Poverty Inc. Recommendation and Review

By Anthony:

Sara and I recently finished watching Poverty Inc.  For the most part it was really well done.  It's a good documentary to get people started in mindset changes about fighting poverty around the world.  If you look around the world at how charity is given by both governments and organizations, there are many problems, and often the global aid actually keeps people in poverty, or tears down the development already happening in the country.

For example, the documentary explores how the situation in Haiti is even worse now after the earthquake and all the global aid that came flooding in.  So much rice was given that rice growers in Haiti got put out of business.  Solar panels were given out freely even though there was already a thriving Haitian company making solar panels which is now struggling to keep afloat.  In Kenya, so many second hand clothes have been given from the West that it completely ruined the textile industry in Kenya; so people have cheap clothes but fewer jobs.  The documentary also shed light on how orphanages often create more orphans, because parents give their children up to the orphanages hoping for them to have a better life.  In reality it would be far better to work with the parents to help them develop jobs and businesses so they can afford to care for their children's needs, like sending them to school and feeding them. There were many eye-opening stories like this all throughout the documentary.  Watching this film can be the beginning of mindset change for us in the United States.

Things I liked about the documentary:
1. It's a film.  Although I'd rather have people read books, films can be viewed and shared quickly and easily.  There are so many huge problems in how governments, churches, organizations, and individuals help the poor around the world.  We need change on a big level, otherwise people who are trying to help the poor with good development principles get smothered.  And the materially poor who take initiative to change their situation can get smothered and have their efforts destroyed by unwise charity programs.  So I hope this film spreads fast and is viewed by thousands of people who would otherwise not be aware of these problems because they don't read much.

2.  The film interviewed a lot of people from other countries.  I would have been disappointed if it was only Americans or Westerners giving their opinions.  The people in the documentary were educated, intelligent, and very wise.  In our global age, a lot of people still think of Africa as one big impoverished continent, where there is nothing good.  It was nice to see so many Africans, and people from other countries, both speaking to the West about how we need to change our practices, and also we got to see capable people in countries around the world working hard to change their situations without receiving aid.

3.  The film argued very effectively the main point that handouts and charity will not make a country develop.  When relief aid is needed, it should be given.  When there is not an emergency, giving charity can be both unhelpful and harmful.  We need to be looking at the big picture, not just the individual person in front of us and their needs.  Just because we have the ability to meet someone's needs, does not mean that we should.  We have to think about the long-term big picture of a whole country.

Things I didn't like:
1.  The documentary was not very well organized.  There were a lot of good points, but it sort of went all over the place.  In the process, there were a lot of generalizations and possible misconceptions.  For example, a lot of different organizations were shown (or at least just their logos and vehicles), and all were largely branded together as being part of the problem.  Even World Renew (formerly CRWRC) showed up.  But my opinion is that some organizations are actually doing good work around the world, and not just giving out handouts to people who don't need them.  For example, World Renew does good development work, helping people to use their own assets to change.

There was also a subtle attack on development workers, inferring that most are continuing in bad methods of charity work just because they enjoy their cushy jobs and retirement funds.  In my experience with my own organization and from meeting people from other organizations, that is not the case.  I admit that it is true that Africans who get jobs at development organizations likely have a very well-paying job compared to many others in their countries.  I also admit that some missionaries or humanitarian workers live too extravagantly with drivers and servants, etc.  But I don't think this is the norm.  For example, World Renew staff are generally way too busy, overworked, and traveling all the time.  They are tired.  But they sacrifice for God's Kingdom and for the materially poor people they are serving.

2.  The film mentions some church ministries but it is mostly a secular documentary.  What I mean is that it views poverty largely as a material problem.  But as Christians we know that poverty is multifaceted.  We know that sin is the root cause of poverty, both our own sins and the sins of the materially poor.  We know that helping someone have a little bit more food to eat doesn't matter a hill of beans compared to having a relationship with our Creator, and being saved in Jesus Christ.  We know that part of fighting poverty is helping people to understand what it means to be made in the image of God.  We know that people need to understand the nature of work and what God created us to do.  We know that we need the power of the Gospel to transform our relationships, to work against injustice, broken systems, and corruption.  We know that teaching a Christian worldview is essential.   There are so many things that contribute to poverty, so the solution to the problem of poverty can never end with only material solutions.  This is a very big limitation of the film, and so I want to make a plug for books such as "When Helping Hurts" and "Walking with the Poor" and others.  I still think the film is helpful and I hope people watch it.  But it doesn't go deep enough into what poverty is really all about and what the solutions are.

