For several generations the “social service” model defined the nature of helping the poor in the Global South and elsewhere. In this model the development industry provides relief and development “services” to aid the poor. Development workers go into poor communities and ask, “What do you need?” Then they provide
This is post 1 of 10 in the series “wisdom” Wisdom book preview Poverty: The Fruit of Neglected Wisdom What Wisdom Has to Do with Wealth Creation Laws: Wisdom Sustains the Universe Wisdom Sustains the Universe Through Human Obedience Wisdom is Better Than Knowledge Wisdom: The False and the True
If we truly believe in the kingdom of God, that belief will make a difference in the way we do ministry. Some years ago, I was at a conference for missionaries and development workers in Africa. I had a conversation there which highlights the division between two kinds of Christian
When I first began working for a relief and development organization, I began to wrestle with the question “Why are some nations rich and some poor?” I came to realize that poverty is not caused by a lack of resources. The root of poverty is found in a society’s worldview.
Recently my daughter, Maryrose Young, sent me a short video of the LandFill Harmonic orchestra. The inspirational video powerful depicts the imago Dei humanity of the poorest of the poor. Men, women, and children who live and work in a garbage dump discover the treasure of classical music, a little taste of the
When I worked for a relief and development organization, I became convinced that lack of resources was not the primary cause of poverty. I came to see that the root cause of poverty–and the cure of poverty–lies in a peoples’ worldview. Are human beings merely animals to be fed, or
As most of our readers know, the Disciple Nations Alliance was born at the intersection of two seemingly unrelated issues: the more “philosophical” concept of worldview and the very practical world of poverty. We also have argued that culture matters in the world of poverty and development. Because ideas have consequences,
– by Gary Brumbelow A post last week entitled, Freedom, Prosperity, and the Great Commission triggered the following response from a reader and blogger in his own right, Jon Davis, Jr. I find that if I say things like what you have said here some Christians respond with their anti-“prosperity-gospel” alarms
A vigorous conversation is happening today around the question, “What is the mission of the church?” A few weeks ago, Tim Keller addressed the topic in this blog post on the Redeemer City to City website. In the article Keller puts the conversation under the banner of two related topics:
Too often, a truncated gospel message has accompanied our outreach efforts. As Scott Allen has written elsewhere, an artificial division between personal faith and daily life leaves a fragmented Christianity, full of gaps. The effects are perhaps nowhere more obvious than in Africa. Church movements have been built on the sacred-secular
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