Day of the Girl Child
October 11 is the third annual “International Day of the Girl Child.” If, like me, you live in the United States, you might be asking yourself, “Is that really the best name the UN could come up with?” And then, [...]
Partnering With Churches: What Does That Really Mean?
Partnership is one of those tricky words that gets thrown around a lot. And it can mean different things to different people and organizations. Since one of Reconciled World’s Core Principles is “Partnering with Churches,” we want to take a [...]
WDC Graduate Stories
Our Wholistic Development Center (WDC) is welcoming a new group of incoming students this month. Every two years, WDC selects twenty-eight young adults to live together on campus, study a vocation and commit to an intensive truth-centered discipleship course. These [...]
Mary’s Story: From Outlaw to Minister
Chapter 8 of When Helping Hurts begins to look at how we can effectively engage with people who are experiencing poverty in North America. Fikkert points out: For the first time in history, more poor people live in the suburbs [...]
Confessions of a Well-meaning Donor
In the introduction to When Helping Hurts, Brian Fikkert tells a story about a trip he took to Africa and that, while there, he gave $8 to a woman who urgently needed medical help. Afterward, he regretted his donation. He [...]
Me: Pure and Faultless
Brian Fikkert opens chapter one with a story about a well-known pastor in the 1960s south who kept silent about the horrendous suffering of African Americans but lambasted civil rights workers for immorality. He wraps it up with: Like many [...]
God is at Work
“There is hope, because God is at work.” – pg. 27 As we begin our journey with When Helping Hurts, I hope this central theme will permeate everything we read and write about: God is at work. God is [...]
King’s Church Medway – Leading the Way in Integrated Ministry
When I was growing up (not that long ago, thanks), we had all the inward-focused ministries, like Sunday school and potlucks, and we had evangelism. I think we would have considered any activity that served the poor as “social gospel” [...]
Nepal Earthquake Update
Churches in Nepal have responded to the tremendous needs of the most overlooked communities since the first earthquake struck Nepal on April 25. They have found opportunities to do Acts of Love even in the midst of their own losses. [...]
Wholistic Development for Mommies
Luke 2:52 says, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” This tiny verse is how the Bible sums up the first 30 or so years of Jesus’ life. Many of us who are [...]