3.  The film doesn't really tell us what we CAN do to help.  You are left with a feeling that we should just do nothing.  In all honesty, that wouldn't be a bad way to begin once you first have this mindset change.  But we must get past that feeling and remember God's commands to us that we must help the poor.  There are many things that we can do, that are truly helpful, that truly work, that don't involve just giving handouts to people who don't need them.  There are organizations doing good development work, and development work is sometimes even more expensive than relief handouts, so we must still give generously!  We should be even more generous than we have been in the past.  Don't give a pair of shoes.  Instead, send money to World Renew or Partners Worldwide or Hope International or International Justice Mission or the Chalmers Center.  Don't send a shoe box of toys.  Instead, support long-term missionaries and development workers who are sharing the Gospel and giving hope to the poor.  Don't just send a Bible.  Instead give a loan or invest in someone starting their own printing company in the country.  Think big.  Think development.  It costs money.  Be generous.  Read this great article about not giving things that won't really help people.

Some random thoughts/insights we had ourselves while watching the documentary:

1.  Relief and handouts are needed in emergency situations.  But it will take wisdom to know when to stop that giving.  Even if the giving of handouts has already gone 10 years past the time when you should have stopped, there will still always be people who want you to stay.  This could be because of dependency, laziness, human nature, or that the people who are helping have savior complexes and won't release the people but instead keep treating them like children.  So you can't always wait for people to tell you to leave.

2.  Get a good understanding of what is available in the country you are going to before you bring donations.  So often we hear of missionaries bringing things because they say, "oh such things are not available at all in a certain country."  And yet, so often we know that those things are indeed available in the country, whether solar panels, Bibles, tractors, etc.  Just because there aren't Sunday school materials in a certain church you partner with, doesn't mean that Sunday school materials aren't available in the city or country of that church.  In Uganda I had many people begging me to give them a Bible, saying that they couldn't get one without me.  Yet they had money, and not more than 10 miles down the road was a bookshop where they could get one at little cost.

3.  Don't just fly into a country, look at the way people are living, and say "it's so terrible."  You can't make such a quick judgement of the situation.  Instead you need to live there for a few years.  And learn from the people who have been there for a long time, missionaries and nationals alike.  And don't say, "it's so terrible, I need to save these wretched people from their poverty."  Instead, view the materially poor you are working with as colleagues, allies, and team members.  For a very powerful article about the importance of learning first and taking the long view in order to see change overseas or change in our systems here at home, read this article.

4.  Jobs are important.  Programs like helping women to make beads and jewelry to sell can be good, but it is even more important to have sustainable jobs.  You can only buy so many pieces of jewelry.  It's better to help people start businesses and factories for things that are real needs, and will need to be bought over and over again, like value-added food products, soap, and clothes.   We are wary in general of any charity program that fuels materialism and consumerism in Americans.  We want the materially poor to have jobs and develop, but that shouldn't be contingent on Americans buying more and more and more stuff that they don't really need.

A Calling to Missions: What Does it Look Like?

By Sara:

At one of our church visits recently, someone asked a question that was something like: "how did the two of you, a pastor and a farmer, end up together on the mission field?"  I am not exactly going to answer that question in this post, but I want to share a little bit about what it looked like for me, in my life, to feel called to be a missionary and how some of the events in my life have brought me to where I am today.

When I was younger, I believed that I wanted to do anything God asked me to do, but for some unknown reason, I hoped that "anything" did not include being a missionary.  Quite honestly, I really can't figure out why that was.  I read and loved so many missionary biographies as a child.  My parents were adventurous eaters and fed me and my sister interesting foods growing up.  My dad worked for a company that brought him around the world for business and my parents had his co-workers from other countries over to our house for dinner when they were in town.  Oh, and my favorite movie for a long time has been "Chariots of Fire" (about Eric Liddell who was an athlete and also missionary to China).  I can say now that God shaped me through those experiences even though I didn't realize it and denied their influence at the time.

