當教會想與社區建立關係，嘗試將福音裡的公義落實到社群的需要之中，就可能會落入一種兩難的困境：到底教會應該投放多少資源，包括時間、精力和金錢，到社區公義的實踐之中，以致不會誤了傳福音和培訓門徒的大事？這個問題反映著我們如何看社會公義與福音的關係。我的教會會這樣答：「公義就是福音的核心，福音就是公義的核心。」當我們思考和委身到福音之中，並不應該將這兩個概念看成是對立的。
如果我們不將實踐社會公義看成像用言語講解福音那樣同等重要的話，就是不明白耶穌所說的。「我實在告訴你們，這些事你們沒有做在我弟兄中一個最小的身上，就是沒有做在我身上了。」（太廿五45，《和合本修訂版》，下同）還有，「若是弟兄或是姊妹沒有衣服穿，又缺少日用的飲食；你們中間有人對他們說：『平平安安地去吧！願你們穿得暖，吃得飽』，卻不給他們身體所需要的，這有甚麼益處呢？信心也是這樣，若沒有行為是死的。」（雅二15-17）我們也要記得好撒馬利亞人比喻中所教導的，就是愛鄰舍的誡命要伸延至我們團契以外的人。然而，實踐社會公義的重點和動機，並不只是一種誡命和責任；更重要的是我們在學效耶穌當時如何回應身邊人迫切的需要。耶穌似乎沒有將有需要的人區分開來，然後先照顧那些更配得他時間和關注的人，或那些會有更正面回應的人。稅吏和妓女所得的關注跟法利賽人和財主一樣多，甚至更多。耶穌沒有試圖尋求最大的回報，評估如何最有效地付出。天國就這樣臨到了他們，神的恩典是沒有界限的。假如我們只將社會外展當成是魚餌，就是將「福音」弱化了，未能明白神的心腸。
然而，單憑恩典、熱心和熱情還是不夠的。我們還要加上知識、技巧和諒解的心去處理身邊一些更複雜的社會議題。資源亦要包括適合的設施和特別的訓練。我們可能認為設立一間社會企業會更好，因為社企可以提供適當的專業技能，與教會攜手合作。這時候我們很容易會想，不如索性另設一非牟利機構來全力推動那樣的社會服務吧。事實上也有許多獨立的非牟利機構，把事情做得很妥當。然而，這仍不能取代教會將福音中的盼望活出來的責任。
余偉業（Ricky）的朋友都愛稱他為「社運份子」，他覺得這個稱號很有趣，因為他其實是做生意的。但他搞生意的背後有一個特別目的——他最終並不是想得到金錢的回報，而是想貢獻社會。Ricky想到了一個辦法去解決樓價高企所帶來的問題，他用上高超的生意技巧來幫助一些被邊緣化的人。他這樣做，是因為想用一種很正面和實際的方式來實踐他的基督教信仰。他從前在一些大型的跨國公司工作，但卻發現以升職或贏得下一單大生意為目標的話，生命仍會感到空虛和不滿足。然而，當他開始上教會，並學習到福音和真理的生命力，他發現自己生活中欠缺了對這些事情的實踐。他開始著眼於社會上的需要，發現當中存在著許多不公義和不公平的情況，於是便著手處理租金高昂的問題。許多年輕的單親媽媽無法負擔昂貴的租金，因此也很難為孩子提供一個好的成長環境。
他的解決方法，就是運用某些未被發掘的資源（一些相對富有的業主的空置單位——這些業主希望單位用得其所，而不只是想盡量出租以圖得最大利益），跟正在迅速增長的社會需要配合起來。他是位仁慈的地產經紀，又同時是個社會服務的經理；他的公司「要有光」如今已被政府認可成為社會中一個重要的角色。Ricky形容自己像一道橋樑，將富人和窮人、商業和社會需要、官僚和憐憫、基督教和社會之間連繫起來，而他也非常熱愛這份工作！他很快樂，因為知道自己正運用著神所賜他的恩賜來造福社會。他不介意別人稱他「社運份子」，因為他確實在主動積極地重塑社會，又主動積極地幫助政府思考應如何為經濟拮据的大眾解決房屋需要。
人人都可以參與社區外展。教會作為一個群體，可以透過社區外展接觸到更大的社群；教會也可以啟發和挑戰會友個別地去幫助他們每天遇到的人；基督教機構和企業可以致力解決社會裡較大型的問題，為世界帶來基督化的解決方案。社區外展是看得見的福音，而教會也有一份獨特的先知之責，要在社群中讓人知道神怎樣愛世人，透過分享這份愛使社會變得更美好。
（聶東尼牧師在灣仔葡萄藤教會負責促進公義事工，是今年十月二十至廿一日亞洲公義特會的主席。大會誠邀讀者參與特會。詳情請覽：www.thejusticeconferenceasia.com。本文資料和意念搜集自以下文章，謹此致謝：Generous Justice [Kim Keller],Create vs Copy [Ken Wytsma]，以及跟余偉業先生〔「要有光」行政總裁〕的個人訪談。英文原文請見下文。）
Justice and social outreach
by Tony Read
When churches begin to engage with their local community and look for ways of expressing the justice heart of the gospel by meeting the needs of the people around them it can sometimes produce a dilemma which can be expressed as follows. How much of the resources of the church in terms of time, effort and finance can be directed towards a social justice project and will this detract from the core issue of preaching the gospel and making disciples? This question reveals a lot about how we see social justice in relation to the gospel. In my church we answer that question by making the following statement ‘Justice is at the heart of the gospel and the gospel is at the heart of justice’. There should be no dichotomy between the two in terms of our thinking and commitment.
