The Church and Poverty in Asia is an excellent resource on the theology and

practice of ministry among the poor. The whole book is a gem — thoughtful,
practical contributions from seasoned theologians, cultural exegetes, Bible
teachers, and urban poor workers. Together they give shape to a much-
needed integrated, holistic perspective on ministry with the poor in our
midst.
Bishop Efraim M. Tendero, DD
National Director,
Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC)

The Church and Poverty in Asia is a unique resource for those searching for
creative and innovative approaches to filling the hungry with good things.
These scholars and practitioners provide biblical, theological, economic,
cultural, psychological, educational, practical and historical reflections on
demonstrating God’s compassionate care, tempered justice and wise
counsel in transforming the face of the vulnerable. I enthusiastically
recommend this book to all who want to gain a balanced perspective in
following Jesus by demonstrating the Good News to the poor.
Dr Corrie De Boer
Chairperson,
Mission Ministries Philippines (MMP)

Jesus zealously engaged poverty. He ministered to its victims and spoke

against its causes. But up to now, poverty still chains millions of people to
hunger, illness, ignorance and personal underdevelopment. How should
this disturbing reality figure in Christian theology and work? Informed by
solid biblical scholarship and sensitive social awareness, this book
articulates many voices of poverty and proposes exciting challenges.
Pastor Ed Lapiz
Day By Day Christian Ministries
THE CHURCH and
POVERTY in ASIA

Lee Wanak, General Editor

ATS F ORUM C ONTRIBUTORS :
Bina Agong, George Capaque, Timoteo Gener,
Ian Hibionada, and Adonis Parian
Patty Sison-Arroyo
Edna P. Bacus and Lely-Beth Cagulada
Violeta Villaroman-Bautista
Larry W. Caldwell
Ruth S. Callanta
Adonis Abelard Gorospe
Athena Evelyn Gorospe
Samuel Jayakumar
Grace Shangkuan Koo
Jonathan Nambu
Charles Ringma
Lee Wanak

1969-2009
OMF LITERATURE INC.
ASIAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Manila, Philippines
The articles in this text were presented at The Fourth ATS Theological Forum
“He Has Filled the Hungry with Good Things: The Church and Poverty in Asia”
sponsored by Asian Theological Seminary and held at the Union Church of Manila
February 2008

The lyrics of the song “Bahay” and its English translation quoted in pages 143–144
are by Gary Granada. Copyright © by Gary Granada, www.garygranada.com.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The painting found in the insert between pages 142 and 143 is a reproduction of
“Hapag ng Pag-asa” by Joey Velasco. Copyright © by Joey Velasco, www.joeyvelasco.com.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are taken from

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All rights reserved.

The Church and Poverty in Asia

Copyright © 2008 by OMF Literature Inc.
(Authors hold copyright to individual chapters)

Published jointly (2008) by

OMF Literature Inc.
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Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila
www.OMFLit.com
and
Asian Theological Seminary
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Cover design by Nixon Na

using elements from the ATS brochure
designed by Jan Barrera and Glevy Baybayon

ISBN 978-971-0495-83-2

Printed in the Philippines

 Contents

Introduction 1

PART I: DEVELOPING A THEORY AND THEOLOGY

OF MINISTRY AMONG THE POOR

1 LIBERATION THEOLOGIANS SPEAK TO EVANGELICALS 7

A Theology and Praxis of Serving the Poor
Charles Ringma

2 A BIBLICAL MODEL OF EMPOWERMENT 54

The Story of Gideon
Athena Evelyn Gorospe

3 HE HAS FILLED THE HUNGRY WITH GOOD THINGS 73

The Church’s Solidarity with the Poor
Samuel Jayakumar

4 ATTRIBUTIONS OF POVERTY 91
What Affluent Churches Can Do
Grace Shangkuan Koo

5 POVERTY, RELIGION AND CULTURE IN THE DEVOTION 108

TO THE BLACK NAZARENE
Lessons on Being a Church Among the Poor
Bina Agong, George Capaque, Timoteo Gener,
Ian Hibionada, and Adonis Parian

6 LOOKING IN THE EYES OF THE HIDDEN AMONG US 128

Reflections on Seeing the Poor and Vulnerable
Jonathan Nambu
PART II: BEST PRACTICES IN MINISTERING TO THE POOR

