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Towards a Robbery-Free Society

(and Other Observations on URM)

The Global System

For a long time we had experienced a bi-polar system where there existed a confrontation between two rigid Cold War ideologies which dominated global politics. However, after the collapse of socialism in the Soviet Union and their allies in the Eastern bloc, we are experiencing a post Cold War uni-polar power domination by the United States. This was evident through the Gulf War when the United States was capable of mobilizing the military power of her allies to pressurize the United Nations.

Today, global politics clearly testifies that the tri-polar system, based on economic powers such as the United States, the European Union (EU) and Japan, has become a common feature. Under the bi-polar system, the world was divided into two ideologies which were pitched against each other, thus, appearing like a relationship between two enemies. The present tri-polar system heavily concentrates on the economic interests between the allies and thus their relationship is based on competition for the sake of their own national prosperity.

Thus, we are faced with the difficulty of finding a clear vision and direction within our present global politics. Although we are growing accustomed to adjusting ourselves to this post-modem era, we are still unclear what post-modernism means in relation to living in a highly compact techno-globalized society.

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Global Trends

During the Cold War era, geopolitics was the dominant term in our history. We tried to understand everything from the standpoint of geopolitics. According to geopolitics in the Cold War ideology, national security was a central issue in this particular context. Military build-up, nuclear capabilities, arms race and space discovery were the main concerns of superpowers in those days.

After the end of the Cold War, geo-economics is the focus of our time. We are trying to achieve everything from the standpoint of geo-economics. As we may observe, the central element of geo-economics is trade. Trade wars are taking place everywhere crossing borders of ideologies and nation states. This trend has resulted in alliances among blocs such as the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), etc. This trend will continue for some time, I'm afraid, especially after the signing at the Uruguay Negotiations under the General Agreement of Trade and Tariff (GATT) last December 15,1993. Geo-economics is a real powerful ingredient in geopolitics. The pressure of superpowers to open up local markets is very visible. Globalization has created serious problems for the already depressed national economies of the South with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the soon-to-be-formed World Trade Organization (WTO) as its machinery.

What then is next after geo-economics? Many people are predicting that geo-culture will be the new area of human history to be highlighted. It is not clear as to the kind of core that will characterize geo-culture. However, I think integrity is going to be an important area in the life of geo-culture. I enjoyed reading an article of Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilization (Foreign Affairs, Summer 1993, Volume 72, No. 3). He emphasized that culture will become a central area in human history in the future. And I quote:

It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be culture. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics

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will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.

As we may observe, geo-culture will be facing the problems of how to resolve the clash of civilizations. In my mind, integrity of each culture or civilization will be the most important factor to determine new historical developments in the future. Integrity in the areas of geo-culture will be able to coopt all the differences of cultural barriers for the enhancement of human life.

A State of Well-being for All

According to Aristotle in his book Politics, "The State is the perfect community having the full limit of self-sufficiency, which came into existence for the sake of living, but exists for the sake of living well." Aristotle's idea expresses that the final perfect state exists only when those who live within it live not like any beasts but as decent human beings.

The problem with politics in Asian states is the lack of concern for the well-being of their own people. Instead, the people are used as pawns to borrow money from international financial institutions. In the case of popular election, the ruling party has a premium to control all procedures in order to secure victory over the opponents. During the election campaign, all kinds of dirty tricks are used. As a result, corruption permeates every level of politics. After election, everything is justified and normalized by means of control of power.

In this context, we as a part of the peoples' movement have a large role to play in dealing with corruption and abuse of power used against our own people. As long as this state of affairs persists, people in our societies will be more marginalized and victimized than ever. Unless we, the peoples' movement, reshape our goals and strategies, we will lose our ground with the people. We have the important task of developing and articulating new ideologies, formulating relevant theologies, revitalizing organizational structures, and developing self-sufficiency in financial and human resources in every field in order that we might effectively carry out the people's agenda.

A state is supposed to provide the basic economic and social necessities for its people. The facilities of health care, education,

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public housing or housing subsidies and utilities should be guaranteed for the larger benefit of the people. If these needs are not met, then the peoples' movement has to directly tackle these issues as their top priority to ensure that the state provides these benefits to all citizens of the state.

