Brian McLaren has written a well paced book called, Everything must change(Thomas Nelson, 2007). It is a disturbing book which exposes many of the crises facing the world today. McLaren shares his experiences from his overseas trips to paint an alarming picture of exploitation of the world’s poor, over consumption by wealthy nations and a general lack of compassion. The subtitle, Jesus, global crises and a revolution of hope seem to be a disjointed assortment of topics yet McLaren weaves these together to make his point that things desperately need to change.
McLaren points out that Jesus has a lot to say about these topics. In his parables and teaching times Jesus often spoke about the dangers of wealth and the necessity to have compassion for the poor. McLaren shares many insights which are helpful to understanding the context in which Jesus’ taught. He highlights Jesus’ concern for the needy and oppressed which ought to be shared by his followers. However it is in the area of global crises that McLaren is most disturbing. He quotes many statistics on excessive expenditure, particularly on military arsenal compared to the minimal expenditure on foreign aid. He also discusses the reasons for much of the world’s poverty which is often due to wealthy countries exploiting poorer countries.
After much depressing news McLaren concludes with the message of hope. If Christians believe Jesus’ message about the kingdom of God it is possible to turn around these current trends. With God’s help we can bring about a world where people are treated equitably, with dignity and respect.