If we do not see that engaging in social justice is as much a witness of the gospel as preaching it using words then we have failed to understand the force of Jesus words.”I assure you, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters you were refusing to help me” (Matthew 25:45), and, “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says ‘I wish you well keep warm and well fed’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:15-17). And we should remember that the parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us that the command to love our neighbor extends way beyond the boundaries of those who are part of our own fellowship. But the heart and motivation to be engaged in social justice is not one of mere commandment and duty. It is more based on the response of Jesus to the pressing needs of the people around him. He did not seem to delineate or discriminate those who were more deserving of his time and attention, those more likely to respond positively. The tax collector and the prostitute received as much and maybe more attention than the Pharisee and business-man. There was no attempt at prioritization based on best possible outcome, no effort to maximize result. The kingdom of heaven was there present among them and the grace of God observed no boundaries. If we only consider social outreach as bait to catch the fish then we will have emasculated the meaning of ‘gospel’ and missed the heart of God.
However there comes a time when our grace, enthusiasm and passion is not enough on its own. We will need to add knowledge, skill and understanding to deal with some of the more complex social issues we meet around us. And our resources will need to encompass dedicated facilities and special training. We may consider it more appropriate to set up a dedicated social enterprise to provide the right level of expertise and input to work hand in hand with the church. At this stage it is tempting to spin off a separate ngo to undertake the task entirely . There are many ngo’s that do operate independently in this way and do an excellent job. However this does not diminish the responsibility of the church to fully express the hope of the gospel in word and deed.
Ricky Yu is amused when his friends refer to him as an ‘activist’ because he is a businessman. But he runs his business with a special purpose - the bottom line is not financial gain but societal gain. Ricky has found a way to solve a problem caused by the rapidly rising cost of housing, using hard-edged business skills for the benefit of those who are marginalised. He does this because it enables him to express his christian beliefs in a very positive and practical way. When he was previously working for large multi=nationals he found that just working for the next promotion or winning the next big contract was still leaving him feeling empty and unfulfilled. And yet when he attended church and heard the vitality of gospel truth he saw that there was no practical expression of that in his life. When he began to look around in society he saw that there were many issues of injustice and inequality that were causing problems and he began to wrestle with the issue of high housing rents making it very difficult for young single mothers to survive economically and raise their family well.
He hit upon a solution which involved leveraging an untapped resource (vacant properties of relatively wealthy owners who wanted to see the property used for good purposes not just maximum financial gain) and he matched it with a growing social need. He became a benevolent realtor and a social service manager all rolled into one - and his company ‘Light Be’ is now recognised by government as providing an essential role in society. Ricky describes himself as a ‘bridge builder’ - between the rich and poor; between business and social need; between bureaucracy and compassion; between christianity and society - and he is very happy! He is happy because he knows that he is using his God-given skills and gifts for the benefit of society. He is happy to be called an activist because he knows he is actively reshaping society and actively helping the government to rethink how it supplies housing for those who are financially challenged.
Social outreach is for everyone. It is for the church as a community to reach out to the wider community; it so for the church to inspire and challenge its members to reach out individually to meet the needs they encounters day by day; it is for christian ngo’s and businesses to grapple with the big issues of society and bring christ-shaped solutions to the world. Social outreach is the visible expression of the gospel and the church has a specific prophetic role in demonstrating to the community around them how God sees them, what his love looks like and how sharing that love can change society for the better.
Tony Read is the Justice Advocate for The Vine Church in Wanchai, the host of The Justice Conference Asia on October 20-21 this year. We sincerely hope that you will join us in the conference this year. For more, please visit www.thejusticeconferenceasia.com. This article was written based on ideas and information gratefully gleaned from ‘Generous Justice’ by Tim Keller, and ‘Create vs Copy’ by Ken Wytsma, and a personal interview with Ricky Yu, CEO of ‘Light Be’ lightbe.hk