The turning point came when my parents signed our family up for a short-term trip to Mexico over spring break when I was in 10th grade.  I felt like I was forced to go (to do work instead of something fun over a school vacation...) and went grudgingly, probably with a bad attitude.  But after only a few days into the trip, I knew that God was calling me to be a missionary.  I can't explain how I knew - there was no voice from God, no overwhelming emotion - I just knew.  It was as if a light bulb went on in my head and everything leading up to that point suddenly made sense.  We probably did plenty of things on that mission trip where our "helping hurt", but God used it to change my life anyway.

Well, that was cool to feel called to be a missionary.  But I didn't even know what it meant to be a missionary.  I just went on with life, knowing that that was what I was preparing to do, but unsure of what I would actually do as a missionary.  I had great Sunday School teachers who helped me develop more knowledge of the Bible and who gave me opportunities to learn leadership and teaching skills.  And I read a lot of books on different practical topics and went on with life. 

Certainly I didn't expect to be doing agriculture overseas, or anywhere for that matter.  Actually, funny side story: I took an aptitude test in high school which told me I should either become a farmer or a mechanic.  This made me very upset, but it turns out that the test knew more about me than I knew about myself at the time...

Anyway, I loved the outdoors, animals, and science, so I went forward into college and studied Environmental Science (I had no idea how I could use that as a missionary, but I loved science, so that is what I did).  When I finally took a Plant Taxonomy class, I discovered that I loved plants as well as animals and I started thinking about agriculture.  I went to the Urbana Missions Conference and visited all the booths of different organizations and found out that CRWRC (which is now World Renew) was the only organization that said they did anything about caring for the environment as part of their work.  I took opportunities to work on farms and eventually worked for a local organization that led vegetable gardening programs at schools.

Anthony and I met each other in college and one of the biggest things that brought us together was our shared calling to missions.  Neither of us would have married someone who didn't feel that calling.  And we felt like we were ready to go overseas full-time right away after college and seminary.  Actually, I would have gone right after college, except that Anthony was planning to go to seminary.  That allowed me the opportunity to think about seminary too, though, and I am very grateful that I got a good theological education there as well.  But our idea of going overseas right after that did not happen.  We did get to go to Uganda for a year as a seminary internship, which was very formative, but when we finished the internship, we weren't able to go back overseas right away.  We moved to Minnesota and Anthony was a pastor while I taught high school science at a local Christian school.  After that, I got an internship at World Hunger Relief in Waco, TX and I learned all about raising animals.  And then, finally, in 2014, we got to go back to Uganda with World Renew...but that was a two-year position. 

Now, here we are about to start work with World Renew in Kenya, hopefully for a longer period of time than two years.  It has been 16 years since I first felt God calling me to be a missionary.  That's rather a long time.  Each step of the way has brought surprises.  But looking back now, I can see how every one of those things formed me into the person I am now and how each one was an opportunity for me to do ministry wherever I was, not just overseas.  And right now, Kenya is where God wants us to go next and I look forward to seeing what he has in store for us there.

I still wonder about how I can best follow God's calling in my life as a missionary.  It isn't easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.  And as I listen to the Holy Spirit and let him shape my life, hopefully I can learn to love and serve both God and others better every day.

Book Recommendation - Walking with God through Pain and Suffering

By Anthony:

I want to recommend the book, "Walking with God through Pain and Suffering" by my favorite author Tim Keller.  Actually I want to recommend any book or sermon he's ever written.  But this is the book of his that I just finished.  I chose to read it recently because I have friends going through great suffering, and my parents are having one of the toughest years of their lives as my dad is going through long arduous cancer treatments.  So it was a timely read.

This book is very well written, though a bit long for some of us perhaps.  It is both philosophical and personal, it is biblical, and it doesn't patronize us with simple answers and cliches.  I would guess that 90% of what he says is not really new.  You can tell by his many references to other authors.  But that is why this book is so good.  I feel like Keller read dozens of the best books on suffering throughout history and is giving us all the best points in just one book.  That's a good deal for me.

