HashTag Activism?

Not Here... We want more than folks registering their agreement with a few easy keystrokes... More than sharing the resources on this site with a few friends.  Our energies are devoted to spotlighting the biblical mandate for helping the desperately poor, and providing easy-to-use tools to make a lasting difference for them -- to what end?  What is Givers by Design after?

We want the Church in America -- that is, individual followers of Christ, and their churches -- to grow in faithfulness, compassion, and generosity towards the billion souls who suffer in extreme poverty around the world.  Specifically:

1.  We urge followers of Christ to:

  • Intentionally devote – to joyfully and sacrificially give – a portion of their incomes towards helping the world’s poorest people.  Note that gifts of just 1% of income would be 15 times our current giving towards this purpose!
  • Partner in giving with the “Parachurch” – particularly, those explicitly Christian, highly effective humanitarian, relief, and development organizations who devote themselves to transforming, for the long term, the lives and communities of those who live in extreme poverty.
  • Hold the world’s desperately poor in prayer, asking that our Father will manifest His presence, love, and care in their lives, that they may know Him as their comfort and strength in their suffering, and as Savior and Lord.
  • Advocate, in whatever ways our Lord leads us, for compassionate and intentional generosity towards the world’s least and the last.

2.  We urge our nation's churches to:

  • Preach, and vigorously act upon, the biblical mandate for God’s people to reach out, with compassion and tangible assistance, to the “least of these.”
  • Actively promote, within their congregations, the parachurch’s God-given work in lifting the world’s suffering poor out of their extreme poverty.
  • Provide their congregations regular opportunities to make specially designated, sacrificial gifts to support the parachurch’s work.
  • Support the parachurch’s work with a meaningful portion of the church’s missions budget.

 

We understand that these actions necessarily involve lifestyle choices, for us as followers of Christ, and for our churches.  Christ’s call to intentional and obedient sacrifice, both individually and corporately, is unmistakably clear – and, an indispensable part of living out our Lord’s prayer:

“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven...”

 Soli Deo Gloria!

 

Posted in Making a Difference.