9 posts tagged “poverty”

Where is the world's wealth & poverty by country?

Nov 30, 2008
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geo.worldbank.org

Check out this great visualized data compliments of the World Bank. It maps the wealth in the world per country. Simply click on a country an you get the data. Click here to launch the map.

Get a Job you bum! Wait a minute.. I'm sorry. Can I help you?

Jun 1, 2008
7 comments

Break

I was in Kansas City the other day with some friends doing some shopping in the Plaza and I saw a guy begging for cash. Typically we see this and our reaction is "dude get a job," or we pretend we don't see or hear them there. "Don't make eye contact!" I decided to stop, dig into my pockets, give him some cash, and shake his hand. I spoke to him as if he was a man that deserved respect... and he is...

I later said to my friends rather randomly after thinking a bit "Sometimes we need to just completely violate our reasoning and GIVE." If we develop a habit and then it gets hard coded as a disposition based on a some very good logic that "they need to get a job," we may miss some very real opportunities to dignify people and genuinely express Christ. Not all bums, beggars, whiners (my kids sometimes) need given to on all occasions but we should never let ourselves operate (react) out of a default response of very limited human reasoning.

We drove on further and I said (right after we had just blown a couple hundred between the four of us on clothes) "Let's go to the mission!" It went dead silent. We were in consumption mode, still a bit intoxicated from our new smelling and fine purchases, on the way to get frozen custard - "Go to the Mission?" I admit it felt weird to say and it definitely came out of left field for them.

Shawn (a good friend and fellow consumer) makes a joke about how odd it might feel to sit down with guys who are thinking about where there next meal might come from in our new overly priced clothes... or to shake their hand with mine (yeah the one with my new watch on it), saying "God bless you!"

Of course I am not suggesting anything is wrong or sinful with the idea of owning things or nice things I am just commenting on how weird it felt this particular day to consider the idea of another person out there with much less right in the middle of our spending spree... It felt awkward and yet in all that it was easy to look through the glass of my other friends Scion as we continued on and be skeptical... skeptical of those asking for "a bit" of help.

I want to keep myself in service and in touch with the needs of others. I want to randomly assault my skepticism and dullness to people's needs. Maybe this will keep me more sober and aware of the reality of peoples needs and in turn I won't miss out on truly expressing Christ day to day!

CHRISTMAS FUTURE

Nov 8, 2007
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I want to encourage everyone to consider being involved here. Especially us Americans in the group. I love the heart of this service and we need to all start thinking more like this... Here is the website. I have also posted a snippet here from their newly upgraded website...

ChristmasFuture empowers people to give a new kind of holiday gift—one that helps eradicate extreme poverty and changes the way we think about giving.
On Nov. 5, 2007, ChristmasFuture released DonorTrust technology to North America. This technology makes it easy for people to refocus their holiday spending towards the eradication of extreme poverty. Gift givers can send what amounts to an online gift card to friends and family; the gift recipient then gets to choose from a database of poverty-eradication projects and then allocate their gift towards a project that interests them. DonorTrust helps people change the world for good.
ChristmasFuture is about change. Fundamental, meaningful, planet-shifting change. We are a passionate movement of people empowering a non-profit organization that advances us – all of us – everyday closer to eradicating extreme poverty.

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GOOD Magazine

Jul 7, 2007
1 comment

Good Magazine

I love this magazine. I have subscribed to it and I would like to pitch to everyone in this network. 100% of your subscription money goes to the organization of your choice. I love something given to the idea of helping and rallying those that want to make a difference in the world. The website by the way is amazing as well.

clipped from www.goodmagazine.com

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Why Should The Church be Involved in Social/Global Issues?

Jun 6, 2007
12 comments

China

Why should the church offer help in issues regarding AIDS, Poverty, Addictions, Community Development, Child Labor laws, Civil rights, etc...?

My Answer: Because to not be involved is to communicate two erroneous things about the church 1) that we really don't care about people and their suffering and 2) that the gospel offers no real hope for people in this life?

What do you think?
Photos taken from here.

Battling Extreme Poverty

May 28, 2007
3 comments

christmasfuture.org

Getting serious about poverty... I love this organization. I also think what better money to use to provide for people than the commercialized Christmas surplus of cash we waste each year on unneeded goods. Proverbs 14.31 "He that oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker; But he that hath mercy on the needy honors Him." ASV

clipped fromwww.christmasfuture.org

Inspiring and empowering North Americans to refocus a portion of their Christmas spending towards strategic and sustainable projects in the villages of the developing world...and in doing so, eradicating extreme poverty.

