The Church and Poverty: Mission Accomplished?
April 23, 2008 by markhsmith · Leave a Comment
The Church and Poverty: Mission Accomplished?
From Family Research Council e-newsletter
Is the church doing enough to help the poor? Sixty-seven percent of Americans think so. According to a recent national survey the majority of those polled said their “church already does enough to help the poor in [their] community.” But is there more to do? Steve Haas, the vice president for church relations at World Vision, is using the research as a call to conscience for believers. According to Haas, Christians are just “scratching the surface” when it comes to helping the less fortunate. As Christians, we have a personal and corporate responsibility to engage in the war against poverty. It is, and has always been, primary to the Gospel message. As Harry Jackson and I write in Personal Faith, Public Policy, Scripture makes it clear that our responsibility to address the plight of the poor is fundamental to living out our faith. Arthur Brooks points out in his book Who Really Cares? that liberals equate this responsibility with the call for more government programs. This effort to shift the responsibility to the government deprives the giver and the recipient of tangible and intangible benefits and studies also show it is very ineffective. For decades, this reliance on big government to care for the poor has done more to perpetuate American poverty than alleviate it. Instead of breaking the cycle of poverty by addressing the root causes–like the breakdown of the family–government programs are actually prolonging the problem with short-term fixes. This liberal approach to welfare is devastating to the poor and to the entire nation. The more the church does, the less our government will have to do. Local faith-based charities are not only more effective, but they have also proven more efficient. If your church doesn’t have outreaches to the poor, I encourage you to consider partnering with another ministry or starting one of your own. The more energy we put into meeting our neighbors’ needs, the greater our opportunity for sharing the rich message of Jesus Christ.
MegaCommunities
April 23, 2008 by markhsmith · Leave a Comment
Megacommunities, by Mark Gerencser, et al. (a book review with key points posted by Mark Smith)
The problems facing the world are so large that no one sector–business, government or non-profit–can solve the problems by themselves. According to the authors, what is needed is a megacommunity.
A megacommunity is a public sphere in which organizations from three sectors–business, government and non-profits–deliberately join together around compelling issues of mutual importance, following a set of practices and principles that make it easier for them to achieve results without sacrificing their individual goals. The megacommunity is an alliance of organizations, not individuals. In a healthy megacommunity, the three sectors maintain balance by “pushing” and “pulling” at each other according to their respective forms of influence. Order comes out of balancing this dynamic tension. In contrast to public-private partnerships, megacommunities bring civil society (NGO, church, non-profit, etc.) into the equation.
The megacommunity recognizes the kind of legitimacy that civil society represents. The civil sector brings accountability, insight into how to get things done locally, sensitivity to how the issues at play might affect individuals and the environment, and credibility in arenas in which business and government fall short.
My personal PEACE Plan
April 6, 2008 by markhsmith · Leave a Comment
At first glance, The PEACE Plan appears to be focused exclusively on global problems. The global GIANTS (poverty, disease, illiteracy, etc.) are so big, that the average person will assume they cannot make an impact and that somebody else will figure out how to deal the GIANTS. However, Rick Warren says PEACE projects can be implemented at various levels: personal, regional, national and global. Given this scope, I thought I would personalize PEACE by looking at the projects I’m working on (via Kinnovation or otherwise) and place them into the P.E.A.C.E categories.
I’ve decided not to elaborate on the project details at this point. The point is to put a public stake in the ground on this blog (with a date stamp). As the Kinnovation projects unfold, I will update the items on this page and link them to the details for each project. If you buy into the PEACE plan at all, then personalize it. Otherwise, PEACE is just another lovely idea, not a framework for action.
Promote reconciliation
- Between the local church and the parachurch
- Between large church networks
- Between the Orthodox church and Evangelicals
- Between Church and business
Equip servant leaders
- Train the trainers program.
- T3 Institute
- Halftime through Brown & Streza
- One-on-one philanthropic coaching
- Spark training
Assist the poor
- Health Access Now
- Microcredit technology systems
- Aslan’s Army, my own 501c3 that assists the poor in India, Africa, Mexico and Cuba
Care for the sick
- Rwanda Aids program (PEACE)
- Health Access Now
- Telemedicine technology through World Health Ed and American Telemedicine Association
- Spark
Educate the next generation
- Social network training
- V3 Studios
- Aslan’s Army bible schools
The PEACE Plan
April 6, 2008 by markhsmith · Leave a Comment
On October 29, 2007 I heard Pastor Rick Warren speak about the P.E.A.C.E. plan. Pastor Rick states that the church is the world’s largest organization with over 2.8 billion members, the only organization large enough and growing fast enough to combat the effects spiritual emptiness, poverty, disease, illiteracy, and corrupt leadership.
However the church can’t do it alone. Rick believes it will take a partnership of the Church, business and government to make a dent on the problem. Rick feels called to release the pent-up, latent energy in the church–to turn spectators into participators. To make a lasting difference in the world.
The P.E.A.C.E. acronym stands for Promoting reconciliation, Equipping servant-leaders, Assisting the poor, Caring for the sick, and Educating the next generation. Rick believes it’s the same plan Jesus used, so it’s time tested. I believe it’s a good framework and the kind of vision that will spark the imagination of Christian leaders worldwide. It’s the kind of idea that can get people out of their comfortable pew and look outward to see how they might make a real difference in the lives of others outside of their comfort zone.
I’m working with another organization, Halftime, founded by Bob Buford. Like Rick Warren, Bob is called to awaken the latent energy in Christianity, especially those that have had a measure of success in corporate America. If Rick represents a catalyst in the Church, Bob represents the catalyst in the business community. I have personally seen many people experience a Halftime and are actively pursuing Life 2.0 with a renewed and passionate vision to change the world in some way. Lloyd Reeb, one of the leaders of Halftime says, “One of my jobs is to rescue people from the golf course.” There’s a truth to that statement.
The PEACE plan is a logical next step from his popular book, Purpose Driven Life. First, you need to realize you have a unique purpose. Once you figure out your unique purpose, you need to go do it. If your purpose involves solving one of the BIG problems in the world, it would be nice to not have to go it alone. If your church is doing PEACE, you can surround yourself with some expertise and experience, multiplying your efforts. If this happens on a global scale, we might make a dent in the world’s problems.
I believe the major purpose of PEACE is to equip the church to become the efficient distribution network for the world’s philanthropy. If even a fraction of the 2+ billion Christians got involved in this effort, it would be the largest distribution network in the world.
Microcredit and the Results Giver
April 6, 2008 by markhsmith · Leave a Comment
By Phil Smith, author of A Billion Bootstraps
When Andre Aggasi first started playing tennis, it was relatively easy and inexpensive to improve. He probably bought his first racket for a few bucks, played at public courts for free, and improved his skills rather quickly. As time went by, he found that better equipment costs more and more, having a private court and lessons cost a small fortune, and to improve he would have to spend increasing amounts of time, energy and money. At his current excellent level, he can spend immense amounts of resources and barely see any improvement at all. However, if he doesn’t spend the time to practice, his level of play will diminish.
Andre’s tennis history is an excellent illustration of the ladder of well-being. There are three curious aspects of this ladder that you find as you climb higher and higher: it gets more and more expensive to go the next rung; the rungs get closer together, so at the top it is hard to tell you are climbing higher even after a major expenditure of your resources; the rungs get more slippery at the top, so if you don’t continually spend some of your resources, you will likely fall back a few rungs. This is true for individuals, and true for society.