Keller writes honestly and winsomely, so much so that I could easily recommend this book to both Christians and non-Christians.  He looks at the problem of evil from many different angles and discusses traditional Christian answers to it.  He notes the strengths and weaknesses of each answer/argument, and doesn't pretend that the answers take away all of our struggles with evil.  He also addresses how other worldviews and religions tackle the problem of evil and suffering.  He discusses their strengths and weaknesses as well.  In the end he argues that the Christian worldview is the best answer to the problem of evil.  He is one of the best authors I know at being objective and framing his opponent's arguments in the most powerful and attractive way that he can.

Here are two choice quotes about his conclusions: “Christianity teaches that, contra fatalism, suffering is overwhelming; contra Buddhism, suffering is real; contra karma, suffering is often unfair; but contra secularism, suffering is meaningful. There is a purpose to it, and if faced rightly, it can drive us like a nail deep into the love of God and into more stability and spiritual power than you can imagine.” 

“While other worldviews lead us to sit in the midst of life’s joys, foreseeing the coming sorrows, Christianity empowers its people to sit in the midst of this world’s sorrows, tasting the coming joy.”

I've read others who criticize Keller for quoting and referencing so many non-Christians.  But I actually appreciate that he does this.  It's a way to dialogue with those who are not Christians who are reading this book, a good way to connect to them.  Even the apostle Paul quoted pagan philosophers (Acts 17).  And of course, non-Christians have very many good ideas to share.  They are people created in God's image, working in God's world, so they have have good insights to offer.

Keller describes many different types and reasons for suffering, which might seem like an easy and obvious thing to do, but I found it incredibly helpful and insightful.  Different types of suffering should illicit different types of responses in us.  Keller describes the feelings we go through during suffering, very diverse complicated feelings.  I kept saying to myself:  "yes! yes! that is exactly how I felt during that time of suffering in my life."  He put into words what I would have had difficulty putting into words.

I would recommend this book to those in the midst of suffering, but I would heartily recommend that you read it right now even if life is easy for you.  Suffering always comes.  It's inevitable in this broken world.  Read this book now so that you will be prepared theologically and practically when that suffering comes.  This book is not just intellectual.  It will give you practical steps and ideas to apply what you learn to your heart, so that when suffering comes, you can make it through.  The book is well balanced, covering the full spectrum of honest lament, trusting in God, allowing for mystery, being sure of God's providence, recognizing that suffering is part of the broken world we live in, and recognizing that suffering has been worked into God's good plan for this whole world.

I found the summary at the end of the book very helpful for those who have finished reading the book (not to read instead of the whole book).  It has a nice list of things we have to remember and meditate on when we suffer.  The next time I go through great suffering, I'll be looking up that summary at the end, or even reading the whole book again.

The book also gives us at least some insight in how to comfort others who are in the midst of suffering.  We learn not to be miserable comforters like Job's friends who said some true things but in the form of cliches and at the wrong moments.

Last, I appreciated how Christ-centered this book was.  This comes out in most of Keller's books and sermons.  Keller is one of the best preachers I know at preaching Christ in the Old Testament, and as he talked about Old Testament stories of suffering in this book, such as the life of Job and Joseph, he always brought it back to Christ.  No matter what part of the Bible Keller is talking about, he shows us how it connects to Christ, our Lord, King, and Savior.

Here are some more quotes to get you interested in reading this book:

“Some suffering is given in order to chastise and correct a person for wrongful patterns of life (as in the case of Jonah imperiled by the storm), some suffering is given not to correct past wrongs but to prevent future ones (as in the case of Joseph sold into slavery), and some suffering has no purpose other than to lead a person to love God more ardently for himself alone and so discover the ultimate peace and freedom.”

"But look at Jesus. He was perfect, right? And yet he goes around crying all the time. He is always weeping, a man of sorrows. Do you know why? Because he is perfect. Because when you are not all absorbed in yourself, you can feel the sadness of the world. And therefore, what you actually have is that the joy of the Lord happens inside the sorrow. It doesn't come after the sorrow. It doesn't come after the uncontrollable weeping. The weeping drives you into the joy, it enhances the joy, and then the joy enables you to actually feel your grief without its sinking you. In other words, you are finally emotionally healthy."

