Our world is divided by many borders--political, economic, cultural, racial, to name only a few. These borders often prevent us from loving our neighbors on the other side of the divide.

Jesus in his earthly ministry repeatedly crossed the lines and borders society had erected. He showed compassion to a despised Samaritan woman and dined with Zacheus, a hated tax collector and representative of Roman domination. Everywhere Jesus went, he crossed the margins of respectability and tolerance of his society. Poor people, prostitutes, heretics, diseased and unclean people--he loved them all and saw in them the image of God.

Beyond Borders seeks to follow this Jesus by building bridges of sharing and understanding across the great divisions of our day. We do this to foster justice and peace and because we believe that the unique image of God in humanity is best seen in the mosaic of our diversity.

Our mission is to work for justice and peace out of devotion to Christ by fostering sharing and understanding across cultural and economic borders. We do this to make real the reconciliation and liberation that Christ proclaimed for our world.

Beyond Borders focuses on the division created by the growing economic disparity in our world.

The wealth created in the past decade through economic growth and globalization has not been shared equally. In fact, the global gap between rich and poor continues to grow more extreme. Today the poorest fifth of the world’s population possesses less than 1% of the world’s wealth, while the wealthiest fifth owns more than 86%. Over 800 million people are chronically hungry while the greatest threat to the health of the world’s most privileged is chronic overeating.

This growing disparity is unsustainable. It is those who are at the extremes of the world’s economic continuum, the wealthiest and poorest, who are by far the most destructive to the world’s environment. Also, the concentration of wealth breeds resentment and imperils peace at the national and international levels. Beyond being unsustainable, this disparity is simply unjust.

Jesus identified with the poor, lifted up the poor, brought good news to the poor. Jesus warned the wealthy that their riches imperiled their souls. How should privileged people who claim to follow Jesus respond to poor people who live on the other side of the economic gap?