A Dream of a Robbery-Free Society

Our observation is that Asia still has a long way to go in terms of improving facilities to meet the basic human needs of all her people. It is obvious that these problems are there for us to tackle. However, our tendency is to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the pleas of the suffering people, an attitude which is well-described in the famous parable of the good Samaritan in the Gospel of Luke 10:25-37. We are accustomed to easy living and do not care to get involved. Similarly, the priest and the Levite went over, looked at the victimized person, and walked on by to the other side.

Through this Bible story, we learn that exactly the same thing happens in our workplaces. In this story, the robbers are portrayed as people who attacked and stripped and beat up the traveller leaving him half-dead. Who are the robbers today? Who are the ones always attacking the people? Who are the ones constantly stripping the people? Who are the ones beating up the people? Who are the ones inhumanely leaving half dead half of the world's population? Such robberies are common features in our community. Therefore, as URMers it is imperative that we initiate campaigns for a robbery-free society so that all peoples may live together without fear and worries. We need courage to build up a robbery-free society where peoples will be protected from external robbers - the TNCS - and internal robbers - the elites of authoritarian repressive regimes.

Kim Chi-Ha, a prominent radical poet in Korea, once wrote a sensational poem entitled Five Bandits. He gained great popularity among the people when this poem appeared in a monthly magazine. The Sasangge (Korean for The World of Ideas) in May 1970. His courageous poetic metaphor used the technique of bold exaggeration and caricature to sharply criticize the corruption of the Korean society under military elitist rule. The Five Bandits represented a tycoon, an assemblyman, a government official, a general, and a minister. He ridiculed the privileged class in our

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societies. His typical satirical writing style was amazingly popular during the oppressive authoritarian regime of the late Park Chung-Hee.

Kim Chi-Ha paid a high price for the poem he wrote. He underwent torture and interrogation, imprisonment and trials, and was stripped of his civil rights. His health was badly affected and his body tremendously weakened. However, his spirit grew stronger and his inspiration to fight on knew no bounds. He continuously produced more excellent poetry than ever for the people. These and his other writings helped inspire the Korean people in their struggle for democratization during the 1970s.

The Five Bandits must remind us of our own situations in Asia. As long as these 'Five Bandits' are allowed to continue exploiting and manipulating the people in our societies, we will continue to live without freedom wherever we may be. How then do we establish a robbery-free society? We need to constantly ask ourselves this question.

The first thing we have to do is to respect all the laws. The laws are supposed to protect the basic rights of the common people. However, robbers like the 'Five Bandits' are breaking the laws for their own convenience and to promote their own self-interests. In Burma, for example, the military-minded people are breaking the laws to maintain their rule in spite of the opposition party winning a landslide victory over the military in the 1990 elections. The military regime is still holding power although that power is illegitimately gotten.

In Matthew 5:17, Jesus taught, "Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets." He clearly explained, "I have not come to do away with them, but to make their teachings come true." The original nature of the law should be strictly observed in order that we might be able to build up a robbery-free society.

In the case of natural law, if the law is imposed by the authorities as a convenient means of control then our moral duty is to reject the law rather than to obey it. The law is no longer valid because the motive for the law is not for the protection and security of the people. Therefore, we need to think again what Jesus taught us concerning the law. According to Jesus' teaching all human-made laws are derived for the common good of the

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people. Obedience to such a system of good-intention laws may enable us to achieve a robbery-free society.

A second point we need to remember is that moral conduct should be reinforced in our daily lives. Morality is the central beauty of all human beings. It is what makes humankind different from other living creatures. Should anyone break the moral law, the whole community becomes badly affected. In relation to moral conduct, the Ten Commandments, which is the divinely given law, would serve as a good set of teachings for us to live by. Perhaps, if every single person tried to follow the teachings of the Ten Commandments as a way of life, our dream of a robbery-free society might be realized.

The third point is we have to uphold justice as a criteria for the creation of a robbery-free society. St. Augustine, in the City of God, described a society without justice as being made up of a band of robbers. Augustine's own words are, '"What is a state but a robber-band?" The whole issue of justice is related to the harmony of equality and peace in our day-to-day life. Reinhold Niebuhr also reminds us, "If you want peace, work for justice." Hence, justice and peace are inter-changeable for the benefit of the human community. This is the course to pursue if we are to achieve such a state in our life.

