The main contribution of liberation theology to say global Christianity.

The preferential option for the poor.

And to start the language of talking about the Church of the poor.

The current Pope Francis used that language, the Church of the poor.

And I think that's really important for us to get our heads around.

The preferential option for the poor is the idea that we do this Christianity thing that we're about, this witness to the gospel that we're about, has a deep preference for the poor, the outcast, the press, those people in the margins that were left out.

Jesus didn't go to the halls of power. He didn't march into Rome.

He went to meet with Caesar and to say, we're going to change this system from the top down.

He went out and he found the people in the outskirts of the society, the people that were forgotten or just in the margins.

And that's where he concentrated his effort and his energy.

And through that work, the whole church was organized from the bottom up, not from the top down.

And I think what Gustavo Gutierrez, who is essentially the founder of liberation theology, what he was doing by emphasizing South American churches' discovery.

Their emphasis on the preferential option for the poor was to say, no, the church is not about these big hierarchies and about structures and ordering power from the top down.

It's about supporting and encouraging and being shaped by the poor.

Not what we can offer the poor as a way of going to them as an other, but to say that God is at work amongst the poor.

And that's where he will speak to the church.

So it's subtle. Sometimes our language of concern for the poor is about what we bring to the poor and how we can change them or how we can help improve their situation.

But the preferential option for the poor really ought to say, what is God saying to the church from the poor?

And to say, that's where God is at work. How do we let God speak to us from that position?

And that is a threat to those who are in power.

And so the church, all the churches have really been hesitant to embrace that language and embrace liberation theology because of that, because it is such a threat to the institutionalized power structures.

But I think that's a word that we need to hear today. And we need not be looking for how do we fix the poor, but how does God speak to us through the poor?

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