Abstract

Advocacy work as a part of transformational development is still approached with ambivalence by many in the evangelical community. It is clear, however, that distal causes, rooted in structural sin, contribute greatly to the kind of poverty that development practitioners face, even though articulating the causal mechanisms through which this occurs is difficult. Case studies show that a distinctively Christian engagement with advocacy requires a clear sense of our `identity' and the construction of an alternative narrative and engagement in symbolic acts, witnessing in this way concerning the sins that require remedy.