In the 35 blocks of the Tenderloin District of San Francisco you’ll typically find 10,000 homeless men, women and children. Most San Francisco residents and tourists avoid this area. But this is where InterVarsity staff members in the Bay Area held a weekend conference February 11-13, 2005, to confront issues of homelessness and poverty.
Participants in this conference served alongside community organizations working in the Tenderloin District and studied the teachings of Jesus on injustice and poverty. Ministers who work with the poor in San Francisco and with the garbage collectors of Manila were featured speakers.
“This conference has a two-pronged purpose,” said InterVarsity Global Projects Director Scott Bessenecker, who co-directed the conference with East Bay Team Leader Jess Delegencia. “We want to see non-Christian students who are already passionate about justice issues discover the Jesus who walks among the poor. And we want to see Christian students who are ignorant or naïve about justice issues discover that Jesus is passionate about confronting evil and bringing deliverance to the oppressed.”
More than 200 university students together studied biblical texts that show Jesus’ love for people who are marginalized in today’s society. Over the next five years, InterVarsity envisions 20 Jesus, Justice & Poverty conferences in cities around the country.
Ethnic reconciliation and justice are part of InterVarsity’s core commitments.
JJP Photos on Flickr
News Release
