Wednesday, January 28, 2009

30 Days of Nothing

My wife pointed out this site to me this evening. I started reading it and was deeply challenged.

Let me know what you think.

Anyone up for it?

3 comments:

Belle Geary said...

It is very challenging and thought provoking. We are so blessed in this country that we often lose site of the real need in this world. My belief is that the solution to all these problems rest on the people of God taking a personal responsibility for leading lives that are honoring to God. That the people of God need to rise up and take on the responsibility of leading the world to Jesus Christ thru their actions and their words. That means taking Christ seriously not just on Sunday, or with your Christian friends, but bringing it right into the work place. It means encouraging businesses, in particular private businesses, run or owned by Christians to step up to the plate and run their business in a Christ honoring way. It means taking the notion of outreach and Christian service seriously. The economic engine of this country, even in this down turn, could truly change the world, if Christians would just step up and live their faith. There is a big movement among progressive “Christians” towards “Social Justice”, many “Christian” universities and colleges have made this their primary focus. Unfortunately this movement often villainizes and condemns the very economic engine and people who could truly lead us to a more effective way to help those in need. Instead of villainizing them we should be encouraging them to live lives that are honoring to Christ.
My personal opinion is that the day of the giant non-profit reaching out to the world in an effective way is dead. These organizations become companies, companies with employees, executives and boards who eventually become more interested in the survival of the entity than in the mission they were originally founded for. These organizations often compete for the same dollars, reaching out to the same people in a way that makes all of them ineffective. We are raising a generation of “missionaries” who must literally go door to door to raise “support” money. What happened to Paul’s concept of actually working for what you get? Of not being a “burden” to anyone? I believe the future of outreach lies in private industry, funding outreach thru internally generated cash flow, perhaps even employing their own “missionaries” to go out in to the field on a local and global basis to set up indigenous programs that will in time lift people from their life of poverty into a self sustaining life of growth.

Somebody said...

Yes, probably with some adaptation.

It sounds like a very appropriate thing to do during Lent.

nailed to the doors said...

Sounds like good practice for Obama's 2nd year.