7 A TRANSFORMATIONAL STRATEGY 147

Toward Filling the Hungry with Good Things
Ruth S. Callanta

8 SEEK JUSTICE 163

A Witness of Courage in a Suffering World
Patty Sison-Arroyo

9 INTERPRETING THE BIBLE WITH THE POOR 171

Larry W. Caldwell

10 A FRONTLINE VIEW OF THE EFFECTS OF PRINCIPALITIES 181

AND POWERS Among Street Level-Peripheral Communities
Edna P. Bacus and Lely-Beth Cagulada

11 URABAYAN 197
Bringing Wellness and Wholeness
to Communities Under Crisis
Violeta Villaroman-Bautista

12 METHODIST SOCIETIES 210

Paradigms for Incarnating Christ as Communities
of God Among the Poor
Adonis Abelard Gorospe

13 DESIGNING TRAINING FOR URBAN TRANSFORMATION 228

Workshop and Survey Results
Lee Wanak

LIBERATION THEOLOGY: A POSITION PAPER 247

Faculty of Asian Theological Seminary

About the Contributors 251

Glossary, Abbreviations and Acronyms 256
Index 259
 Acknowledgments

It was in 2005 that the First ATS Theological Forum was held. The
subject was “Doing Theology in the Philippine Context.” In 2006,
the second forum addressed the issue of inter-faith dialogue. Last year
the subject was powers and principalities. This year, we look at the
Asian Church and the challenge of poverty in many of its various
manifestations.
The convening of the Fourth Theological Forum involved more
people than I can list here by name. Therefore, I acknowledge them
by groups. May I thank the following for their participation and
contribution: Union Church of Manila, 702 DZAS (Far East Broad-
casting Corporation), OMF Literature, Philippine Council of Evangel-
ical Churches (PCEC), our donors and sponsors, the plenary session
speakers and the break-out session presenters, the session moderators
and the technical staff, the ATS Alumni Association, the many friends
and supporters of ATS, the team from our Communications and
Development Department, the hardworking ATS faculty and staff,
the many dedicated volunteers as well as all who participated in this
year’s Theological Forum. I am also grateful to Larry Caldwell,
Timoteo Gener and the organizing committee for their zealous efforts
in putting the Forum together.
The present volume is a selection from the many papers presented
at the Forum. May I thank Lee Wanak who undertook the laborious
task of editing the entire collection despite his many duties as ATS
faculty and Director of the ATS Center for Transformational Urban
Leadership (CTUL). May I also thank OMF Literature for their
continuing partnership in making our Forum materials available to
a wider audience.
Most importantly, may all honor and glory be unto the Lord.
In closing, I share three thoughts:
If you want to help the poor, you must disciple the rich.
If you want to help the rich, you must understand their poverty.
If you want to help both poor and rich, you must believe in the abundance
of Christ.
May we His people proclaim and reflect His abundance.

REV DAVID CHEUNG, PHD

President
Asian Theological Seminary
 Introduction

Everyone agrees that poverty, especially urban poverty, is a growing

problem, but few have concrete answers. This book is a result of the
Fourth Annual Asian Theological Seminary Forum which addressed
the theme, “He Has Filled the Hungry with Good Things . . . ?: The Church
and Poverty in Asia. The purpose of the Forum was to address not only
the theoretical and theological issues tied to poverty, but also to tackle
best practices in ministries among the poor — practices rooted in both
evangelical theology and the social sciences.
Mary sang of God’s Kingdom intentions, “He has filled the hungry
with good things,” (Luke 1:53). If the people of God are co-participants
in His work, we must ask, “What is to be our theology of poverty and
how are we to make our theology actionable in a fallen world filled
with need?” For some, this requires a shift in thinking, which is the
focus of Part I. Others are looking for concrete ways to serve among
the poor. The articles in Part II provide some of the answers practitioners
have found in the Philippine context.

