Putting our money where their mouths are

What would it take to wipe out hunger and give all poor nations a chance at development?

Better yet, why aren’t more Christians asking this question?

This is something that’s been in my mind of late. Thoughts of children suffering and dying and their parents helpless to prevent it are so burdensome that only my strong defense mechanism (called “ignoring it”) keeps me from being constantly disturbed. But I ask myself – if you knew that your sibling(s) and/or parents were somewhere far away suffering the same way unaided, would you be content to put it out of your mind? Where’s the love for “the least of these”?

The U.N. tells us that 24,000 people die from starvation/malnutrition every single day. This figure is one of the lower I’ve read, so don’t think the U.N. is making it look worse than it is. Nor does this data even take into account the number of deaths that happen because of untreated, though easily treatable, medical problems.

Does any of that shock you? Or are they just statistics?

I have been disturbed to hear committed evangelical Christians shrug their shoulders at the insurmountable tasks I pointed out above. Three common responses:

1) If they’d just get off their lazy butts, they’d be able to do something about it.

It’s not the well who need a doctor, but the sick. Jesus came to seek and save the lost: even given occasional accuracy of the “laziness” accusation, those who are lost in self-destructive habits are prime examples of those who need our Savior’s administration in their lives.

2) All we can hope is to spread the gospel to as many places as possible so that Jesus can come back and end poverty once and for all.

This is a load of garbage (since I try to use more than four letters for all of my descriptive words, I will leave it at that). This is a perfect example of why futurist eschatology is dysfunctional and dangerous. That aside, this mindset makes the gospel look irrelevant: it ignores the example of Jesus who customarily treated the physical need before (or as a way of) ministering to the heart.

3) We do send missionaries to help where they can. We’re helping out little by little.

This has always been my own response. However, it presupposes that the world God gave us as an inheritance is helpless beyond measure and that the dominion over it that He has restored to mankind is thin, weak, and hardly effective. Is the Church of God a paper tiger? Me genoito! I’m tired of taking it slow while people waste away and Jesus’ concern for the needy is under-prioritized. Patience and caution can be virtuous, but in combination with an ignorance of exigency they amount to indolence and apathy.

If a large group of Kingdom-minded individuals were to pool all resources, including prayer, minds, and money, how could we possibly fail? I know you’re thinking, surely he knows that there are lots of groups like that – but I really don’t think there are. To show you what I mean, let me throw this out there for you as a starting point.

To meet the needs of the impoverished in foreign lands, we’d have to address the variety of problems causing them. Political, economic, educational, medical, and of course religious reform – all are absolutely necessary and must be designed to work in an integrated fashion in order to change things. To begin with, I suggest directing our attention to the neediest continent, Africa, and focusing on a particularly needy country, such as Malawi (apparently they have the lowest per capita income in Africa).

A central part of this whole effort would be the coordination and cooperation of existing missionary/aid efforts. Recruitment would definitely still be necessary, because of the multiple fronts that would have to be engaged at the same time. For example,

• On the medical front, teams would be sent to set up regional hospitals and transportation to and from the villages. Engineers would be sent to set up necessary infrastructure (such as plumbing) to aid in hygiene. As far as meeting the needs of the hungry, in addition to shipping food, there would have to be a team teaching villagers resource management: how to use the land properly and to get everything out of it they can without harming it.

• On the spiritual front, and not before we begin meeting physical needs, we’d work with other missionary organizations to strategically spread the gospel, including Scripture translation as necessary. Importantly, native converts must be taught to do the same.

• On the political front…this is the most discouraging, yet one of the more vital needs. Many of the poorest African countries are rich in natural resources, but the corrupt governments squander and steal so much of it that Westerners would never know it. In addition to getting converts involved in their country’s government where possible, we’d have to have the mother of all prayer teams both stateside and locally praying for the deposition of unjust leadership. This is a prayer I know God will answer, but He wants to know we mean business. As evil regimes are toppled by the power of changed citizenry and the prayers of the saints, there must be something to replace them with. The answer to this is largely to be found…

• On the educational front. Beginning at the primary level, instruction not only in theology but in sound political and economic theory would be part of the core of the curriculum. Rising literacy always correlates with the destruction of the tunnel vision of a subsistence existence. If the teams on the other fronts are making enough headway, young people will be brought up healthy, optimistic, and (most importantly) Christian. Giving believers such practical wisdom will help keep them from falling back into the error they were in before.

• There’s plenty more to be done stateside. Planning, fund-raising, advance training, etc. What else can you think of?

Chesterton made the stinging observation, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” What depresses me seriously right now is that you and I both know that this post, while no doubt gathering a few comments and stimulating some thought, will at the end of the day pass into the void of the philosopher’s drawing boards and the dreamer’s sleep-locked intentions. Oh, I have many reasons, or excuses: I could say that I am not in the position financially, that my sphere of influence is too small, both of which are correct on the surface. But why am I not looking up phone numbers and encouraging people of wealth and influence to take part? If it were my relatives suffering and dying, you better know I’d be knocking my hands bloody on every door within reach. I suppose that’s why I’m writing this post, flinging this vision out there into God knows where as a way to absolve myself of a little guilt, to wash my hands of it and let those who confidently feel called for this mission take it up. There are dreamers and there are doers; perhaps I was supposed to be the former in this matter, and the latter in others. God forgive me if I am supposed to take the lead in both. All I know is that I can’t do it by myself, and wouldn’t know where to begin getting a project of this magnitude off the ground. (I couldn’t even gather enough support to create a local Christian school.) That’s why I am advocating a symposium, a think tank, full of dedicated individuals who don’t have to stand on any one person’s ability or limitations.

No, we would never end up with a utopia, since utopias don’t and won’t ever exist: there will always be people who resist change and/or reject the gospel. But if we believe Christian principles are correct, efficacious, and powerful, how can we fold our hands and wait for a returning Jesus to fix it all? Even if He does come a third time (again, see my related post), I’d rather not be like the guy who buried the money He lent for safekeeping. Would you?

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