The fourth point is we have to ensure that minimum security is given to everyone so that they may have sufficient to live by without robbing each other. This assurance of personal and social security must be pursued in every aspect of our lives for our own protection as well as to guarantee security for others. We are all seeking different types of security through religious practices, moral conduct, system of education and common ethical norms. However, our societies continue to be tilled with robbers. Therefore, as URMers, we should take immediate action to work for the creation of a robbery-free society. This should be a permanent task of URM work.

The final point is we have to care for each other to the extent that none of the victimized neighbors in our community will be abandoned. For such a vocation, it is of utmost importance that we possess a genuine capacity to have compassion for the victimized in our society so that we might allow ourselves to care for them.

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These people are not only victims of 'robbers' but also victims of an 'uncaring-unloving-enough' society. These victims are made up of the homeless people, AIDS patients, refugees, the boat-people, orphans and child laborers, prostitutes, and countless other marginalized peoples.

As long as such categories of people still exist in our society, it is not possible for us to call ourselves 'Christians'. Therefore, we have an urgent task before us. We are called as followers of Jesus Christ to participate in God's salvific work through sharing our Christian love and care so that the wounded in our human community may experience total recovery. This involves more than a touch-and-go one-time experience. It involves a life-long commitment and dedication. From the example of the Good Samaritan, we can see that this task of loving and caring for the victimized involves our total commitment to a process of rescue from a critical situation. Let us be reminded of Jesus' words, "You go, then, and do the same," as what the Good Samaritan did.

What then is URM'S role in this context? If URM is truly committed to building up supportive communities for the well-being of all people then the responsibility is ours to nurture caring communities within our societies. Our work continues until ultimately poverty, unemployment, illness, disability and old age may be regarded not as marks of individual moral failure but rather a responsibility of the state. The welfare for the well-being of people is the supreme task of the state and where the state fails the peoples' movement should act as its conscience in both word and deed.

What Kind of Mission

We are facing all kinds of conflicts in our daily life. Conflicts that we have to seriously deal with whether they are due to ideological differences, economic polarization, socio-cultural discrimination, religious chauvinism or elitist attitudes. Conflict situations eventually make people feel frustrated. It is just like the situation of the disciples of Jesus after the crucifixion.

It was late that Sunday evening and the disciples were gathered together behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities. Then Jesus came and stood among them. "Peace be with you," he said (John 20:19).

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We are like the disciples who are always afraid of something and are gathered together behind locked doors. We are afraid of ideological indoctrination, cultural domination, military maneuvers, religious fundamentalism and socio-economic competition. We are always trying to hide behind the history arena and lock ourselves in the comfort of each other without achieving anything.

But we have to open our eyes and sharpen our ears to see the risen Lord and listen to the Lord's words, "Peace be with you." This is the central message for URM workers as we carry on with our task in work places, in conflict situations, in the frustrated human community that there may be hope for all humanity.

Mission has a priority concern. These 12 men were sent out by Jesus with the following instructions:

Do not go to any Gentile territory or any Samaritan town. Instead, you are to go to the lost sheep of the people of Israel. Go and preach, the Kingdom of heaven is near! Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, heal those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases, and drive out demons. You have received without paying, so give without being paid (Mt 10:5-8).

Therefore, the mission is to build a Kingdom of God in our midst. Let us examine our situation. According to this Biblical passage, all the conflicts occurred due to physical disability and mental illness inflicted by demonic powers in our societies. As long as all sickness, disability and demonic possession are among us in our day-to-day life, mission has to continue. However, for the first stages we have to limit ourselves to certain areas of concern and concentrate on these until we meet the human needs. And then eventually, we have to work beyond our territory, extended to the Gentile and Samaritan towns.

But other believers, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and proclaimed the message to Gentiles also, telling them the Good News about the Lord Jesus. The Lord's power was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord (Acts 11:20-21).

Mission is inclusive of all races, classes and territories. Mission is to make people recover from brokenness, sickness, social

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diseases and madness of contemporary lifestyle. Mission, therefore, means to preach the Kingdom of God proclaiming the Good News, teaching the proper ethical lifestyle, healing sick people, serving a broken community and caring for each other.

