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ADVOCATING FOR A BETTER WORLD
FROM OUR CEO
WELCOME TO THE
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! B ETTER WORLD MAGAZIN E Advocating For A Better World
I believe in the existence of a good God who designed the world to be good.
After all, when he finished creating the heavens and the earth, he stepped back and said, ‘It is good’. His intention from the beginning has been for our good, for the earth’s good. So anything that gets in the way of this goodness strays from that plan. Life as he desires becomes out of whack, imbalanced or, put another way, it creates a playing field that is far from level.
That’s how I’d define injustice. It’s sin and it disrupts God’s just and good work. Sadly, the result of injustice is that people, relationships, and community suffer. The planet suffers. Our world today is not as God intends.
At Baptist World Aid Australia we work for his justice, for leveling the playing field and providing opportunities for all people, his ultimate creation, to know that goodness. Why? Because Jesus hung on a cross for our sake, and the world’s, to take on the injustices of the world and to restore us through the resurrection to God’s better way: a life of fullness and grace.
That’s what this edition of Better World Magazine explores: what it looks like to do justice as a response to God’s justice for us. We know God has provided rich soil across the earth to grow enough food to feed the hungry, enough resources to welcome every refugee, enough vaccines to protect all people. But injustice keeps us from fulfilling our responsibilities to one another. When we make poor consumption choices, for instance, someone else and the environment suffers. What we do, what we take, and what we use are entirely connected to the wellbeing of our world.
In these pages, we learn of the issues and progress within the fashion industry addressing justice for garment workers (page 6) as we prepare for the release of our 2022 Ethical Fashion Report in October. We see the powerful impact child’s rights have on young people, and especially girls, (page 10) through the good work of our local Christian Partners across the 18 countries where we serve.
And here at home we see the faithful efforts of Baptist churches trying to live out justice in their communities (page 12) while seeing how Catalyst groups advocate for justice (page 13).
In our guest column, Rev. Megan Powell du Toit challenges us to reconsider the ‘good life’ as a reflection of God’s justice (page 14).
Doing justice is as much a part of the Christian journey as prayer and Bible study. And so together, we advocate for a better, more just world for all.
Because of Jesus,
Melissa Lipsett CEO Baptist World Aid
