Part Three: What Can One Person Do to End Extreme Poverty?
In the finalinstallment of this three-part interview, award-winning scientist Scott Todd ofCompassion International and author of the new book, Hope Rising, shares how you and I can do something about extremepoverty.
You make it clear that the strategy toend extreme poverty requires action within the three major sectors of society:government, business, and the church. How so, and how to they work together?
Ending povertyis about expanding opportunities. It’s about developing people and giving thema chance to lift themselves out of poverty—a chance to work, to contribute, andto express their creative capacity. Governments have obvious roles to play inproviding a decent public education for kids, ensuring clean water andsanitation, and providing infrastructure and a legal environment that allowssafe, fair, and flourishing business. Business is the main engine of economicgrowth and obviously creates the opportunities to work. It is the role of the churchin ending poverty that people often underestimate. People might think of the churchin terms of charitable work helping individual families, running food programs,counseling the discouraged and so on. But the work of the church also runs atfar deeper and more profound levels. Churches offer moral foundations, buildsocial trust, create relationships, and provide the hope needed for communitiesto overcome their immense challenges. Churches shape public thought andengagement in social and justice issues. Most important, churches introducepeople to the true source of hope and meaning in Jesus. The root issues ofpoverty are not economic, they are relational and spiritual. It is through therestoration of a person’s hope, a person’s sense of capability and value, and aperson’s connectedness with others and with God that the root issues of povertyare addressed. Churches are in the hope business.
Why do you believe government is “animportant, but insufficient, actor in the work to end extreme poverty?”
Governments areneeded to create and uphold laws that protect people and promote free and fairbusiness. Governments build roads and schools. Those are important, but theydon’t tackle the root issues of poverty, because the root issues are abouthopelessness and broken relationships. Governments aren’t well known forinspiring hope or repairing relationships. Nor are they very good at providingjobs.
How can the average shopper create a “newculture of consumerism”?
AmericanChristians are stewards of over $2.5 trillion in income every year, and we willgo shopping with it. When you compare the 2.9% that we give away to the 97.1%that we spend, there is no question about which has a greater power to shapethe economic opportunities of the poor. The priorities and values that driveour consumer behavior are incredibly important, and businesses pay closeattention to them. If we buy product A and not B because something aboutproduct A is favorable to social concern (not made in sweat shops, providesfarmers a fair price), business will respond. I’d like to say it’s as simple asbuying Fair Trade chocolate (and that’s a good thing to do), but it is moreinvolved. Fair Trade is actually a symbol of the new culture of consumerism—aculture in which social values are visible and influential in our purchasedecisions.
You say Christian-based NGOs(non-governmental organizations) should steer clear of government funding. Howcan American Christians make it unnecessary for Christian organizations to goto Uncle Sam for support?
AmericanChristians have been entrusted with $2.5 trillion per year in income and givean average of 2.9% away (that’s giving to all causes, including theirchurches). If Christians increased their giving by even just 2% to supportChrist-centered non-profits, that would be $50 billion per year. That is equalto the entire budget for USAID (the United States’ foreign assistance agency). Eventhat minor increase in generosity would dwarf the amount Uncle Sam grants toChristian poverty-fighting organizations, and it would encourage thoseorganizations to keep Christ at the center of all that they do.
What can one person do?
One simple,beautiful, and profoundly strategic act that I encourage people to take is tosponsor a child with Compassion International. I have been sponsoring childrenwith Compassion for 25 years, and I believe strongly in its impact both in thelife of the sponsored child and in my own life as well. I have studied theresearch on Compassion’s programs and know them to be unrivaled ineffectiveness and unwavering in their commitment to Christ. Sponsoring a childwith Compassion is not the only thing people should do, but it is the onesimple thing that anyone can do.
To purchase a copy of Dr. Todd's book, Hope Rising, follow the link.
FYI: My husband and I sponsored a child through Compassion until he graduated. We now work through East-West Ministries with the Adopt-a-Legacy program for child sponsorship. Other worthy organizations provide similar opportunities. The best research available on what lifts people from economic poverty suggests that child sponsorship is the #1 way.