June 16 1997

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An unusually broad range of Christian leaders met on the eve of the Presidents' Summit on America's Future in April. During the Philadelphia meeting, they refocused their attention on coordinating the church's response to the poor and federal attempts to reform the malfunctioning welfare system.

"The Church Steps Forward: A Christian Roundtable on Poverty and Welfare Reform" was convened by the Call to Renewal, a group that aims to revitalize Christian approaches to social activism and evangelical outreach.

"This has been probably the most religiously diverse gathering of the Christian community to address the issue of poverty, certainly within this decade," said Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the Reformed Church in America. About 50 mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, evangelical, and minority church leaders attended.

Although many participants applauded the group's diverse makeup, Yvonne Delk, executive director of the Community Renewal Society in Chicago, challenged participants to make more room at the table by inviting more women and minorities—along with poor people themselves. "We have to stop talking about poor people," Delk said, "and start talking with them."

The round-table participants expended little energy in decrying the new welfare reform law. Rather, they shifted the focus from welfare to poverty and set aside their familiar theological and political differences.

"When a hurricane is coming and you are passing sandbags, you don't ask if the person next to you is liberal or conservative," said Jim Wallis, head of the Call to Renewal. A confessional attitude also marked the meeting: a recognition that as long as Christians are divided over how to respond to the plight of the poor, the church ...