PART I: DEVELOPING A THEORY AND THEOLOGY OF MINISTRY

AMONG THE POOR
Charles Ringma’s article, Liberation Theologians Speak to Evangelicals:
A Theology and Praxis of Serving the Poor, brings two often opposing
groups into dialogue. He goes where few evangelical theologians are
willing to go — identifying how we can learn from liberation theo-
logians regarding the poor. Evangelicals regained a sense of solidarity
with the poor at Lausanne, but Ringma challenges us to go beyond
these commitments by engaging the Scripture from a transformational
perspective. He identifies service to the poor as central to our calling
as the people of God.
 Athena Evelyn Gorospe masterfully tells a biblical story of liberation
and relates that story to community organizing. A Biblical Model of
Empowerment: The Story of Gideon contains many lessons for Christian
community development organizers. She uses the interplay of the Lord
God with Gideon, his family, the oppressed Israelites, and the oppressive
Midianites to tease out valuable principles for ministry among the
marginalized. She also addresses one of the pitfalls of empowerment:
the oppressed become the oppressors.
Samuel Jayakumar ties together two horizons: the world of the poor
in biblical times and the oppressed and marginalized of today’s world.
His article, He Has Filled the Hungry with Good Things: The Church’s
Solidarity with the Poor, weaves together God’s concern and preference
for the poor and our responsibility as the world’s largest organization
to demonstrate the love of God. Jayakumar identifies consumerism
and greed in the wealthy church as the source of stunted compassion
leading to tokenism in bringing relief and structural change.
There are psychological implications to what we think is the cause
of poverty. Grace Shangkuan Koo in her article, Attributions of Poverty:
What Affluent Churches Can Do, addresses views of the non-poor and
the poor regarding the locus of control of poverty. She discusses five
perspectives on poverty, wrestles with three approaches Christians can
take regarding poverty, and identifies actions affluent churches can
take in alleviating poverty.
Bina Agong, George Capaque, Timoteo Gener, Ian Hibionada, and
Adonis Parian explore the connections between popular religiosity
and poverty in the Philippine context. Popular religiosity is visual,
tactile and need-oriented, whereas evangelicalism tends to be word-
oriented. Their article, Poverty, Religion and Culture in the Devotion to
the Black Nazarene: Lessons on Being a Church Among the Poor, identifies
the need for concrete demonstrations of faith and God’s love among
the poor.
Jonathan Nambu examines the psyche of the non-poor in their
inability to look into the face of poverty. Looking in the Eyes of the
Hidden Among Us: Reflections on Seeing the Poor and Vulnerable is a
challenge to gain a God-shaped awareness of the poverty that surrounds
us. Relations of the non-poor with the poor are superficial at best, but
God knows the depth of our being. Reflecting on the God who sees
helps us see the poor with new eyes.

PART II: BEST PRACTICES IN MINISTERING TO THE POOR

Implementing a theory and theology of ministry among the poor

requires a study of best practices. Ruth Callanta’s A Transformational
Strategy Toward Filling the Hungry with Good Things moves beyond
theologizing toward shaping best practices. Reaching out to approxim-
ately 130,000 poor people, her organization, the Center for Community
Transformation (CCT), is a model of holistic ministry. Callanta shares
her journey from conventional development practices to a develop-
mental model that addresses both the physical and the spiritual in
transforming lives.
Seek Justice: A Witness of Courage in a Suffering World, by Patty
Sison-Arroyo, connects the work of the International Justice Mission (IJM)
to the justice of God. She gives us a concrete example of how, in one
case of child sexual abuse, the Christian community sought justice
and was successful in prosecution. The implication is clear: as Christians
we are to seek justice for the powerless, giving them a voice in the
legal system and holding that system accountable to its God-given
role.
Larry W. Caldwell encourages us to rethink how we read the
Scriptures. His Interpreting the Bible With the Poor makes two significant
contributions to developing a hermeneutic with the poor. First, he
identifies a two-step process of exegesis that puts equal emphasis on
text and cultural context. Second, he identifies a hierarchy of three
approaches for reading and relating the text that allows for appropriate
strategies in understanding and applying the Scriptures to the context
of the poor.
In A Frontline View of the Effects of Principalities and Powers Among
Street-Level Peripheral Communities, Edna P. Bacus and Lely-Beth
Cagulada share four insightful stories from their ministry among the
marginalized of Davao City. They remind us about the corrupting
force of power, including power misused by Christians. Some Christian
ministries among the poor can be oppressive rather than empowering.
Bacus and Cagulada encourage reflection and evaluation of our
outreach with the poor, especially regarding our use of power.
Holistic ministry among the marginalized deals with more than
just physical needs. Urabayan: Bringing Wellness and Wholeness to
Communities Under Crisis by Violeta Villaroman-Bautista underscores
the need to address the psychosocial needs of communities in crisis.
This is an empowering model utilizing the training of kaurabays, the
natural nurturers in the community, as counselors among the distressed.
All too often, Evangelicals skip over the vast history of Christianity
in finding answers to today’s problems. Adonis Abelard Gorospe’s
article, Methodist Societies: Paradigms for Incarnating Christ as Com-
munities of God Among the Poor, demonstrates how the Methodist class
meetings were training grounds to empower the poor. The class
meetings were building blocks in creating communities of the Kingdom
that changed people and the societies in which they lived.
My own article, Designing Training for Urban Transformation, is based
on forum workshops that identified appropriate formal and non-formal
training for urban poor churches and communities, urban poor lay
pastors and community leaders; urban poor pastoral and NGO staff;
and urban poor senior pastors and NGO leaders. The participants
recognized that theological education that is sensitive to the socio-
economic conditions of the poor looks significantly different than
seminaries operating with middle-class assumptions. An example of
this is the Transformational Urban Leadership program at Asian
Theological Seminary.
Finally, I want to express my deep appreciation for all our speakers
and seminar leaders, especially those serving directly among
marginalized peoples. I am also thankful for our ATS editorial team
members, Ms Bubbles Lactaoen, Dr Tim Gener, and the OMF Literature
editorial staff for their efforts in helping prepare for publication this
contribution to the shaping of an appropriate theology and practice
of ministry among the poor. May the “mustard seeds” herein be useful
for the growing of the Kingdom among the poor.