Mission, however, have two different approaches today. There is evangelization on the one hand and Missio Dei on the other. I quite understand the notion of Lesslie Newbigin's interpretation of mission in his book. The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society (1989). In his book, he argues that 'mission station' is not an ideal model. Instead, he quotes from Ronald Alien's approach. Alien who served in China in the early years of this century, carried on a sustained polemic against the missionary methods of his time and contrasted them against those of St. Paul. St. Paul, he argued, never stayed in one place for more than a few months, or at most a couple of years. He did not establish what we call a "mission station". And he certainly did not build himself a "mission bungalow".¹

If we apply Alien's approach adopted from St. Paul, the role of URM should be to initiate new programs that will be developed together with those who were involved in the process. Today, we have a tendency to stay in one place without the proper development of new programmes with new perspectives and leadership, just like building up our "mission stations". We know that many URM centers in Asia are intended to be "mission stations" rather than mission initiative centers. Perhaps, following St. Paul's model, URM should spread out in every direction and reach out to all the marginalized, exploited and oppressed peoples to empower them. We should be with the people and find out common social evils and enemies and cast out all kinds of demons. This is an urgent issue we have to reflect on to overcome our tendency of building up "mission stations".

Some Possibilities

Sallie McFague, the author of Metaphorical Theology: Models of God in Religious Language (1982) has produced another fascinating book. The Body of God: An Ecological Theology in 1993. I am always

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¹ Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society (Michigan: William B. Eerdman Publishing Company, 1989), 146.

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inspired by her way of theological interpretation on God from the feminist perspective. McFague's Models of God which portrayed God as "mother, lover and friend of the world" created a great impact in the theological circle. In her new book, she highlighted that "the world is our meeting place with Cod." She further developed that "the model of the universe or world is God's body." This is a centrality of her ecological theology and in her scholarly investigation on God. Also, this led to "the organic model which we need to understand ourselves, our world and our God."

Although this quotation from McFague's new book is rather long, I want to share it with you:

We do not use nature or other people as a means to an end - our union with God - but each and every creature, everybody, as intrinsically valuable in itself, in its specialness, its distinctiveness, its difference from ourselves. This acknowledgment of difference and intrinsic worth is not only the basis of an ecological ethic as we have seen, but it is also the source of a nature or spirituality. The earth becomes the place where we put down our roots and renew ourselves to stay in the course, not because all creatures are transparent images of God but because each in its own peculiar, idiosyncratic, special difference is a wonder to behold.

The model of the world as God's body encourages us to dare to love bodies and find them valuable and wonderful just that and nothing more. The "God part" will take care of itself if we can love and value the bodies.²

This is a new trend of theological interpretation on nature or our environmental concerns that is going to be an important priority to tackle for the sake of our day-to-day life. Probably, we may get enough ideas of inter-relatedness between God-man, man-man and man-nature. These formula may be a major concern of our life. Perhaps divinity in God-man, humanity in man-

² Sallie McFague, The Body of God: An Ecological Theology (Minneapolis: Augsbury Fortress, 1993), 211.

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man and spirituality in man-nature need to be sharply articulated. As we are working with the grassroots in URM, some possibilities may be initiated in the light of new historical developments.

According to Peter F. Drucker, in his book The New Realities (1989), future society will be dominated by "knowledge workers", what he calls the "knowledge society".

Education fuels the economy. It shapes society. But it does it through its 'product', the educated person. An educated person is equipped both to lead a life and to make a living. ...Knowledge is information that changes something or somebody - either by becoming grounds for action, or by making an individual (or an institution) capable of different and more effective action. And this, little of the new 'knowledge' accomplishes.³

In this light, once more I want to highlight popular education as one area where URM must continue to put more emphasis on. I hope this message can help prepare ourselves for the 21st century "to lead a life and to make a living".

URM Involvements

In the midst of these political developments, URMers are supposed to be agents of social transformation. But were we there? This is a question we constantly need to ask of ourselves. Are we in the frontline of the battle against injustice and oppression or are we playing a supportive role in the people's movement, or are we content with being onlookers in these political developments?

Moreover, the first issue of Newsweek for 1991 boldly entitled "A Survival Guide: Issues, People and Predictions for the Age of Anxiety" lists some major anxiety-causing issues as force, migration, democracy, leadership, debt, survival, brainpower and genetics. It is true indeed that we are living in an age of anxiety. But what are the causes of these anxieties? Very broadly, they are

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³ Peter F. Drucker, The New Realities (London: Mandarin Paperbacks, 1990), 236

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experienced in the problems of overwhelming poverty, population explosion, brain-drain, racism, sexism, classism/casteism, pollution, war and other socio-politico-economic issues. All these issues are inevitably related to the peoples' movement because they concern life and as such ought to be taken seriously. A strong peoples' movement will be able to bring about change in the quality of life, one that enhances human dignity and is based on truth and justice, which God intends for all God's people.

