An Open Letter to The Church

Please forgive the presumption, that I, a nobody in worldly terms, should address God’s church in this way.  But I have got something vitally important to say, and God has placed a burning within me to say it.  And it is vital that the church hears it before it is too late. 
It concerns 26,000 young lives lost daily, and the practical indifference of the Church concerning this.  It concerns abject poverty, and the fact that we do not take responsibility for it.  It concerns our souls, and the impact of the choices that we make.  But please let me begin by asking you a question. 

If you knew, for a fact, that giving up one week of your time would lift a hundred families out of poverty, and save the life of a child, would you donate that week?

Please think about this seriously, for your own sake as well as for theirs.  This is not about money, it is about time.  This is not about a transaction, it is about a relationship.  This is not something you can have others do on your behalf through a simple signature on a cheque, it is about understanding and change.  Hopefully, the rest of this letter will help you to see this, and to think practically about your next steps.

The Church and World Poverty

World Poverty is an inconceivably massive problem.  But it is made worse because we in Western churches do not really understand it, and tend to feel we can help simply through charitable donations.  But this will not work. In the Developing World, in areas of low or no employment, people have to depend on:  1. Crime; 2. Charity; or 3. Small business transactions for their income, no matter how small.  These are the only choices available to them. 

• Crime in the forms of corruption and theft is endemic in the developing world, and a major obstacle to solving the issues of poverty.  However, for many, it will remain the only option until they are presented with good alternatives.
• Charity has done much to establish key basics to life in many areas of the world, but it can breed dependency on continued handouts unless a viable way is found to generate the finance needed for maintenance and growth of those basics from within the community itself, which relies upon ...
• Small business; the only sustainable solution to poverty and to economic empowerment.  But the majority of small businesses set up in this way, even with the help of microfinance, stagnate and fail because people lack the very basic business knowledge required to make them work.

The consequences of this cost 26,000 young lives every day.  20 agonising avoidable infant deaths every minute.

In the developed World, the majority of people spend the majority of their time totally disinterested in this fact.  Even in our churches, and in their leadership debates, this massive tragedy demands less than 2% of their attention on average.  Ironically, much of the focus of church in the UK seems to be in debating differences in emphasis and understanding around its parochial interests, and its agitation to appear relevant to the problems of society.  But, at root, there is only one core problem – self-interest – and sadly, in its agendas and its debates, the church is beginning to ‘lose its saltiness’ and to appear as self-interested as anyone else to retain its position in society, and its place at table.  But in this, it is hanging on by its fingernails, and as decision makers grow younger, much of the church in the UK is growing older and declining in numbers. 

The skill-set to bring it back on mission, to challenge the goal, to prioritise, to focus, to bring determination and commitment, to develop plans and strategies, and to motivate teams to a result is found in young business-men and women – people who use business as a means to allow their creativity and industry a voice and a real impact; people who achieve.   But for many years, the church has eschewed business and alienated its protagonists, seeing them as serving manna.  In doing so, it has lost its influence in setting good objectives for business and instead contributed to a self-fulfilling prophesy.   Jesus saw no separation between business and God, indeed He was a business man for many years, and we need to heal the rift we have created.  We need to do this for the sake of business in the UK; we need to do this for the sake of a major element of the population who have lost touch with the church; we need to do this for the sake of the Church’s effectiveness in transforming the world; and we need to do this for the sake of 26,000 children who will die every day until we do. 

Reconciling the Church and World Poverty

It is our great hope and our fervent prayer to engage the UK church directly in using basic business skills to address the most pressing issue of our time bar none; to place the Church on an agenda which is at its core, and on which it has no rival; to re-engage through interest and need those it has neglected; and to reinspire it as a force to be reckoned with – as THE force to be reckoned with.  And, by following His agenda, His way, with His people for His purposes, to leave none in doubt as to the glory, the wisdom, the power and the grace of God.  And to do this utilising every member of the Church at the grass-roots level. 

The following resources are freely and widely available to support this:

• A guide to churches on how to organise themselves to seek out opportunities along their existing networks in the developing World, and to work with them, in humility, to equip those around them to lift themselves sustainably out of poverty
• Simple but effective (proven) biblically-based training resources, which can be introduced easily, and then cascaded endlessly by the local poor, for the local poor, without cost
• An on-line community under God, to share experiences and advice, to seek support, to share ideas and resources, to facilitate communication and prayer, to encourage fellowship, and to inspire new steps in forwarding God’s plans
• Freedom to engage directly, to make it personal, and to forge real bonds of fellowship with our brothers and sisters overseas in fighting down the dehumanising evil of poverty.  Freedom to give yourself: your heart; your ideas; your network; your character; your passion; your physical presence; your vision; your identity – everything that God made you to be – and to put it directly on the line for Him. 

Many of these resources have been donated by private individuals who have come together as a virtual community (http://forum.reconxile.org) because they can see the truth of this need.  BUT the community provides nothing else.  The community is only a catalyst.  It is the church that will make all the difference, if only you will let it.  And in making that difference, it will become all the things it is seeking to become: it will demonstrate its true power in sacrifice; it will re-engage those who determine our future; it will be a place where people engage in vibrant and pivotal debate; it will make its values known; it will demonstrate the Gospel; and it will do all of this through following the word and the will of God.  And the church will no longer be scattered in the imagination of its heart, but together in the heart of its maker.
To view the resources that currently exist in support of this you may find the following links useful:

• The basic training guide can be downloaded from the following link: http://reconxile.org/w1.html  (the website also contains a wealth of material to support people who want to deliver the training, such as flipchart templates: http://reconxile.org/sm.html and exercise booklets: http://reconxile.org/me.html and training plans: http://reconxile.org/sp.html )  An overview of the materials can be found at: http://reconxile.org/enablement.html  
• The guide to how churches can organise themselves to get involved can be explored through the following web-page: http://reconxile.org/roles.html  and is covered in practical detail in a book which can be downloaded through this link: http://reconxile.org/w0.html
• The online community to share interests and experiences and prayers for this work can be found at http://forum.reconxile.org/  and a basic guide to how the community works can be downloaded at: http://forum.reconxile.org/Files/Basic_Guide_to_the_Reconxile_Forum.pdf
• You can read the background to the Reconxile model at http://reconxile.org/background.html  and see the results here: http://reconxile.org/survey_scores.html , and here: http://reconxile.org/anecdotal.html
• Finally, a commendation from Dr John Sentamu for this work may be found at: http://www.reconxile.org/commendation.html

Please think carefully and prayerfully about your next steps.  There are many ways to invest some of your time to make a real difference to the poor.  It may be
Yours, in His love,
Mike,
Simply a member of ...
The Reconxile Community