DR LEE WANAK
General Editor
 Part I
Developing a
Theory and Theology
of Ministry Among the Poor
 1
LIBERATION
THEOLOGIANS SPEAK
TO EVANGELICALS
A Theology and Praxis
of Serving the Poor1

Charles Ringma

A number of interrelated themes form the heart of this article. But the
heartbeat has to do with God’s love and passion for the poor and our
invitation to enter into that passion and to live that out in a costly
discipleship marked by grace and joy.
Primarily, I wish to bring some Latin American Liberation theologians
into critical dialogue with a major section of Evangelicalism, namely
the Lausanne movement.2 The reason for this is that I believe that these
theologians can help us, as Evangelicals, to deepen our understanding
of and commitment to the poor. Thus this article is a constructive
enterprise.

1 This article is the substance of a presentation given at the Fourth ATS Theological Forum,
The Church and Poverty in Asia, February 7–8, 2008 at the Union Church of Manila,
Philippines.
2 John Stott, ed., Making Christ Known: Historic Documents from the Lausanne Movement,

1974–1989, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997.

7
8 LIBERATION THEOLOGIANS SPEAK . . .

This kind of dialogue will not be easy, however. Many Evangelicals

view Liberation theology with grave concern and often with deep
suspicion. It is, therefore, possible that the voice and witness of the
Liberation theologians will be prematurely dismissed,3 just as a Muslim
Indonesian rice farmer might not readily be heard by a Protestant
Canadian wheat farmer, particularly if the former should raise concerns
in relation to the latter.
It must be recognized that my overall purpose is not to defend
Liberation theology generally as a system or as a whole. I am all too
aware of the many critics who have raised all sorts of concerns about
this theology.4 My purpose is more narrow and specific. I wish to
suggest that Evangelical theologians, pastors, urban poor workers and
community development personnel can learn from the theology and
praxis of some of the Liberation theologians5 regarding a more deeply
biblically informed vision of serving the poor and a more grounded
commitment in the work of justice and social transformation on behalf
of the poor.
In order to ground this dialogue between the Liberation theologians
and Evangelicals, I seek to do two things. First, I want to restate the
biblical vision regarding God’s concern for the poor. This, after all,
should be fundamentally normative for the Christian community. And
in the light of that witness, we can see to what extent both groups
reflect the power and the challenges that the biblical witness brings.