To this end, URM needs to empty itself of the old (that which is useless and bears no fruit) in terms of outdated practices and goals. Instead, we need to put on the new in order to equip ourselves to provide alternative ideology and strategies to work for transformation in the context of the new socio-political developments. This is especially needful in the fight of the cessation of the Cold War ideology.

How do we, as URMers, work more effectively to address these problems? Let us look at our human history as a series of peoples' struggle for dignity, justice and freedom which concretely ought to be experienced as equal opportunities for women and men, for the poor and rich, and the enjoyment of basic human needs so that none may experience lack, and the state of well-being and opportunity for self-determination.

Since we work on the belief that people matter, we need to devote ourselves to organizing for the empowerment of people in all sectors. Thus far, in all the recent historical developments, we have not provided an alternative ideology. URM has to be involved in ideological cum practical issues in the work of social transformation. Being URMers means we are no longer to be habitual ritualistic Christians (HRC) but to be totally concerned and committed persons (CCP) to the cause of Christ.

The URM is under no illusion that the concerns raised are major problems which are deeply rooted in the socio-economic-political structures of the societies we live in. Nevertheless, together with the community of people in Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world, we will continue striving in our work for justice and peace, which God intended for all creation.

URM Perspectives

In 1991, CCA-URM organized a small consultation in Bangkok to discuss the theological and ideological basis of URM in Asia.

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Our aim was to examine the Asian situation carefully from the URM perspective. This gathering provided a good opportunity for us to reflect on URM work in Asia. It was reaffirmed that the work of URM was significant for the life of the ecumenical movement. A report on this consultation has been produced, entitled Thinking Ahead. In the following paragraphs, I shall quote from this book some of the insights shared by the presenters.

In his presentation, Fely Cariño expressed that, "The organizational work and solidarity network of URM must be maintained and strengthened." ⁴ Further, he stressed that, "A more vibrant theological exchange and exploration must be put into motion of which URM must be a part to insure that the 'view from the underside' cannot be avoided or overlooked." ⁵ Therefore, organizational work with grassroots should be a basic endeavour of URM thrusts upon which we continue to focus and work. Thus far, our work with grassroots is not limited only to our constituencies but also embraces all peoples' movements involved in grassroots organizing.

Theresa Cariño aptly reminded us that,

In Asia today, where the majority remain poor and marginalized, the class struggle continues. But I think the class struggle cannot succeed without the formation of broad alliances that cut across traditional class lines. Solidarities have to be built around issues that cut across class lines. We also have to recognize that class is not the only struggle. ⁶

Ed dela Torre expressed that,

One immediate consequence for our work is that we cannot remain focused on local communities; we need to see their inter-relationship. URM'S name already recognizes one linkage: urban-rural. We need to look also at local-

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⁴ CCA-URM, Thinking Ahead (Hong Kong: Christian Conference of Asia-Urban Rural Mission, 1992), 20.

⁵ Ibid., 21.

⁶ Ibid., 37.

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national-regional-global linkages/ not as strung out in a linear relationship but as overlapping circles.⁷

Along the same line, Kim Yong-Bock emphasized that,

URM in Asia needs to be in solidarity in the global dimension. We have grassroots so much so that our global linkages have not been emphasized.⁸

What Fely, Theresa, Ed and Yong-Bock pointed out cannot be over-emphasized. The importance of grassroots organizing effort for people's empowerment as a matter of principle for URM work in Asia is absolutely correct. Our experience has shown us that wherever there has been a strong peoples' movement, there has also been many changes taking place at every strata of society. Without concrete building up of grassroots organizational efforts, we cannot expect to fulfil the people's aspirations for change. This has been the past, present and ongoing thrust of URM in all sectors of the grassroots as we strive to overcome the oppression, exploitation and domination of peoples all over Asia.

Are we really working hard to bring about changes from grassroots level in our workplaces? Be it in a local, national, regional or global situation, people are crying out for solidarity networking to help resolve their immediate problems which are related to peoples' self-determination and aspirations for fullness of life.

