Introduction
About a year and a half ago, Sherrylee and I were in Africa for Let’s Start Talking. We were visiting either sites where we regularly send LST teams or new sites that had requested teams, but with whom we had had no personal contact. It is impossible to tell if a new site is appropriate and/or prepared for LST teams without these personal contacts, so site visits are a regular part of our life.
Though it may sound paradoxical to those only vaguely familiar with missions, Let’s Start Talking has not had much history in Africa. Two factors have contributed to this: first, LST is an urban ministry and most of the mission work done in Africa by churches of Christ is rural.
The second reason is that most of the missions done by churches of Christ has been in the English-speaking part of Africa, which limits the attraction of LST’s offer to help people with their English—at least, that’s what we thought.
A third reason that probably lies far behind the other two is that much of Africa is already Christian—at least superficially. LST works better where people come who have either little exposure to Christianity (Thailand or China) or they have had so much that they are apathetic toward the Christian message (western Europe).
However, we have tried to be open to where the Lord knows we should go, so when many invitations come from African national evangelists, we visit to see if we are called to work with them. In the last five or six years, therefore, we have developed some deep relationships with certain national churches in Africa.
However, working in Africa brings a whole new set of questions and experiences for us personally and for LST. I shared some of this on Facebook notes before I started blogging, but I’ve been thinking more about these questions and wanted to share them with you.
My First Question About Missions in Africa
In the Gambia, we were told that it cost about $300/year to send a child to school. Many children don’t go to school because their parents do not have that kind of money. We met the same situation in Kenya.
Also the drought/famine in Kenya was heartbreaking. African ministers told about people in their communities who had nothing to feed their children, so they abandon them rather than watching them die.
Almost every day, we were confronted with some situation in which we felt like we should just pull out our wallet and fix somebody’s life–at a rather nominal cost to us personally.
We visited with Larry and Hollye Conway who are part of the “Made In The Street” ministry in Nairobi–a fantastic work btw. They have worked in Africa for about 25 years now. Sherrylee asked Hollye what the hardest part of her work was, and she said it was knowing when to give in love and when to withhold in love.
Jesus did not feed every crowd, raise every person who died, heal every sick person–but sometimes he did. I wonder how he made his choices. Jesus is the one who said, “The poor you have with you always,” justifying the use of funds for something that seemed frivolous to others in the group. But I always feel guilty if I am even tempted to quote that verse in any context!!
My experience is that it is often inappropriate for Americans to just walk in and start throwing money at every need they see, whether they are individual, institutional, or social. But I can’t imagine that ignoring needs in the name of any philosophy of missions is right.
So that’s my question! How can we help the poor and needy, and how do we balance meeting their physical needs with meeting their spiritual needs.
I don’t know the answer, but I do know that it is not either one or the other! Feeding them, housing them, and healing them does not change eternity for them. But not feeding them, housing them, or healing them may change eternity for us.
What are your answers?
Mark's Blog 
Mark,
I appreciate the thought provoking question. It has been in my mind and heart a lot lately because I am reading the book “The Hole In Our Gospel” by Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision. I’ve come to the conclusion that anyone serious about answering that question should read this book.
I think Stearns would agree with you about being cautious regarding just trying to throw money at every need you see. There are organizations on the ground in Africa and other desperately poor regions of the world that know what they are doing. They are getting medical care, clean water, food, work opportunities, educational opportunities, and urgent medical care to the people and communities who need them.
That doesn’t remove the occasion to sometimes respond spontaneously to need. But I think we can give more strategically and help a whole lot more people.
But I do believe that the wealthiest church of all time (the American Church) must give with greater generosity and urgency to humanitarian crisis in Africa and other extremely poor regions of the world.
David
Well first I think we have to remember that Jesus had a different motive than we do. Even though He helped and fed many people, He was brought to Earth for a short amount of time and for one reason-to bring others to God. But I don’t think of the rest of humanity in the same way. Even though God’s plan is for us to bring each other to God, the first thing he charged Adam with was the care of the garden and everything in it. I don’t think that our sin changed the fact that we are still supposed to care physically for the rest of the Earth.
Whether you are giving to the poor, building houses, giving shoes to the needy, or teaching someone about Christ, are we not supposed to be praising God in everything we do? Regardless of it being spiritual or physical, we are helping God’s children, showing them God’s love and mercy, and giving them a window into what Christians are like. If we see an atheist who is going hungry, should we not help him? Even if all we do is feed him physically, we are showing him the love that Christians have for him regardless of religion. Even if we never see him again, that act of love may remind him of our love for Christ and instill curiosity or thankfulness towards what we have done because of God. Simply from us feeding him once, we would be showing him the lifestyle of a Christian. And of course we know that then God may put someone across that person’s path to bring him even closer than we did. Like we learn in LST, there is not only one person that will bring someone to God. We do our part, and he may or may not continue down a path that will introduce someone else that will bring him closer. And lets say we did not help him, we would be like the priest and the levite who passed him by in his time of need. in Luke 10:36, Jesus asks “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” Not only was it the man who “had mercy on him”, but I think the two that passed this man were just as guilty as the men that robbed him. Every parable shows us how we can get closer to God and many show us how we can bring others with us. Nowhere in this parable does it talk about the good Samaritan preaching or teaching to this man he found. It only talks about how he helped him in his time of need. So then he helped the man, was pleasing to God, and showed the man the mercy of God.
We also have to remember that Jesus taught us that above all else, we are to love others as we love ourselves, and to do unto others as we would have them do to us. If we see someone that has a need at all, whether physical, emotional, psychological, or spiritual, what other way is there to show that we are loving God’s people than if we help them? If we put ourselves in their shoes, would we not want the same? If we turn from those that have physical needs in order to help someone’s spiritual needs, would the first person have experienced first-hand God’s love, or would they see the conceit and priorities of a Christian? If we ignore them, we would be giving them no reason to have a passion for God or a curiosity for what we believe in. In most, it brings hate, anger, and bitterness towards Christians.
I also think that any need is also a spiritual need. If someone needs anything at all, they also need prayers and support. It immediately gives all others another reason to show them that we love them.
“The poor you have with you always” is true, however it is only true because we do not help everyone. If is true only through our own faults. One of my favorite passages talks about this. Deuteronomy 15:9-11 says this: ” Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward your needy brother and give him nothing. He may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.” Luke 14:12-14 says ” Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers, or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
God does not only put things in our hearts that have a spiritual purpose for others. For me and many others, it is in my heart to help abandoned animals. If we do this, we are affirming God’s plan from the beginning of time. All we are doing is helping an animal physically. To see a needy animal and not help it is not pleasing for anyone. Regardless of time that has passed, we are still expected to do what’s best for Humanity and the rest of Creation.
It is also connected to God’s plan for our personal lives. God makes each of us different. Some made to preach, some to teach, some to encourage, some to give generously. When the man that is made to preach preaches, he is praising God in what he does. And if the man who is made to give gives, he is also praising God. In all that we do, we are meant to show God’s love however we can as a way of showing faith in God. Good deeds to not give us a ticket to Heaven, but genuine love for God will be expressed through service to others, because a heart that truly loves God will be filled with compassion for others (Zondervan, 1 John 3:16-18, James 1:27). Then God will separate the goats from the sheep and say to us “I was hungry and you game me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”