theology will influence your anthropology.” @RevDocBrenda
  • “We live justly because it brings God to light. It brings reconciliation.” @LeroyBarber
  • Justice is doing more than saving the drowning people, it’s changing the ones who are pushing them into the lake. @NoelCCDA

PK.Justice.Main.03.008

  • “You cannot play the victim. When you think the grass is greener on the other side, it probably is. Water the grass you are standing on.” @EugeneCho
  • “If we are to have any hope for this era, we must not only recover justice, but we must recover prayer.” @GaryHaugen
  • “More people have access to mobile phone technology than clean water
twitter is a real-time information platform, not a social media platform” @Claire Diaz-Ortiz

IMG_9656

  • “The DRCongo is the greatest tragedy to disfigure the human conscious.” @Stephanjbauman
  • Do-go-Mez-an-yeah “strengthen together” – Cyprien Nikiriyumwami
  • “Treating your neighbor justly is a way of loving your neighbor” – Nicholas Wolterstorf
  • “There is an old Chinese proverb that says, ‘Women hold up half the sky’.” – Sheryl @Wudunn

PK.Justice.Main.08.033

  • “It may seem counterintuitive to offer forgiveness before justice, but Jesus did.” @realchailing
  • “Budgets are moral documents. They tell us who we care for and who we want to protect.” @LisaSHarper
  • “We live out our call most fully when we are a community of faith with arms wrapped about a community of pain.” @JohnMPerkins
  • And the final bite comes from @LynneHybels: “Remember you are standing on the shoulders of those who have been doing this [justice] for a long time.”

If, after the conference or reading through the numerous blogs and articles about it, you are wondering “Now What?”click here to see what we have going on this year and how you could get involved.

Thanks to ALL who contributed, spoke, volunteered, cheered, sang, and listened at the Justice Conference. We hope to see you in Los Angeles but to also continue the conversations year-round.

la

Site Designed and Developed by 5by5 - A Change Agency

en_USEnglish