Save The Date 10.10.10

What is Micah Challenge?

The challenge at the heart of the movement is Micah 6:8. “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah Challenge calls us to ensure justice is done, to embrace mercy in our hearts, to be obedient to our Lord.

Micah Challenge seeks transformational change in society, through the active involvement of the church with the poor and against the injustices of poverty. It seeks to sensitize and engage Christians into greater political and practical involvement with the issues relating to poverty by highlighting biblical truths which prompt a compassion of heart and quickness of the hands and feet. It will also enable Christians to pray, take action, speak out and engage with the issues surrounding poverty, here in the US as well as overseas.

Global Micah Challenge

Micah Challenge USA is part of a global Micah Challenge movement in over 40 countries. We join together with one voice as brothers and sisters for the Kingdom to fight poverty and injustice. Visit Micah Challenge International

What do we do?

In the US Micah Challenge acts as a campaign of organizations, churches, colleges, families, and individuals educating and inspiring Christians to take action against global poverty. Micah Challenge USA facilitates advocacy actions on key issues that will affect the global poor. We take these actions based on the voices of our partners in the global south. Our advocacy is inspired and informed by our brothers and sisters on the front lines of extreme poverty in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

What is Extreme Poverty?

Poverty comes in all shapes and sizes. Some are spiritually poor, but materially wealthy while others are materially poor and spiritually wealthy. We seek to fight the injustice of extreme economic poverty defined as those living on less that $1.25/day--1.4 Billion (yes, billion with a "b") people. Poverty of this degree in a world of plenty is a great injustice.

Integral Mission and Micah Challenge

The Micah Declaration on Integral Mission provides the biblical basis for Micah Challenge and was developed by participants in the Micah Network's consultation on Integral Mission held at Oxford in September 2001. The Micah Network jointly founded Micah Challenge in partnership with the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA).

The participants in the consultation - 140 theologians, church leaders and relief and development workers from around the world - also contributed to an excellent book that captures more of the thought and experience underlying the Declaration. For information on the book, "Justice, Mercy and Humility: Integral Mission and the Poor", edited by Tim Chester, click here.

Micah Declaration on Integral Mission (2001)

Integral mission or holistic transformation is the proclamation and demonstration of the gospel. It is not simply that evangelism and social involvement are to be done alongside each other. Rather, in integral mission our proclamation has social consequences as we call people to love and repentance in all areas of life. And our social involvement has evangelistic consequences as we bear witness to the transforming grace of Jesus Christ. If we ignore the world we betray the word of God which sends us out to serve the world. If we ignore the word of God we have nothing to bring to the world. Justice and justification by faith, worship and political action, the spiritual and the material, personal change and structural change belong together. As in the life of Jesus, being, doing and saying are at the heart of our integral task... Read the Full Declaration

Micah Challenge Core Values

  • The Good News: We affirm that the good news of Jesus demonstrates concern for the spiritual, physical, mental, social, economic and emotional well being of people.
  • Committed to Jesus: We seek to serve Jesus Christ in all we think, we say, we do and we are.
  • Committed to the Bible: The Bible, God's word, is foundational to our relationship with God and all that we do. We seek to be obedient to biblical teaching, evaluating our work and attitudes in its light.
  • Committed to working with those living in poverty: We affirm the worth of each individual, especially those men and women, girls and boys who live in poverty, whatever their gender, ethnicity, race, religion or social status. Committed to Justice: We recognize that God requires his people to live in a way that reflects His standards of justice, which includes speaking with and on behalf of impoverished men, women, girls, and boys.
  • Committed to Prayer: Prayer underlies everything we do. We are committed to deepening our knowledge of God and his will and to bringing before him the needs of the world.
  • Committed to Relationships: We are committed to partnership based on good relationships with others, affirming the equal worth of each individual made in God's image, female and male, showing compassion and integrity in our dealings with others.
  • Committed to learning and sharing: We are committed to learning from others, sharing with them and making appropriate changes.
  • Committed to efficiency and accountability: We are accountable to God, to our supporters, partners and to poor men and women, girls and boys. We are committed to being honest and transparent in all we do. We are committed to making what we do consistent with what we say.