Do the Word

In recognition of the magnitude of the Haiti disaster, and in the prayerful hope that each of us is thoughtfully seeking the guidance of God on how to mobilize our personal and corporate assets so that the character of God may be evident in and to us and our brothers and sisters in Haiti and to a world groaning under the weight of it all, we continue to devote our posts over the next week to the subject of a Transformational response to tragedy and crisis, asking:

Today we hear from Mission Increase Foundation President Dave Farquhar, who, prior to serving at MIF, was one of the long-time cornerstones of Northwest Medical Teams, now Medical Teams International.

Few folks have seen as much up-close disaster as Dave has. (Er, not at Mission Increase, I mean. In the field. When he was at Northwest Medical Teams. You know what I mean.)

And yet, few folks have as much up-close experience with Transformational Giving as Dave, either.

So we asked Dave to share his thoughts on tragedy and transformation, especially in light of his sense that this present disaster may be among the largest and longest lasting of our lifetimes.

Here’s Dave:

I can see the wheels turning and many TGers wonder if sending a check in a situation like this is a transaction?  The answer is YES, and not all transactions are evil or bad.

All gifts to people and organizations are to some degree transactional.  Money has to transact, but the gift is not necessarily “transactional” in intent.  You may ask, “But I don’t know these organizations. Am I abdicating my responsibility or is this a lesser type of gift?”  That is a good question.  The answer is that sometimes you cannot know the end user, or the middleman organization, yet you feel compelled to give.  That is exactly what every donor feels as well.  I want to be a good steward and do good, but I don’t even know these people—but if I don’t give people will suffer.  That is the world of disaster relief, and much other giving as well, except in disaster relief all those thoughts and emotions are compressed into an urgency that does not come with giving to the girl scouts.

I have stood on the giving and receiving end of disasters supplies and seen people weep on both ends.  The givers weep as they send, and those who receive those truckloads of food, water and help, they weep and thank God as well.

When people send gifts, when they transact a check, the real issue is what is God stirring in their heart?  Urgency?  Impulsive giving?  Faith? Is God stirring at all?   Is the donor learning to hear from God?  Should they do more than just send a check?  If so—what?  I have encouraged people to seek out ways to multiply their giving by doing more than sending a check.  If this is a cause God is stirring in them, they need to take time to hear from God and serve.  That is exactly how Northwest Medical Teams, the disaster organization I served in, was born.  One man, Ron Post, was compelled by God to help in a disaster in Cambodia.  Instead of just cutting a check he got up and did what God was stirring him to do.  Is it normal to expect each donor to start a nonprofit like Ron did?  No.  But, what should we expect?  There is no answer to that question other than we teach people to give and serve in ways God directs.

To me, this is an amazing process.  Something stirs people to give.  Some of those stirrings are far more transformational than others.  We cannot label all giving to big boys [large nonprofit organizations] bad and giving to grass roots as more transformational.  I have seen serious corruption at the grass roots level and the big boy level that would turn you green.

The Haiti earthquake has Generous Mind Jon Hirst thinking about a Transformational response to tragedy and crisis.

I believe Jon’s post represents tremendous counsel. One of the seldom noted elements of biblical giving is that God holds us accountable not simply for giving but for the results of our giving. Being moved out of compassion to give is good, and yet it can become zeal without knowledge if we don’t pair that compassion with insight on how to make a genuine difference, which, as Jon so rightly points out, is typically done in community.

Check out Jon’s post and then share in the comments section your own thoughts on the questions Jon asked me:

• What do you believe is a transformational response to disaster?
• Are there any unique dynamics that Transformational Giving brings to such a response?

If you’ve experienced a Transformational Giving element in tragedy–and, especially, if you’re discovering Transformational elements in your own response to the Haitian earthquake, I’d love to hear about those, too.

Missionaries and ministries send prayer (read: “support”) letters all the time.

Why can’t a champion or church send back a letter indicating the kind of support that they themselves need and, scripturally, have a right to ask for from seasoned Christian workers?

Jonathan Martin oversees Global Outreach Ministry at Good Shepherd Community Church in Portland, Oregon. In his recent book, Giving Wisely, he graciously includes the letter that he sent to a number of local missionaries and ministries the church supports. Goes like this:

We here at the church want to thank you for all your faithful service to our community over the years. You have been serving our Lord faithfully and have been fruitful. That’s why we’ve been supporting you.

We’ve recently made a philosophical change, and we’ll be looking to support those ministries that get our people serving in the community. What we’re asking of you is to train our people as you do your work. The more of our people that you take with you and train to do your ministry, the more fruitful we believe you’ll be as you multiply yourself, and the more fruitful our people will be. The kingdom wins. To quote from Ephesians 4:10-13:

“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

We really do see the primary job of those we support as ministers in the community to be to train those in the body to do ministry. We’ll do anything we can to get you into the many classes at church to share your ministry and to recruit folks to go with you. We’re even glad to interview you in front of the whole congregation to connect you with those in the body. But fundamentally we believe local ministry is for everyone to be involved in, and our money will go to those getting our people involved and in touch with our community.

Thanks,

Jonathan

Jonathan is spot on. The only change I would make is to also send this letter to national and global missionaries as well. After all, which is better–for a missionary on home assignment to travel from church to church seeking support by telling touching stories while showing a DVD and PowerPoint presentation…or for a missionary on home assignment to travel from church to church creatively providing hands-on local field training to interested Christians in how to grow in their biblical calls to:

• assist the stranger
• comfort the afflicted
• instruct the ignorant
• reprove the wicked
• provide food, clothing, and drink to those who have none?

The local community setting provides a great gymnasium for missionaries and international ministry workers to train Christians in the very skills that such workers use halfway around the world…and that all Christians are called to grow in on the way to full maturity in Christ.