3 The major, but largely unfounded, criticisms of Latin American Liberation theology
are: the Gospel is de-emphasized; faith is cast in too-political terms; Marxist social theories
are used; and concepts of violence to bring about social change are present in some of
their writings, D. W. Ferm, Third World Liberation Theologies, Maryknoll: Orbis Books,
1988, 100–116.
4 A. F. McGovern, Liberation Theology and Its Critics: Towards an Assessment, Quezon City:

Claretian Publications, 1991; D. M. Bell, Liberation Theology After the End of History:
The Refusal to Cease Suffering, London: Routledge, 2001.
5 I will not be drawing on global Liberation theologies (C. Rowland, ed., The Cambridge

Companion to Liberation Theology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999) or

on Third world Liberation theologies in general (Ferm, Third World Liberation
Theologies). I am only engaging some of the key Latin American Liberation theologians.
 CHARLES RINGMA 9

Second, I seek to listen to the witness of the Church’s long march in

history. Throughout this history, Christians have always served the
poor.6 This long history demonstrates both the faithfulness and
creativity of the faith community and the failure of the Church in
living out the biblical witness regarding service to the poor. This will
thus further situate both Evangelicals and the Liberation theologians
regarding this long witness.
That this history of the Church has been an uneven, potted and
flawed history will not surprise us. The Church has been a passionate
institution when it has been revitalized and renewed theologically,
spiritually and missionally. It has also been a moribund community
when it has become introspective, formalized and lacking in missional
purpose.
While all the larger denominational groupings within the Christian
Church reflect this faithfulness/failure movement — and Evangelicals
at times have served the poor well,7 especially in times of renewal
such as the Wesleyan revival8 — I believe that, overall, Evangelicals
have not fared well. The reasons for this are fourfold: Evangelicals do
not seem to have developed a robust theology of the poor. Further-
more, their focus has always tended to be more spiritual than social.
Moreover, their response to the poor has often been driven more by
pragmatics than by a biblical–theological vision. And finally, in the
Evangelical documents of the Lausanne movement, service to the poor
is more incidental and often peripheral.
In contrast, as we shall see in the substance of this article, the
Liberation theologians have a much richer theology of the poor, reflect
the biblical vision more faithfully and, in the Church’s missional service

6 E. Troeltsch, The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches, vols I & II, New York: Harper
& Row, 1960.
7 For some of the responses in the UK in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, see F.

Coutts, Bread for my Neighbour: The Social Influence of William Booth, London: Hodder
and Stoughton, 1978; G. Himmelfarb, Poverty and Compassion: The Moral Imagination of
the Late Victorians, New York: Vintage Books, 1991; D. M. Lewis, Lighten Their Darkness:
The Evangelical Mission to Working-Class London, 1828–1860, New York: Greenwood
Press, 2001.
10 LIBERATION THEOLOGIANS SPEAK . . .

to the poor, reflect a richer tradition than is captured in the Lausanne

documents.
This centrality regarding the poor in the writings of some of the
Liberation theologians is articulated around the following themes:

1 Hermeneutically — the Bible is read from the perspective of God’s

passion for the poor and, as such, it is read not as a book of com-
fort for the middle classes but from the underside of history and
the vision of God’s upside-down Kingdom.
2 Theologically — theology is structured by seriously engaging
God’s preferential option for the poor, the Exodus motif and the
incarnational mission of Jesus in bringing good news to the poor
(Luke 7:22), producing a theology that is fundamentally missional
in its basic orientation.
3 Spiritually — this hermeneutic and its theology move us from head
to heart to embrace a spirituality of descent following that of the
great hymn in Philippians 2 which expresses itself in “evangelical”
poverty. This means that Christian theologians, pastors, facilitators,
and urban poor workers are willing, for the sake of the Gospel, to
move to the side of the poor through radical identification. This
becomes the central motif for an incarnational spirituality.
4 Ecclesiastically — in the Base Ecclesial Communities (BECs) of
South America we have seen the formation of the church of the
poor, among the poor and for the poor. This is not a poor church
primarily on its way to becoming a middle-class church, but a
second form of being the people of God that has its own integrity
and its own peculiar witness to the Global Church.9

8 E. H. Oliver, The Social Achievements of the Christian Church, Toronto: Board of Evangelism
and Social Service of the United Church of Canada, 1930; L. O. Hynson, To Reform
the Nation: Theological Foundations of Wesley’s Ethics, Grand Rapids: Francis Asbury
Press, 1984; H. A. Snyder, The Radical Wesley and Patterns for Church Renewal, Downers
Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1980.
9 While Pope Paul VI was very concerned that the Base Ecclesial Communities “remain

firmly attached to the local Church,” he nevertheless saw them as “hope for the universal
Church” (Evangelii Nuntiandi 1989, 68).
 CHARLES RINGMA 11

5 Missiologically — the Liberation theologians do not move from

abstract theological thinking to praxis. Instead, they move from
the praxis of love of God and love of neighbor in service of the
poor to theological reflection. Theology is, therefore, a second
move, and not the first. The praxis of love and service is the first
move and from this praxis a missional theology is constructed.

