​While wealth is possession of material things such as money or occupation of a high social economic status, poverty is the opposite. It is lack of basic needs such as water, education, food, shelter, clothing, and health.
When teaching about wealth, Jesus taught using two parables. These were:

1. Parable of the shrewd manager
2. Parable of the rich man and Lazarus 

​When the shrewd manager realized that his master was going to sack him due to his dishonesty, he asked the debtors to change the amounts they owed their master to smaller amounts. He did this to make friends with a few people who would give him a place to stay after he was sacked. The master praised the shrewd manager and did not sack him. The shrewd manager is praised not because of his dishonesty but because he acted promptly and with great presence of mind in a moment of crisis.
Jesus is encouraging his disciples and followers to make prompt (quick, appropriate, timely) decisions.
They should use wealth to serve God. It should not be allowed to take the place of God. Followers of
Jesus should be honest in small and big things. 

​A rich man lived in luxury. At his gates was a poor man, called Lazarus whose body was covered by sores. The rich man did not feed Lazarus. He ate food remains together with the rich man’s dogs.
When rich man died, he went to hell. When Lazarus died, he went to heaven and sat at Abraham/s bosom. When in hell, the rich man was tormented while Lazarus was at peace. 

​The rich isn’t condemned for being rich but because of his altitude towards Lazarus. He used his wealth for self-gratification and not for service to the needy. The wealthy should realize that it is God who gives wealth and he should be given honor. Riches can hinder the wealthy from inheriting eternal life, especially if they put their trust in riches instead of God who is the source of all wealth and blessings. 

1. From the parable of the rich fool what can Christians learn about the use of wealth?
2. Narrate the parable of the shrewd manager 

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• ​THE CHRISTIAN TEACHING ON WEALTH, MONEY AND POVERTY
  
• ​HOW CAN CHRISTIANS IN KENYA HELP TO NARROW THE GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR?
• TRADITIONAL AFRICAN UNDERSTANDING OF WEALTH AND POVERTY
• ​WHAT DOES THE STORY OF RICH MAN AND LAZARUS TEACH ON THE PROPER USE OF WEALTH

• Corruption:
  ​is a practice of giving a bribe in the form of money, goods or privileges in return for a service.
• Bribery:
  is an act of giving money, material goods or services to someone to influence the recipient to give undeserved favour. It is aimed at influencing a decision to favour.
• Bribery is a form of corruption
  Corruption is some kind of moral degeneration. A practice whereby someone uses his/her influence in an activity that is not morally acceptable. - Example of corruption include promotion by a senior for a favour, colluding to miss work, use of government vehicles to attend to personal matters.​

In Kenya, Kenya Anti Corruption commission KACC is a national body formed to fight corruption.
The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) is a public body created by the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act in 2003. The KACC became fully operational in August 2005 and replaced previous agencies and units working on corruption-related issues. The KACC is responsible for investigating and preventing corruption, economic crimes and educating the public on the dangers of corruption. The KACC does not have any prosecution powers, but forwards cases to the Attorney General. The KACC receives regular funding and has a full-time staff, which, according to Global Integrity 2009, is among the best-paid public officials in Kenya.​

1. Unemployment
   one will bribe to secure employment
2. Greed for money
   caused by peer pressure, poor moral values, wrong ethical foundation about money etc
3. Fear
   fear of being imprisoned
4. Ignorance
   giving bribes ¡n form of gifts
5. Disintegration of traditional African values
6. Lack of moral integrity
   no Christian values, one having no spiritual basis
7. Frustration in the place of work
8. A perverted conscience

• ​Leads to injustice
• Leads to incompetent supplies of goods or services being awarded hefty contracts — leads to poor services e.g. road construction
• Poor infrastructure, poor public service delivery
• Leads to undermining moral fabric of society — leading to social hopelessness and despair
• Has led to lack of trust in public servants, and the government
• Discontentment among people
• Degrades the personality of an individual 8. Can lead to imprisonment and loss of job

Christian can respond by

1. Insistence on fair distribution of wealth
2. Fighting against bribery and corruption
3. Using life skills
4. Practicing Christian values

Affluence — having a lot of material possessions and a luxurious standard of living. Poverty is a state of lack of the basic necessities
Illegal means of acquiring wealth include fraud, grabbing public land, selling narcotic drugs etc.

