A
WORD FROM DAVE: This month
we’ve chosen to focus on relief,
development, and dependency. I
believe these are crucial topics
for the church to understand as
it becomes increasingly involved
in global ministry. Let's not
make the mistakes of the past
and the present by creating huge
systems of dependency, but may
we be wise as we assist our
global friends. We need to be
sure that our assistance is not
laying a dependency trap,
enslaving them and taking away
their hope of personally
addressing their own problems. I
think it is essential that
church leaders study and
understand these issues in order
to lead their churches wisely
into further global involvement.
I invite you to explore these
issues by reading the resource
and book reviewed below. -Dave
PLEASE NOTE: There will
be no Missions Resource Monthly
for July. We will return with a
new issue in August.
This month's "world
news brief" comes to us
in the form of a story
from the field. Retired
WorldVenture missionary
and International
Resource Specialist
Bruce MacPherson tells
of his recent trip to
Argentina and the
encouraging return to
unity within a church
planted there long ago.
After 35 years in
South America with
WorldVenture, Nancy and
I returned to the U.S.
in March 2003. This past
March and April we
returned to Argentina
for the second time
since then. Dick
Greenman, the field
chairman, invited me to
travel with him to visit
lay leaders who are
studying through the new
distance seminary
program that Dick is
developing.
Renato Garcia is
General Secretary of the
85 Baptist churches of
NW Argentina. He also
pastors the church Nancy
and I once attended in
the city of Salta and is
a great friend of ours.
I told him I was to
accompany Dick Greenman
on a trip up to the city
of Tartagal where Nancy
I had lived and
ministered during our
first 18 years in
Argentina. Renato was
delighted to hear I
would be in Tartagal and
immediately gave me a
job to do. “Would you
please stay on there for
a few days?” he begged
me.
Continue Reading >>
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RELIEF vs. DEVELOPMENT
I (Dave) recently attended a
gathering of pastors at
Saddleback Church in
California. A number of
issues related to local and
global missions were
presented and discussed. One
of the topics had to do with
the difference between
relief work and development
work. The speaker began by
pointing out the distinction
between "burden" and "load"
in Galatians 6 and went on
to describe how this should
inform our response to
people in need during and
after times of crisis and
natural disaster. I thought
you might find the notes
from this talk interesting.
You can download them
here. [Please note that
the opinions expressed in
this document are those of
the authors and not
necessarily WorldVenture.]
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When Charity Destroys
Dignity: Overcoming
Unhealthy Dependency in the
Christian Movement
by Glenn J. Schwartz
2007 World Mission
Associates
Reviewed by David Korb
Author Glenn Schwartz served
in Zambia and Zimbabwe
during the 1960s. He
returned to the States in
the 70s to serve as an
administrator in Fuller
Seminary’s School of World
Missions. Since 1983 he has
been serving as the
Executive Director of World
Mission Associates.
I recommend this book as
a “must read” for anyone
involved in global missions.
I do need to give you a word
of warning, however, that
the book is a bit pedantic.
The preface admits, “this
book is a compendium of the
author’s writings over the
past decade or more. It is
not a concise, concentrated
treatment of dependency in
the Christian movement. Nor
does it seek to address one
audience only. Sections of
it are addressed to church
leaders, others to
missionaries, mission
executives and short-termers.”
The chapters are
constructed in such a way
that Schwartz concludes each
with a summary statement,
questions for discussion,
and suggested reading
(indeed, the bibliography
alone is of great value for
those wanting to research
this issue for themselves).
I feel that at times the
author is too extreme in his
view that money can take
away dignity, but
nonetheless I think his
cautions are important to
consider at a time when
money is pouring out
indiscriminately from the
US, and other countries,
into target nations.
Schwartz illustrates his
points with ample stories,
which are mostly from his
experiences in central and
South Africa, but they serve
to prove his points. He
describes the syndrome of
dependency, gives a
historical development of
this syndrome, and discusses
what local leaders and
missionaries can do to avoid
or break the dependency
syndrome. Schwartz also
discusses the issues of
dependency among the poor
and unemployed and discusses
the triggers that move
people from dependency to
self-reliance. This gives
you a sampling of the 24
major topics discussed in
this book.
I found the author’s view
on supporting nationals very
interesting. He compares the
expense involved in sending
North American missionaries
to the cost of supporting
nationals. He cautions that
as enticing as it might be
to support nationals at a
fraction of the cost of a
Western missionary, in doing
so we are actually depriving
the local people of
supporting those within
their own community. He adds
that in certain places local
evangelists who are
supported by foreign money
are perceived as “paid
foreign agents.” Schwartz
concludes, “This is such a
significant problem in
places like India that
nonbelievers assume that if
one is even a Christian,
they are being paid from
overseas.”
I highly recommend this
book because I feel this is
a subject we must address if
we are going to enter
another culture in a
productive and helpful way.
This book will challenge
your thinking and push you
to determine your position
on these matters.
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