Clearly these themes pose a challenge to Evangelical thinking and

mission. They comprise challenge worth engaging, so that our own
Evangelical theology and praxis may be enriched and deepened and
God’s heart for the poor may find a deeper resonance in our lives.10
A comment needs to be made about the title of this article. This
article is not based on the writings of Liberation theologians directly
addressing Evangelicals. The Liberation theologians have tended to
bring their main debate to bear on other Roman Catholic scholars
and mainstream Protestant theologians. See for example, Juan Luis
Segundo who engages J. Moltmann, J. Metz, R. Niebuhr, and Ruben
Alves among others.11 Interestingly, a brief critique is given of C. Peter
Wagner’s writings.12
The dialogue in the other direction has not been very significant
either. Vinay Samuel’s and Chris Sugden’s extensive work: Mission as
Transformation: A Theology of the Whole Gospel13 has only scant

10 I am in no way suggesting that the Liberation theologians cannot learn from Evangelicals.
Evangelical clarity in presenting the Gospel with its call to embrace the salvific work of
God in Christ through the power of the Spirit is one challenge to the Liberation
theologians. However, I am not suggesting either that they don’t preach the Gospel.
Leonardo and Clodovis Boff are clear: “Jesus, the Son of God, took on oppression to
set us free.” L. Boff & C. Boff, Introducing Liberation Theology, Maryknoll: Orbis Books,
1987, 53.
11 Juan Luis Segundo, Liberation of Theology, Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1976, 125–153.
12 Segundo, Liberation of Theology, 134–135.
13 Vinay Samuel & Chris Sugden, eds., Mission as Transformation: A Theology of the Whole

Gospel, Oxford: Regnum, 1999, 132, 164, 204.

12 LIBERATION THEOLOGIANS SPEAK . . .

references to a number of Liberation theologians, and no extensive

discussion and debate is found in its pages.14
So what this article seeks to do is provide a fuller listening to the
challenges that the Liberation theologians bring, particularly to us as
Evangelicals,15 as we pass through the windows of the biblical narrative
and the Church’s praxis in history.

A Brief Synopsis of the Biblical Perspectives

Regarding the Poor
The point that first and foremost needs to be made is that God’s love
and concern is for the whole of humanity (1 Timothy 2:3–4; Titus
2:11). In fact, God’s concern is for the whole created order and its full
liberation (Romans 8:21) so that all things will find its full culmination
in Christ (Colossians 1:20). Thus, God desires the salvation both of
the Pharaohs of this world and of those who have been oppressed by
the powerful.16
The conversion of both to the heart and purposes of God has
interesting and challenging implications. For the powerful, conversion

14 There are some Evangelical scholars who form an exception and have engaged
Liberation theology, J. A. Kirk, Liberation Theology: An Evangelical View from the Third
World, Basingstoke: Marshall Morgan & Scott, 1985; Ross Langmead, The Word Made
Flesh: Towards an Incarnational Missiology, New York: University Press of America, 2004;
O. E. Costas, Liberating News: A Theology of Contextual Evangelism, Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1989.
15 I recognize that the term “Evangelical” is not without its problems. It can range from

people adhering to a narrow fundamentalism to more radical positions. I place myself

in the broad Evangelical tradition well set out by my former colleague, Stanley Grenz,
Theology for the Community of God, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.
16 While Martin Luther King Jr. believed that “we are called to speak for the weak, for the

voiceless” (Charles Ringma, Let My People Go: with Martin Luther King Jr., Colorado Springs:
Pinon Press. 2004, reflection 112), he also emphasized that both the oppressed and the
oppressor needed conversion and transformation. He writes, “We are all caught in an
inescapable network of mutuality “(J. M. Washington, ed., A Testament of Hope: The Essential
Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr., New York: Harper San Francisco, 1991,
254). He went on to say that “God is interested in the freedom of the whole human race
and in the creation of a society where all . . . can live together . . . .” (215).