Mobilizing Local Resources

Mobilizing Local Resourceswebmaster2019-12-10T15:10:53-06:00

MOBILIZING LOCAL RESOURCES

“…their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.”

– 2 Corinthians 8:2-3

It’s easy to look at the poor and wonder why we are challenging them to give. Why would we ask people who can’t afford to feed their own kids to give time or money? Why mobilize local resources? There are a few key reasons why this is so important to us:

It gives dignity

Each person is created in the image of God. We all have talents, abilities, creativity, time, and access to God. Everyone has resources. We want to bring honor to those we work with, helping them to see all that they have. We want to help them to see they are not a “victim,” or “needy,” or any other label we use, but rather that they are God’s precious creation with much to give. As they participate in God’s transforming work, they are given dignity.

It opens the way to God’s blessings

The Bible says that we will receive in the same measure that we give. If we sow generously, we will reap generously (2 Corinthians 9:6). Jesus reminds us, in the example of the woman with her two pennies in Mark 12:41–44, it’s the sacrifice, not the quantity of our gifts that God is looking at. We want the churches we work with to know God’s blessings, so we challenge them to be givers.

It creates ownership

Giving pure handouts, as most organizations will tell you, is not a healthy model. The end result is often redundant projects that sit idle in the community, running down from neglect. If the community does not have sufficient desire to sacrifice something to make the project happen, then there is little chance they will have sufficient motivation to care for it when it needs upkeep. However, when a community has sacrificially given to a project, it is typically one that they want and will care for long into the future.

It’s commanded

In the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14–30), the King gives talents to His servants. The first two used their talents and were able to bring back a profit. The last, the one with the least, hid his talent. The king’s reaction was not positive. The message is clear: we are to use what God has given us, no matter how little it is.

It multiplies results

There are so many ways that this happens. When students volunteer to take their time to pass on the message that girls are valuable, we are able to reach so many more people than if we were reliant on staff alone. When hundreds of churches use what they have—their time, talents, creativity, and resources—they are able to do so much more than if we raised the funds to work in each of their communities.

Examples From Our Work

The Wholistic Development Center asks their students to pay a small amount of tuition, even though most come from extremely poor families. They also run a coffee shop, where students can learn food-service skills while generating income for the school.

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After learning through TCT training about using all the resources God had given them, one community in the Democratic Republic of Congo decided to use their clay-rich soil to make bricks to build a church. They made the bricks near a water source, and then got stuck. They had no way to transport thousands of bricks the mile to the church building site. They couldn’t afford to pay for a vehicle to move the bricks. Once again the church was reminded to consider their resources, and the whole church rushed out to help carry the bricks by hand.

‘MOBILIZING LOCAL RESOURCES’ BOOKLET

If you want to go deeper in understanding what this principle is and how you can apply it – this booklet gives more information.

Download the ‘Mobilizing Local Resources’ Booklet

GO DEEPER

If you want to learn more about this principle and how to apply it, you can find articles and a free downloadable booklet at the Framework for Transformation website.

Go To frameworkfortransformation.org

FROM THE BLOG

Here are two of our favorite blog posts related to the core principle Mobilizing Local Resources. You can read more related posts here.

We teach churches and individuals to use what God has given them to serve others. It’s super easy to read that sentence and move on. Honestly, I’ve read it–I’ve written it–about a hundred times. Can we just take a moment with it, though?

God will be glorified – a community gets water blog header

God Will Be Glorified: A Community Get Water

A church in India shares God’s love with their community by helping address the water problem.

Watch the Video

Mobilizing Local ResourcesGlynka FritzMiller2019-06-14T13:10:48-06:00

We teach churches and individuals to use what God has given them to serve others.

It’s super easy to read that sentence and move on. Honestly, I’ve read it–I’ve written it–about a hundred times. Can we just take a moment with it, though?

Reconciled World works with people so poor that they forage in the jungle for food several months a year. People whose children are dying from preventable causes. People who went to school until, maybe, third grade. We work with people with autism, who have always been treated like they have nothing to contribute. With people scraping by in the slums of New Delhi–AIDS patients, drug addicts, rag pickers…

We teach them to use what God has given them to serve others.

It’s earth-shattering, really. People who have always seen themselves as poor, always been on the receiving end of the equation…at first they think it’s not possible. “We have nothing,” they say. “Giving is for the wealthy.”

But when they step out in faith, they see that God really HAS given them some things. Really WANTS to give them more.

It starts small. They give their time to visit a sick person or an abandoned wife. To harvest a field. To pray for someone. Maybe a handful of rice for a widow. A bundle of sticks from the forest. We call these Acts of Love.

Within a year, churches typically progress to larger projects such as building houses, wells, bridges or roads. They do this with their own resources. Their communities begin to look different. Hopeful. And then flourishing in every way. The church grows. Neighbors across faiths work side-by-side. Families look at each other with love. The children are healthy and go to school and get scholarships to college.

Beyond Acts of Love, we mobilize local resources in a number of ways. We encourage trainers to volunteer. We challenge churches to provide their own meals at trainings. We teach program leaders to raise funds in their own country.

In one country, hundreds of churches were moved to give of their resources so that other churches could receive wholistic discipleship training. These churches contributed about $9,000. A massive sum. We are in awe.

All this is driven not so much by the desire to save money, but from the belief that a major part of our discipleship is learning to steward wisely all that God has given us. In many countries there has been little teaching on generosity and money. In part it now holds the church back from being all that it could be.

It holds me back.

I don’t even have the “little teaching” excuse. I live in America with unlimited access to knowledge and ideas. Yet I tend to give from what I can spare. From what we’ve outgrown or cast off. From the extra. The do-able.

Remember that one thing Jesus said about giving?

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”(Luke 6:38)

What would it look like to give my RESOURCES–those things that I actually need to survive and thrive? My family time. My grocery money. My car. My house. What if I let Jesus have ALL of it to do whatever He wants with?

According to Jesus, it would look like blessings I can’t even contain, splashing onto everyone around me. It would look like freedom and abundance and transformation. And it’s TRUE. That’s exactly what we’ve seen happen among the poor. Again. And again. Hundreds of stories. Hundreds of towns. God’s Word is always true.

So why don’t I just go for it? What’s holding me back?

It’s lack of faith, pure and simple. I’m scared. In my poverty mindset, I believe that if I give more, there will not be enough for me. For my children. I don’t know how to open my hand and let go of this lie. Even though it keeps me drugged into a lukewarm spiritual stupor.

Beloveds, there is GRACE enough. Even for me.

God knows our faith is weak and our lies feel like life-support. He doesn’t rush us, and He never gives up on us. Just like our brothers and sisters in Asia, we can start small. We can take just a small risk. And then, if it turns out okay, we could be brave to risk once more. And then one more time, a little easier, because it won’t be so scary.

And, if we are willing, we could receive all that God has for us.