About a year ago, I wrote a post called “Shoes,” which talked about a little of the heart behind Overland. Something that Phil, our founder and president, talks about often is that we are not a philanthropy, and as Shoes talks about, the reason why it’s such a frequent topic is because missions these days is more often associated with giving free stuff to the “needy” than the Gospel.
Of course, physical needs do exist in the world–although I would argue that it’s exaggerated because of comparison to our lavish Western lives–but A, there are few right and many wrong ways to meet physical needs (read Shoes), and B, the number one need is the Gospel. If that’s not the need we’re focusing on, we’re not doing as much good as we think.
My co-worker, Sherrill, just wrote a great post on this topic.
Sherrill heads up our Sustain division, which focuses on meeting physical needs in a way that is actually helpful, sustainable, and works to complement the Gospel. Thus, she’s the perfect candidate to write on this subject. In Sub-Saharan Africa, Sustain focuses primarily on teaching Biblically-based, sustainable farming practices: Farming God’s Way.
Here’s a preview of what she wrote:
“As Sarah McLachlan hauntingly serenades us regarding angel’s arms, we see statistics roll across the scene. The numbers overlay pictures of lonely potential pets waiting for a savior. The commercial, when successful, kindles enough guilt to move the watcher from the couch to the local animal shelter or at least to reach their nearby cell phone with a credit card.
The Living One Blog 