1. ​Political instability
2. Lack of formal education
3. Laziness
4. Negative attitude towards work — choosing jobs
5. Historical factors — colonization lack of land
6. Exporting unprocessed agricultural products cheaply then sold back expensively.

• Fair distribution of wealth / resources
• Christians to promote the value of justice, fairness, social responsibility. How? By having anti — corruption crusades, be role models, teach or import skills, advocate for cancellation of foreign debts, taxation to all etc.
• Fair salaries
• Promotion of affordable and decent housing
• Favourable terms of loans
• Encourage Jua Kali artisans
• Christians to demand transformation of society through implementation of just economic policies that can ensure fair distribution of wealth.
• Encourage foreign investors through good infrastructure, incentives e.g. shorter process to register business, security. 
• Christians to encourage investments by churches and inculcate in people the values of hard work, proper time management free education free healthcare for the poor or needy. Fair distribution of wealth / resources refers to jobs, infrastructure, hospitals, water, agricultural products etc.

1. Wealth is a blessing from God
2. Those who obey God’s laws, teachings of the prophets are promised blessings by God (Deut 28: 1—4)
3. Wealth has duties associated with it e.g. 10% tithe, alms to the poor, and an aspect of stewardship
4. Wealth should be used wisely. People are not owners of their property but are stewards. Should share with the poor, needy
5. Wealth is not permanent e.g. parable of the rich fool. When people die, they take nothing with them. Naked into the world, naked out of the world (Job. 1:21)
6. Wealth can create a false sense of independence feeling of self reliance no need for God
7. Wealth should be obtained justly — no happiness for a person who gets riches in the wrong way.
8. Wrong attitude to wealth can lead to idolatry and other dangers (Matt.19: 23 —24) danger of materialism — making riches their God, the love of money is the root of all evil (1 timothy 6:10)
9. It is wrong to discriminate against others on the basis of material possessions. Jesus associated with the rich, the poor, the sick etc
10. Seek spiritual wealth, which is permanent and more fulfilling than material wealth, which is transitory — temporal (Matt 6:19 — 20)
11. Acknowledge God as the source of one's riches
12. Use wealth to help the needy
13. Wealth is an instrument to enable us live decently
14. Obsession with money and wealth leads to sin
15. Church leaders should avoid greed for wealth (1 Timothy 3:3)
16. God will judge rich exploiters.

1. ​Christian teachings discourage irresponsible behaviour and habits e.g. laziness, idleness and negligence. Some people became poor because of such
2. Some people become poor because of misfortunes
3. Others are poor because of judgment due to disobedience to God
4. God cares for the poor
5. Those with more should share with the poor
6. People should work to alleviate poverty in the society
7. Jesus helped the poor so should we The poor in spirit will be blessed

A wage is payments for work done. Payment is in modern times done according to hours, weeks or days that one works.

• ​Human beings have the right to work for a decent living (Matt.20:1 — 16) They should be paid for their work
• Workers should be paid wages to the amount and value of their work (1 Timothy 5:18)
• Wages should be paid as agreed upon (Matthew 20:13)
• Employers should not take advantage of the poverty of the employee (Deuteronomy 24: 14— 15)
• Human beings should not be enslaved to work (Ex.5:22 — 23)
• Employers who degrade their workers in wages are condemned (Deut.24:14 — 15, Jer.22:13)
• Oppression is condemned (Amos 5:18, 8;4)
• Workers wages should never be withheld (James 5:4)

Also commonly called Strike’ this is an effort by workers to stop work in protest by boycott go-slow sit — ins or refuse to work. There has been increase of industrial action in the recent past in most countries of the world,

• ​Due to increased awareness of workers rights
• Exposure to global trends through the media
• Formation of trade unions that fight for the rights of workers
• Due to poor working conditions
• Underpaying workers
• Threatening workers with unjustified dismissals
• Suspending the workers / interdiction — unjustly
• A hostile working environment

1. Pay cuts
2. Demotions
3. Loss of jobs
4. Employers suffer losses
5. Inflation
6. Injuries even death when confronted by police
7. Victimization of some individuals
8. Bitterness among the workers and employers

• Christians recommend a peaceful co—existence between workers and employers
  
• There should be fairness, justice, love among workers, employees
  
• There should be an open communication channel across the ranks from top to bottom
  
• Employees should not destroy property
  
• Working conditions should be better and improved
  
• Employees to be human when dealing with employees