Discuss

All the songs on Heart Life VOICE have God’s compassionate justice at their core.

A powerful way to connect to God is through worship songs and while there are many contemporary songs that promote a close relationship with Jesus, there are few songs that deal with a God who is passionately concerned for the poor.

If we neglect to declare God’s justice and His love for the poor and vulnerable, our worship is distorted. On the other hand, our social action is incomplete if it neglects the important role that worship – prayer, song, fasting, prophetic words – has in any Christian endeavour. Heart Life VOICE aims to address that imbalance.

Jesus and the Old Testament prophets spoke out on behalf of the poor. Worship songs can remind us of that truth, and inspire us to act with justice, mercy and humility (Micah 6:8).

Prayer and teaching
Ideas on faith, action and poverty
Info about poverty
Bible material and poverty facts from the Heart Life VOICE album

There are more than 2,000 verses in God’s Word that address issues of poverty and justice.

Rick Warren, the author of Purpose Driven Life, wrote in 2005, "I deeply believe that if we as evangelicals remain silent and do not speak up in defence of the poor, we lose our credibility and our right to witness about God's love for the world."

Bill Hybels, leader of Willow Creek has said, “It's pretty obvious from the teachings of Jesus that when Christians are given the mandate to spread the gospel it's more than just a verbal message. It's extending the kingdom of God holistically. So part of the church's role is to proclaim the message of salvation, and part of the church's role is to tend to people's needs, whether those needs are relational, emotional, psychological, physical, or financial.” (1997 interview)

Peter Jensen, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney has said, “The call to commit ourselves to helping to work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 may seem an impossible dream, but unless people of goodwill throughout the global community demonstrate a commitment of determined obedience to biblical teaching on justice and compassionate care, then to our shame, there will always be those who are without hope.”

Listen to Darlene Zschech talk about God’s call to serve the poor.

We'd love to hear your feedback. Tell us what you think of Heart Life VOICE by leaving a comment below.

Heart Life VOICE is a project of Micah Challenge Australia.