Libraries and Personal Agricultural Studies

By Sara:

I have always loved books.  When Anthony and I committed ourselves to being missionaries, we bought e-book readers and sold all of the hard copies of books that we were able to get in electronic form.  This was very sad for me because I like being able to hold a book in my hands and flip through the pages...but books are heavy.  And since both of us read a lot, it is much easier to transport hundreds of electronic books to another country instead of hundreds of pounds of real books.

All that to say, I am always really excited to go to the library while in the US.  It is amazing.  Much as I love to read fiction, though, I am restraining myself and focusing on non-fiction books to give myself further education on agricultural subjects I will be using in Kenya.

(I read all these books in a week and a half - it wasn't a very busy week for me...)

Anyway, I am learning all sorts of amazing things that I am excited to apply in my work and in my own garden.  I just want to share a few of those facts with you.

I read a book about common garden remedies and how some of them are beneficial and others are just myths that don't actually work.  So I discovered that coffee grounds can be helpful if you sprinkle them around plants like lettuce.  But if you mix the fresh coffee grounds into your garden, instead of sprinkling them on the surface, it can make the soil more acidic, keep plants from being able to use nitrogen, and can suppress the growth of your veggies!

I also found out that powdery mildew does best in hot dry conditions, so you can control it by spraying your plants twice a day with just water - baking soda doesn't actually add anything to the powdery mildew control unless you combine it with oil and soap.

In another book about backyard farming, I learned that tansy is a useful herb to grow because it attracts beneficial insects like ladybugs and lacewings which will eat aphids.  Apparently it also keeps cucumber beetles away to some extent.

I did a bunch of reading up on bees too and learned that bees are pretty exceptional little creatures.  The forager bees can fly up to 10 kilometers from their hive.  If you compare our size to theirs, it's like us traveling 1300 kilometers.  Bees can also fly about 15 miles per hour (that's about a 4 minute mile...) so unless you're really fast and have some serious endurance, don't try to out run them.

So there are some fun facts for you.  Also, I hope you are inspired to enjoy your local library as much as I am!

Why our work in Kenya is important

By Anthony:

In Kenya, we will be doing work very similar to what we were doing in Uganda, though in a different context.  We will be based at a school and farm rather than traveling all over the country.  We believe what we are doing is very important and I'll explain why in this post.

But first, to be honest, at times we have wondered if it's really helpful for us to be missionaries in Uganda or Kenya.  After all, these are largely Christian countries.  The Gospel is preached there already.  Why are we needed?  And even if you establish that teaching is needed in theology and in agriculture, one might ask, (and we ask ourselves), are we really needed or can't a Kenyan be doing this instead?  And then there are of course all the dependency and poverty alleviation questions.  Is our presence as foreigners possibly hindering development?  These are tough questions that should be wrestled with from time to time.  The goal should always be to work ourselves out of a job, not to create jobs for ourselves.

I struggled with these questions anew when I read a dissertation written by Dickson Nkonge Kagema, a member of the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK).  He did very good research on the state of theological education in this denomination, and East Africa in general.  Dickson challenged me by rightly pointing out that the financial aid and staff that Western countries keep giving to Bible colleges in East Africa can sometimes keep them in dependency and hinder development.  There are tons of small Bible colleges around East Africa, of many different denominations.  It's not uncommon to find one struggling to survive with only 5-10 students, only surviving on Western money, and sometimes with mostly Western staff/leadership.  East Africa needs fewer Bible colleges, so that each college has more students and can be self-sustainable.  Dickson's dream is that someday the Anglican Church of Kenya (including its Bible colleges) can stand completely on its own feet and be completely self supporting and self-leading.