Every Christmas season we spend over one trillion dollars ($1 000 000 000 000) in North America. If we refocus even 5% of our total Christmas spending, we could satisfy the funds needed to meet the Millennium Development Goals identified by the United Nations as being necessary to eradicate extreme poverty by the year 2025.

www.ChristmasFuture.org - End Poverty

A NEW BREED OF EVANGELICAL: Conversations in the Community (part 5)

May 27, 2007
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There is a major shift in the conversation regarding what once was clearly defined concerns for the Evangelical Church. It seems we are on the eve of an exciting yet more confusing time as the Church... The following article by the New York Times very succinctly lays out the shift occurring in Evangelical circles.

clipped from www.nytimes.com

The Rev. Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif., has encouraged fellow evangelicals to work to eradicate AIDS in Africa.

The evangelical Christian movement, which has been pivotal in reshaping the country’s political landscape since the 1980s, has shifted in potentially momentous ways in recent years, broadening its agenda and exposing new fissures.

The death of the Rev. Jerry Falwell last week highlighted the fact that many of the movement’s fiery old guard who helped lead conservative Christians into the embrace of the Republican Party are aging and slowly receding from the scene. In their stead, a new generation of leaders who have mostly avoided the openly partisan and confrontational approach of their forebears have become increasingly influential.

Conversation5

Gospel Poverty: What is it?

Mar 19, 2007
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REthink

1 comment

This is an interesting article related to the conversations we have had on our group regarding the poor and giving.

Living Out Gospel Poverty in an Age of Prosperity

Father Thomas Dubay Outlines Christ's Call to Frugality and Love
WASHINGTON, D.C., OCT. 9, 2003 (Zenit) -
Christ's idea of Gospel poverty is not destitution, but a love-filled sparing and sharing lifestyle.
So says Marist Father Thomas Dubay, a retreat master and author who investigated the role of poverty in the spiritual life in his most recent book, "Happy Are You Poor" (Ignatius).

Father Dubay shared his thoughts on Gospel poverty in today's world.

Q: Since Gospel poverty is so deeply countercultural, especially in the First World, how do we open people's minds even to give it a fair hearing?

Father Dubay: There are several problems here. One is that most people do not know what Gospel poverty means. For example, it does not mean we promote destitution. On the contrary, the Lord in the radical things he says is trying to rub out destitution -- which is why we are to share with the needy.

Another problem is that we seldom hear from the pulpit anything near to a full picture of the sparing and sharing lifestyle that is so beautiful. Christic frugality is love-filled. It is not a Spartan or Buddhist ideal.

A third problem lies in free will. Unfortunately, there are people who so cling to their pleasures and luxuries that they have decided that anything that interferes with their lifestyles is going to get little to no attention.

Q: What, then, are Jesus, his apostles and the Church promoting?

Father Dubay: It took me the entire book, "Happy Are You Poor," to answer this question with some adequacy. That is why it is written. The full answer is beautiful. However, let me give one simple answer, though there are many others.

It is easy for you and me to say, "Of course I love my neighbor as myself," and then turn around and treat myself far better than I treat the family next door or the pitiful slum dwellers in Haiti or Calcutta.

Consider fiery John the Baptist preparing the way for the Lord and making plain the facts of sincere repentance: "Brood of vipers ... the ax is laid to the root of the trees ... and thrown into the fire."

Understandably, the people are shaken up and ask what they should do to show conversion. His answer is plain: "If anyone has two tunics, he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same." That is real love and sound logic, and any honest person should be able to see it. To live it requires radical conversion.

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Does the gospel offer real answers?

Feb 25, 2007
5 comments

The Bible

I know what we all have already answered as Christians... "Of course it does!" I believe it does but have we really thought about our overall message and the message of Scripture in practical terms? We need to make ourselves more aware of the counsel of the Bible and how it relates to the very core issues of dysfunction in our society. Often times our answers are abstract and obscure in relation to difficulties people are having in life.

For example: how does the gospel relate / affect a recovering drug addict. What points of practicality are revealed in the Bible that one can follow to walk free from addiction? We may tell him to "believe." But what does faith look like day to day for this individual?

It is a personal burden that we individually and corporately as Christians devote time and thought to producing gospel practicum regarding societal dysfunction and the "way" Christ taught people to live. We must work harder at revealing the nested wisdom of God within Holy Writ or else we will continue to lose our platform with people, in our communities, in our nation and globally. What does the gospel say to the abused and what practical help can we offer them to truly recover. Many who are abused limp along through the rest of their lives even through a lifetime of sermons and Christian worship services never truly shedding their baggage. What wisdom does the Bible offer to the recovering addict? What answers are we making clear to the broken family, to the fatherless youth, to the poverty stricken, indebted?

What real attempts are we making to apply this wisdom in peoples live proving it true (works)? What demonstration and resources are there present in congregations to meet societal dysfunction? How are we truly helping? Is one of the reasons we are lacking statistically in any real difference from the rest of the nation in regard to these "social evils" that we are not clear ourselves on" how this whole thing (Christianity) is supposed to work?"