Some examples of these from our history are:

- Burmese people's struggle for democratization under the brutal rule of a military regime;

- Korean people's aspiration for reunification;

- Filipino people's struggle for popular democracy, which is seeking to establish a combination of representative democracy and direct democracy;

- Taiwanese people's struggle for independence and self-determination;

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⁷ Ibid., 56.

⁸ Ibid., 31.

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- Hong Kong people's aspiration for a Hong Kong ruled by Hong Kong people after 1997;

- Thai people's movement for democratization and the elimination of military involvement in politics;

- minority and indigenous peoples' struggle for independence and self-determination;

- working class people's struggle for better living standards;

- migrant workers' struggle for security of employment status;

- women's struggle for self-realization and equality; and,

- peoples' campaign for environmental protection and movements for peace.

All these peoples' struggles are the actual locus of the peoples' movement in every sector of our society. URMers should bear in mind that these are urgent issues which should be taken up without a moment's delay.

Rienzie Perera provoked us to think further about the role that major religions have to play in perpetuating oppression of the peoples.

In a sense, it is a legitimate question to ask whether the religions in Asia have betrayed the struggling and suffering peoples of Asia. In other words, have the major religious faiths in Asia a dynamic contribution to make to the ongoing struggles of the people's search for emancipation from domination and exploitation? Or, are they merely a tranquilizer to the broken and bleeding peoples of Asia? Could we write-off the religions with the idea that they are merely the ideological legitimization of oppressive systems? ⁹

He added, "We recognize that religions in Asia are living religions of the people rather than purely the theoretical constructs culled from scriptural texts. But when we look at the function of major religions in Asia, we note that very often they have been symbols of oppression and guardians of the status

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⁹ Ibid.. 42.

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quo."¹⁰ Since URM work involves people of all faiths, Rienzie's words are a good reminder that we do not unconsciously become agents of oppression ourselves.

Kim Yong-Bock challenged us with an inevitable task. 'The URM work has been a central thrust of Christian communities to involve themselves in the sufferings and struggles of peoples in Asia."¹¹ Here is the URM mandate clearly expressed that our involvement for the enhancement of human dignity may eventually lead us to suffer and struggle with people in Asia at any time and in any place.

Ed dela Torre made a strong prediction concerning recent developments in world politics,

I think we have to look unflinchingly at the hard reality that for the first time ever, the world we live in is dominated by one ruling global logic - the logic of capital. This domination, of course, affects the nations and peoples of the world in different, unequal ways. There are the three centers of accumulation and power [the USA, EEC and Japan]. What does this mean for those of us who are committed to the nations and peoples of the so-called Third World? What paths of hope are open to us? ¹²

URM Emphasis

The primary locus of the URM has always been and will always be the PEOPLE. It is the people who matter, especially the farmers, the fisherfolks, the workers, the slum-dwellers, the ethnic minorities, all those people of God who are victimized.

Our work in the URM is to actively COMMUNICATE with the people and share with them the liberating message of the Gospel. Those who suffer under political oppression, economic exploitation, socio-cultural discrimination, ideological manipulation, foreign domination and religious indoctrination. We must communicate and share their lives in such a way as to empower

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¹⁰ Ibid., 45.

¹¹ Ibid., 24.

¹² Ibid., 60.

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them to truly become a people of God in order to build a genuine human community, where peace, justice, equality, love and care are a prevailing way of life.

"URMers"

URMers are people who are being sent into the enslaved human community HERE and NOW to do the work of liberating, after the example of Christ.

In order that we might experience the true meaning of the power of Christ's resurrection, let us try to follow Jesus Christ, our example, remembering his humiliation, his suffering on the cross, to the point of his death and his resurrection.

We need to overcome our human weakness in our faith in Christ and commit ourselves anew as disciples of Christ in order to fulfil the "missionary mandate" as given by Christ in Matthew 28:16-20.

We need to constantly look into the authentic messages of the Bible which is the record of God's liberating act in human history. Therefore, we have to take GOD'S PLAN and WILL for the world and its inhabitants seriously.

The Signs of Hope

In an age where socio-economic and political events are pointing to a bleak future especially for the Asia-Pacific scene, what signs of hope can there possibly be? To my mind, it is clear that we as members of the URM together with the PEOPLE are one of the signs of hope. The MINJUNG CHURCH in Korea, the BASIC CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY in the Philippines, and the COMMUNITY LABOUR CHURCH in Hong Kong are examples of the signs of hope in our time.

