Alan Cross blogs at Downshore Drift, where this was originally posted.
When I moved to Montgomery to work at Gateway Baptist, there was a shift in my focus in that I worked in a surburban, all-white congregation in the South. But, very quickly, we began to project ministry through mission trips and through a weekly ministry at a local housing project where we saw people freed from drug addiction and where we saw gang leaders come to Christ. At one point, I was basically the chaplain for a branch of the Crips gang in North Montgomery, having lead the leader of the gang to Christ on Easter Sunday at a community block party that they were having. We learned a ton and saw God do great things. But, through all of that work and seeing people come to Christ, I became frustrated because we were helping individuals, but their environment was such that they stayed trapped in vicious cycles of dependency, immorality, crime, and brokenness. People wanted a change, but we were only focusing on the spiritual and it wasn’t getting into every facet of their lives. We needed a more holistic approach.
Later, we stared Community Development Initiatives (CDI) with the purpose of “developing creative partnerships to bring spiritual, social, and economic transformation to communities around the world.” It is a very small platform with a few volunteers, but we have helped Gateway Baptist (the church I pastor) and others facilitate development work in India, Haiti, the Gulf Coast, Montgomery, AL, Europe, Africa, and New Zealand. With our partners in North India, we have developed the India Child Sponsorship initiative and are helping to provide education and support for dozens of orphans in a region of the world that is immersed in poverty and spiritual darkness. Throughout all of this, I have kept learning and growing about what makes holistic, transformational development on spiritual, social, and economic levels possible. We need to address the whole person in his/her family/relational structure on both a local and global perspective addressing their spiritual and social needs while also working toward economic advancement and justice. The Gospel is the message about how one is made right with and reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ. But, theimplications of the Gospel address every facet of life. We need to focus on both.
Here are some significant resources that have shaped me over the years in developing a Biblical, holistic perspective toward Christian development work and the proclamation and demonstration of the Gospel of the Kingdom with all of its implications. I am providing links so you can see the summaries of each book.
- Walking With the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development by Bryant Myers
- When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . And Yourself by Steven Corbitt and Brian Fikkert
- The Hole In Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World by Richard Stearns
- The Descent to Compassion by Steve Wright
- Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress by Lawrence Harrison and Samuel Huntingdon
- Underdevelopment Is a State of Mind: The Latin American Case by Lawrence Harrison
- Glocalization: How Followers of Jesus Engage a Flat World by Bob Roberts, Jr.
- Discipling Nations: The Power of Truth to Transform Cultures by Darrow L. Miller
- Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to Wall Street by Tomas Sedlacek (Foreward by Vaclav Havel)
- The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor by David Landes
- Progress-Prone and Progress-Resistant Societies: Mariano Grondona’s Paradox and a Cultural Typology of Humane Developmentby Thom Wolf (free pdf)
- India Progress Prone: 21st Century India and the Baliraja Proposal of Mahatma Phule by Thom Wolf (free pdf)
- The Book That Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization by Vishal Mangalwadi
- Truth and Transformation: A Manifesto for Ailing Nations by Vishal Mangalwadi
- How Should We Then Live: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture by Francis Schaeffer
- The Poverty of Nations: A Sustainable Solution by Barry Asmus and Wayne Grudem
- Good News and Good Works: A Theology for the Whole Gospel by Ronald J. Sider
- Travesty in Haiti: A True Account of Christian Missions, Orphanages, Fraud, Food Aid, and Drug Trafficking by Timothy T. Schwartz
This is all a good start. There is a lot of material out there involving Christian thought and influence. The books by Harrison are secular in nature, but they address the role of culture in determining progress and economic advancement. The prescriptions noted in his work are strinkingly similar to how the Bible tells us to live. Sedlacek is a world renowned economist, but he is also a Christian and you can see that influence in his work. Wolf writes from India and gives us a global perspective. I also studied under him in seminary, so he has influenced me greatly. Mangalwadi also bridges the East-West divide and gives us a view of what has made the West prosper.
I believe that Christians need to think and minister holistically – spiritually, socially, and economically. As Scot McKnight demonstrates in The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited, we do not need a truncated gospel that only concerns itself with how individuals get to heaven. We also must consider the implications of the Gospel of the Kingdom and how God, through Jesus is making all things new.
For some reason, when I copy Alan’s posts over, there is always a formatting problem – the paragraphs disappear. I can solve this by copying and pasting through MS Word, but that removes all the links. With this many links, I could not do that.
If any of you young whippersnapper contributors with all your new-fangled computer knowledge know how to fix this, feel free. It’s beyond my ability.
Alan, I really appreciate this information. I direct a ministry from the US partnering with Haiti churches for over three years now. You said, “Throughout all of this, I have kept learning and growing about what makes holistic, transformational development on spiritual, social, and economic levels possible. We need to address the whole person in his/her family/relational structure on both a local and global perspective addressing their spiritual and social needs while also working toward economic advancement and justice.” I so resonate with this. Prior to actually getting involved in Haiti and getting my hands on experience with poverty and… Read more »
First time didn’t seem to work. Alan, I really appreciate this information. I direct a ministry from the US partnering with Haiti churches for over three years now. You said, “Throughout all of this, I have kept learning and growing about what makes holistic, transformational development on spiritual, social, and economic levels possible. We need to address the whole person in his/her family/relational structure on both a local and global perspective addressing their spiritual and social needs while also working toward economic advancement and justice.” I so resonate with this. Prior to actually getting involved in Haiti and getting my… Read more »
Alan: Could you write up a paragraph on what is happening there in Montgomery relative to turning around high risk youth in the inner city? What are practical examples of what it means to have a Holistic approach given that the Gospel message (as I understand your post) is not significantly altering the trajectory of the daily lives those trapped in bad environments. On a scale of 1 to 10 who needs to be driving the action plan: the person seeking a better life .vs. others who are mentoring him/her? Is in possible, even in principle, to expect much lasting… Read more »
Roger, it is really hard here and getting harder. I wish that I could say that the churches are making a difference, and in many individual cases they are, but overall on a society-wide basis, they are not. No one is, really. I think that we are near a tipping point where we are going to see some kind of societal collapse that will be rather dramatic. Between the underground economy and government depedency, there is not a great deal of motivation for people to make the changes needed to get out of poverty. As long as people can survive… Read more »
Alan, I only see things here in Oklahoma City from an anecdotal viewpoint. But I agree with everything you say. Our church, First Southern Del City [OK] used to have a “bus ministry” where we brought kids in from very poor [they are called Section 8] public housing projects on Saturday for a special targeted Sunday school [well actually I guess it was a Saturday school]. Many of them would make decisions and be baptized but they DID NOT INTEGRATE into the church or to society generally. I agree with you that the Gospel is necessary, but not sufficient, to… Read more »
Roger, Thank you for your comment here. That transformation does happen. It is possible. I have seen it. But, it is a miracle of grace and we call such things miracles because they are very difficult. I have been a part of ministries where people changed. I have seen it and know some people now. But, those are in case-by-case situations and the person usually is at the end of their rope and then someone intervenes. There is discipleship/mentorship. The person is good soil and they respond and God does a work. There are not really society-wide or systemic ways… Read more »
“downshoredrift” is me, by the way. The comment came up that way.