One In Jesus

We are continuing to read through Tending to Eden by Scott C. Sabin.

I’ve skipped chapter four. It’s a great chapter, but you’re just going to have to buy the book. Buy some for your church’s library while you’re at it.

Chapter Five is important for those interested in micro-credit — the use of small loans, usually less than $1,000 — to encourage the formation of small businesses. It’s a very popular idea for helping the poor lift themselves out of poverty. It’s a loan — as commended by the Torah — coupled with guidance on starting a small business or improving a family farm.

Sabin cautions that it’s a tool that must be used with care. Continue reading →

We are continuing to read through Tending to Eden by Scott C. Sabin.

He describes a meeting with a group of Haitians that Plant With Purpose intended to serve —

The meeting convened and moved past pleasantries to a series of questions from the community as to what Plant With Purpose intended to do in the village. A woman stood and, in a confrontational tone, told me about the other humanitarian agencies that had worked in the area. She named two agencies that had brought food and clothes, then left and never returned. “How is Plant With Purpose going to be any different?”

After giving the question some consideration, I responded, “Well, first of all, we are not going to give you anything.”

She looked stunned.

“Second, we are not going to leave until you ask us to.” Continue reading →

We are continuing to read through Tending to Eden by Scott C. Sabin.

In chapter two, Sabin begins to explain the nature of poverty in Haiti. Of course, the book was written well before the earthquake, and so it’s a remarkable coincidence that Sabin focuses primarily on how to address the needs of this country. Of course, Haiti was likely the poorest nation in the hemisphere before the earthquake.

Now that so many churches and charities have been forced to focus on Haiti, the book is a great resource for those already planning for the long-term needs of that nation. After all, while the immediate needs are the most urgent, many will decide to stay and continue to do good after the emergency is over.

Sabin explains that deforestation is a major cause of poverty in many nations, including Haiti. The lack of trees leads to severe erosion and less feritility in the soil that remains. One major cause of deforestation is the cutting of trees to make charcoal.

For people with no other opportunities or resources, the forest becomes an emergency savings account. Charcoal production is one of the last options open for the poorest and most desperate, even in places where it is illegal. Some of the people we work with in the Dominican Republic have spent time in jail for charcoal production. But a parent will readily risk jail if it means being able to feed his or her children.

And it’s not that the farmers don’t know the value of trees. Rather, they know that it’s better to live a few more weeks without trees than to immediately die of starvation with the trees. Many other practices lead to the destruction of the land and deepen the cycle of poverty.

The key to relieving poverty in such communities, therefore, isn’t a handout or a freshly painted house. It’s breaking the destructive cycle that destroys the land. Help the farmers restore the land and learn methods of sustainable agriculture, and the farmers can provide their own food. They may even begin to prosper.

We are continuing to read through Tending to Eden by Scott C. Sabin. In chapter one, he begins to build the scriptural case for how best to do missions.

(Isa 58:6-7)  “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter– when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

(Isa 58:10)  and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.

He concludes,

I wonder what would happen if we in the American church became known for spending ourselves on behalf of the hungry. Continue reading →