The community of believers should continuously provide for people to be sent out to preach the Good News to the poor and the oppressed in order that the sign of hope may become a reality. Furthermore, as individuals we are called to spread the faith by WORD and DEED, to be true witnesses that Christ, the Liberator, is in our midst. This salvific work would require us to work together with peoples of other faiths and ideologies to build a just society based on peace and full humanity.

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A new age is dawning soon. We are living in a crucial historical age of 'great risks' and 'uncertain future'. It is an age where a constant battle is going on between human efforts and the natural environmental reactions - technology versus ecology. Whereas, in fact, human efforts and nature should mutually respond to each other in order to maintain balance and harmony in life.

URM Tasks

Although the following statements may seem to center along the same trend of thought, let me highlight some of these URM thrusts:

- URM is promoting and supporting the peoples' movement so that all the sectoral groups may be empowered.

- URM is participating and working together with grassroots so that a strong solidarity networking can be formed to work for democratization and humanization.

- URM is responding and challenging in conflict situations so that a just society might be established in each particular context.

- URM is cooperating with and encouraging each other in relation to other ecumenical organizations and non-governmental organizations so that social change might be hastened.

- URM is developing and promoting younger leadership within URM groups so that each one may be enabled to independently handle relevant issues in their given workplaces.

- URM is searching for and articulating alternative ideological and theological perspectives so that new paradigms may be found.

- URM is compiling and producing more resources so that new challenges on the "people's agenda" may be consistently dealt with.

- URM. is concentrating on finding out new visions and strategies so that URM tasks may be sharpened in each given situation.

- URM is analyzing and investigating mass media and social systems so as to liberate people from being captive to ideological indoctrination.

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URM Issues

Let me reiterate some important issues raised in our book Thinking Ahead to refresh our minds and to help us understand URM'S task more clearly.

We observe the seemingly irresistable penetration of capitalism into all nation-states, either transforming or subordinating all pre-capitalist and non-capitalist structures...

There is another positive, global trend toward democratization away from outrightly repressive and authoritarian rule; this is also true in the nation-states of Asia, with some exceptions...

There is a global trend towards broader people's movement that is also developing in many Asian countries.

There is an increasing global awareness about the environmental crisis, calling into question the sustainability of present development strategies...

Despite the winding down of the Cold War and its accompanying arms race, militarization and militarism continue to be a problem especially in many countries of Asia. The search for peaceful settlements of armed conflicts and beyond this, for a just and sustainable peace is part of the global and Asian agenda...

There is a worrying trend towards various forms of religious fundamentalism in Asia.

Thus, we are reminded that the six areas of concern which should be the priority on URM'S agenda are: (1) capitalism; (2) democratization; (3) people's movement; (4) environment; (5) militarization; and (6) religious fundamentalism.

Thinking Ahead further challenges us with more issues to consider:

URM needs to deepen its understanding of people's empowerment... there has to be greater emphasis on popular education and grassroots leadership formation, including transformation of values and a critique of ideologies...

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URM needs to assist people's organizations in making ideological choices—At the same time, people need to make choices among competing ideological options.

URM, in cooperation with other groups, should engage in dreaming and drawing up alternatives... m making a choice among competing ideologies, URM should emphasize people's participation as the key criterion... Culture, identity and popular religiousity are integral to peoples' empowerment and crucial elements in making ideological choices...

URM should ensure that, in addition to ecumenical relations among leaders and institutions, a grassroots, lay and popular ecumenism continues to grow in Asia as well as internationally.

I am sure we are struggling with all these issues in order to fulfil our mandate. However, it is difficult to work things out our way. So it is essential that we self-critically examine ourselves at all levels of URM in Asia for the sake of carrying out God's ministry more faithfully and authentically.

Although I have stressed the need for vision in the URM response to social transformation, the importance of articulating clearly our vision cannot be over-emphasized. We need to spell out in detail the vision, the direction and the methods of implementing the URM vision on a long term basis. I would like to share a possible understanding of the term ideology which URM may subscribe to and be guided by.

A famous definition put forth by Karl Mannheim and Andre Dumas is that "Ideologies are blueprints of the future made by a certain ideologue or group of elite within the community to move the mass." (Andre Dumas, Die Kirche als factor einer Kommenden Weltgemeinschaft, 1966.) Each ideology comes with a set of blueprints and strategies and methods by which those who drafted it hope to bridge the gap between the idea and its fulfillment through practice. So URM has the crucial role of bridging the gap between idea and reality. According to Mao's thought, "correct ideas" should emerge from actual practice and the relationship between theory and practice must always remain dialectical.