So are we hindering this dream by going to work at Berea college and farm? We've corresponded with Dickson who wrote this dissertation and he is actually very excited that we can work with Berea. We have concluded with him that our presence there at the school will not create dependency, but that we will be able to help the school and farm as they continue to develop, through partnership together. Berea Theological college is in a healthy state already. It is not dependent on aid from Westerners. And our supervisors, the principal and dean and farm managers, are Kenyans. Actually, as far we know, there are no other foreigners working with this college and farm besides us. The college has a large number of students compared to other Bible colleges, at around 50 students. Some colleges in East Africa have more dire needs, but our presence would only add to their dependency problems and ultimately harm those schools. Our philosophy of ministry in East Africa is that it is best to encourage and further equip existing organizations that are already doing good work on their own.

 While working at Berea, we will work in such a way as to work ourselves out of a job. We are not a channel for money from the West. We are only bringing ourselves, and our teaching. We will try to empower those we work with through healthy development principles. We will be affirming and encouraging the students who will be pastors that they can develop without Western aid, that they can use their assets to grow, that they don't need Westerners in order to study theology and teach others, and that God will help their denomination to become self sustaining.

 However, Berea still has needs that we can help with which makes us excited to do our work. Let me tell you about that since that is actually the main point of this post! There are many Christians in Kenya, and many churches, but theological training is extremely lacking. The saying is true, that the Church in Africa is a mile wide but an inch deep. Of course there are many believers far stronger in their faith than I, but generally there is a widespread lack of theological education in the churches among both clergy and laity. This is one of the reasons that the false prosperity gospel keeps spreading, that there is so much syncretism between Christianity and African traditional religion, and that Christians do not necessarily stay in their churches for long.

The Great Commission (Matthew 28) is first and foremost about spreading the good news of the Gospel about Jesus to the nations.  But it doesn't stop there.  Jesus commanded us to make disciples, not only to make converts.  He said to "teach them to obey everything I have commanded you."  If we start churches in Africa, but then leave them to flounder without good biblical teaching, then we are not obeying the Great Commission.  And this is where missionaries like us fit in.  We are not church planting, but we are partnering with the church leaders who are already there, to assist them in the huge task of discipling the booming churches spreading across Africa who desperately need biblical teaching.

The Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) is one of the largest Christian denominations in Kenya, with over 5 million members.  This information I'm about to give you is from the dissertation written in 2007, so it's a little bit old, but not much has changed.  If anything, there are probably more untrained clergy now than before.  Back then in 2007, there were only 3.7 million Christians in the Anglican Church of Kenya, with 1,555 clergy.  That is 1 clergy for every 2,400 Christians.  This means that in some places 1 clergy would be overseeing about 14 churches, while lay leaders run the churches from day to day.  Of these very few clergy, only 11% have a theological degree.

To make matters worse, becoming a pastor is not very attractive to many in the ACK.  People know that it is not a well paying job.  In fact, it is mostly a volunteer position, just as it is in Uganda in the Pentecostal churches.  Many Christians have not been taught well about how to give and tithe and support their pastors.  And even those that want to give may be struggling in poverty themselves and not able to give very much.  One of the surveys Dickson used revealed that 92% of the clergy surveyed would prefer to work at a secular organization or para-church organization rather than the local church, because of the poor financial pay.

We can see that what Sara and I will be doing is important.  I will be trying, alongside other well trained Anglican leaders and teachers, to train pastors for this huge denomination of many churches and Christians desperately in need of good biblical teaching and discipleship.  And right now the teaching staff at Berea are overstretched so I will be able to help relieve the pressure.  Sara will be helping the pastors to financially support themselves.  Because of the low tithes, pastors have to have other work to take care of their families.  Sara will be teaching them agricultural and other helpful skills so that they have good side projects to do in addition to pastoring.  This was not Sara's idea, but the Diocese's and college's original idea.  They want Sara to help them integrate agriculture and livelihood classes into the curriculum for those training to be pastors.  So these activities are what we will be doing at Berea Theological College, near Nakuru, Kenya.

Life is complicated, and if you are thoughtful, missions in East Africa is very complicated.  But for now, we feel that God is calling us to serve at Berea Theological College with our Anglican brethren and we are very excited to do so.  We also hope that someday missionaries like us will not be needed in the ACK as they raise up enough of their own leaders and teachers to replace us.