Nehemiah's Great Assembly
Every year at the Action Assembly, F.A.I.T.H. recreates this particular episode in scripture. We views believe it is a template for how people of faith and houses of worship can fulfill the commandment to "do Justice".
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Nehemiah Chapter 5In the 5th chapter of the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, the Prophet Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem to find his people being exploited. During
a terrible drought and famine, a group of moneylenders began capitalizing off of the Israelites' desperation by enticing them to buy loans with high interest rates. When the Israelites defaulted on their loans, they were forced to sell their children into slavery (Nehemiah 5:1-5). Instead of practicing mercy ministry by providing direct service in order to alleviate his people's immediate needs, Nehemiah understood the problem stemmed from a unjust system and the root cause had to be addressed with systemic change. In doing this, Nehemiah was practicing justice ministry. Nehemiah used his influence to coordinate a "great assembly" where a large group of Israelites called out the moneylenders for their foul practices. Upon seeing the great numbers gathered to hold them accountable, the moneylenders publicly promised to abandon their practices of usury and to return to the people all that they had taken unjustly. |
What the "Great Assembly" Means |
In scripture, people of faith are called to serve those least among us; both by serving their immediate needs AND by standing up to the powerful systems that exploit them. Houses of worship everywhere do a wonderful work running food pantries, funding free health clinics, operating tutoring programs, etc. Yet, rarely do we see congregations hold decision makers accountable for the policies that keep people hungry, uninsured, undereducated, etc. Nehemiah Chapter 5 provides a framework for how churches, synagogues, mosques and temples can reclaim their responsibility to do Justice.
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How F.A.I.T.H. recreates the "Great Assembly" |
Every year F.A.I.T.H. recreates the "Great Assembly" Nehemiah led by holding our Action Assembly. Our 32 congregations work all year to encourage all of those who attend their weekly worship services to be a part of the Action Assembly. Like in Nehemiah Chapter 5, the assembly addresses public officials and powerful decision makers and asks them to publicly commit to use their positions of authority to address certain community problems.
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