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As people of the faith, let us also be guided by biblical teaching. In Galatians, Paul teaches us that in Christ we are all children of God through faith. The consequence of this is that:

There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female; for all of us are one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:23-29).

This is the vision that all of us should have in leading people to liberation from discrimination in order to uphold full humanity and peaceful coexistence in the historical context of our time and the place in which we live and work.

Bearing this in mind, let us reflect on the following ideas through peoples' participation in: (a) Inter-faith solidarity with peoples' struggle for peace and justice; (b) Inter-sectoral solidarity with peoples' struggle for social transformation; (c) Theological/ideological basis of URM for the betterment of life in all its fullness.

Solidarity Networking: (a) Solidarity with environmental and peace groups in Asia; (b) Solidarity with ethnic minority peoples and all oppressed sectoral groups; (c) Solidarity with ecumenical partners for unity of renewal.

Leadership Formation/Development: (a) Solid leadership formation in sectoral/primary URM groups in Asia; (b) Second-line leadership formation; (c) Intensive advanced leadership formation.

Exchanges: (a) Personnel; (b) Information; (c) Documentation; (d) Ideas and Experiences.

Critical Evaluation: (a) Theory and Praxis; (b) Credibility and Accountability; (c) Ongoing program analysis and projections.

Toward Self-Reliance: (a) Gradual self-support plans; (b) Mutual assistance plans; (c) Long-term plans for independence.

URM Self-Evaluation

The URM in Asia has many good testimonies to share about peoples' ongoing efforts in the areas of concerns such as rural peasants, urban poor, women workers, racial minorities, indigenous peoples, migrant workers, trade unionism, economic justice, theological reflection, anti-pollution and environment. It

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took more than 30 years of dedicated hard work to produce these success stories.

In the past, the role of URM has been to build supportive communities of people at grassroots, caring communities of people in marginalized sectors, nurturing communities of people within the URM network, resilient communities of people to protest repressive regimes, sharing communities of people of their vision and resources, and expanding communities of people in churches as well as in societies.

As a result, URM has earned a good reputation through their direct involvement working with the people of various communities. All this work was carried out by our senior friends, with the more concrete foundation laid by the first generation of URMers in Asia. Now that one generation has passed, we have to thoroughly evaluate ourselves in relation to...

- the nature of the ongoing URM work to examine its relevance in the light of a rapidly changing Asia;

- the operational mechanism of URM structures to see whether it is truly grassroots oriented for the larger benefit of the people or just carrying on for the sake of programmes;

- the financial self-reliance policy which has been aggressively initiated by local or national groups; and,

- the leadership of URM which needs to be consistently provided from within URM;

- the renewal of church and society by providing new ideology, theology and methodology.

We need to honestly examine these five basic concerns. Only thereafter can we discuss more authentically about credibility, accountability and responsibility in relation to URM operations.

Meanwhile, I can think of two options in carrying out the task of evaluation. One, we may choose to destroy existing structures and programmes of URM and build an entirely new house for URM with an entirely new architecture along with a totally different approach. Or, we can keep the present structure and programmes and renovate according to the needs of post-modem era. Otherwise, we will tend to adopt all kinds of evaluation just for the sake of evaluation. Personally, I would prefer the idea of renovation rather than to start from square one. I prefer renovation

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because I feel that the ideas of URM are still valid and the theology of URM has matured in time. However, it is time for us to renovate the URM structure or framework so as to effectively carry out our mission.

How then can we renovate URM in Asia? What kind of color? What kind of ideological perspective? What kind of functional mechanism? What kind of position in the social movement? What kind of mission work in the ecumenical movement? What kind of partnership of mission with other faiths and ideologies? What kind of involvement in the peoples' movement? What kind of financial facilities to look for? These questions we have to answer if we are to find a unique place for URM in the Christian movement in our time.

As we have observed, two most important reminders are that of policy determination and implementation of URM. Therefore, in the process of evaluation we have to bear in mind that policy determination and implementation should be carefully examined. And evaluation should be fairly provided as balance sheets of our accountabilities. (1991-1994, excerpt)