This rapidly growing organization seeks to empower local people with local resources to create holistic, sustainable community solutions in access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene while winning a hearing for the Gospel. Continue reading
Author Archive: MendingTheHole
MAP International
This organization’s core competency is in distributing donated medicines through thousands of partners and missions teams to address basic health issues faced by those living in extreme poverty. Continue reading
Medical Teams International
This global health organization has long been known for providing high quality, high impact volunteer medical services, crisis response, and critical interventions. Continue reading
Opportunity International
Founded in 1971, this is one of the most experienced, and largest, microfinance networks in the world; they currently serve nearly 10 million clients in 22 countries. Continue reading
Plant with Purpose
Individuals and communities graced by PWP’s work benefit from true capacity-building via improved agricultural techniques that bring substantial economic benefits to families while restoring degraded environments to improve the entire community’s long-term viability. Continue reading
Water Missions International
This organization specializes in treatment systems designed to provide safe, clean water to communities whose water sources are dangerously contaminated. Continue reading
World Concern
This respected organization focuses on bringing a comprehensive skill set to serving the least developed and neglected poor – those suffering outside the mainstream of humanitarian aid. Continue reading
World Relief
This organization focuses on empowering indigenous churches to bring transformational development to some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Continue reading
World Vision
We think very highly of all of the organizations on our list, and support each of them without reservation. If we had to choose just one organization to support, our favorite among favorites, this would be the one… Continue reading
Wycliffe Bible Translators
This organization’s mission is simple and clear – translating God’s Word into the thousands of languages necessary to reach all the nations of the earth with the good news of the Gospel. Continue reading
The Frozen Pool
In the last post (Futility or Effectiveness?), we talked about the roadblocks that keep many of us from giving to help the world’s desperately poor – and noted that dismantling these roadblocks was one of the primary purposes behind our work at Givers by Design. So here’s the question: Continue reading
Futility or Effectiveness?
After reading about the Church in America’s anemic response to the problem of extreme poverty in Richard Stearns’ landmark book, The Hole in Our Gospel, we began talking with people – lots of people. And in these conversations, a common thread quickly emerged.Continue reading
Blessed: Now What?
This idea, that we are blessed to be a blessing, is a theme that is woven throughout the length and breadth of scripture – and, is one of the foundations upon which Givers by Design is built. Continue reading
Implications for Witness, part 1
Many Christian writers have recently taken the Church to task for its anemic response to the problem of extreme poverty. (Anemic? …Yes, less than 2% of the average American church’s budgetContinue reading
Extreme Poverty and the Church
The Church – the body of Christ on earth – has a 2000 year tradition of acting on the biblical mandate to help the desperately poor. Throughout the book of Acts and historical accounts of the early Christianity, Continue reading
The Least of These
The poor… have you ever really considered the fact that Jesus came into this world as one of them – and, what this might mean? Have you noticed that the good newsContinue reading
A Scriptural Imperative
As we noted in the prior post, the reality (Ephesians 2:8-10) that we are saved by grace, through faith, for something – to help build for the kingdom – forms the backdrop for our understanding of the biblical mandate for helping the poor.Continue reading
A Hole in Our Gospel
Timothy 4:3 – For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. That is, a gospel with a hole in it – Continue reading
Extreme Poverty: Hopelessness
Extreme poverty sets in motion a chain of cause and effect that ends in hopelessness. It is important to note that the hopelessness that is the defining characteristic of extreme poverty is not a character flaw in the poor.Continue reading
Extreme Poverty: Human Impact
One billion people live on less than a dollar a day; the human impacts of such extreme poverty are enormous. For some perspective, consider that the average Christ follower in America lives on a bit more than $100 per day.Continue reading