ABSTRACT
An active concern for social justice forms a key element in the self-understanding of many contemporary Methodist churches. The mission imperatives of the Methodist Church in Southern Africa, for example, include: ‘Justice and service in church and society … Empowerment and development which give dignity and new purpose to those who have been deprived.’1 The vision statement of the Methodist Church in Aotearoa/New Zealand talks of working: ‘For justice for any who are oppressed in Aotearoa/New Zealand.’2
