When it comes to Development [community, market, communications or cultural], Christianity has not always been a good thing!
A quick, surface scan through the history of "development" invites a number of modern swear words such as: paternalistic, colonialist, empire-builder, genocidaires, jihad and do-gooder - qualities and agenda that can be levelled at (probably) all religious groups - Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists... (Some thing Christian's don't want to claim a monopoly on!)
A good deal of my ministry these days causes me to reflect on how a Christian partners with people in development in light of this history and then add that my 'development world' is over 90% Islamic; most of 'my (fragile context) countries' have suffered, or are suffering through genocide, war, food & water shortage, gender, cultural or religious oppression - what does development from a Christian look like?
I work for an international development agency that articulates overtly that "We are Christian" and stipulates that "we look forward to a world where every child experiences Jesus' promise of life in all its fullness", and I make no apology for that. But does my faith help or hinder?
Many people (mainly christians) would want to convince me that it matters, that it is a major barrier - but my experience tells me otherwise. (I'm not suggesting that there are not people that will try and make it an issue.) I have never hidden the fact that I am a follower of Jesus and that my dream for us all is that "we will experience life in all it's fullness".
The words of an Islamic teacher (an Imam) reminded me of this today. He said that he respected us because we take our Christian faith seriously and we employ, and honour very committed Muslim and Christian staff. ("Christians are respected as an Abrahamic faith, and as People of the Book", he said.) In undertaking development work, having faith is “Not important, but VERY important. God created us to live in good conditions. We are not in a good condition, so we cannot separate God from development. God is the origin of development. Without faith I cannot believe in development because God shows the way that faith is at [its] heart.”
A quick, surface scan through the history of "development" invites a number of modern swear words such as: paternalistic, colonialist, empire-builder, genocidaires, jihad and do-gooder - qualities and agenda that can be levelled at (probably) all religious groups - Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists... (Some thing Christian's don't want to claim a monopoly on!)
A good deal of my ministry these days causes me to reflect on how a Christian partners with people in development in light of this history and then add that my 'development world' is over 90% Islamic; most of 'my (fragile context) countries' have suffered, or are suffering through genocide, war, food & water shortage, gender, cultural or religious oppression - what does development from a Christian look like?
I work for an international development agency that articulates overtly that "We are Christian" and stipulates that "we look forward to a world where every child experiences Jesus' promise of life in all its fullness", and I make no apology for that. But does my faith help or hinder?
Many people (mainly christians) would want to convince me that it matters, that it is a major barrier - but my experience tells me otherwise. (I'm not suggesting that there are not people that will try and make it an issue.) I have never hidden the fact that I am a follower of Jesus and that my dream for us all is that "we will experience life in all it's fullness".
The words of an Islamic teacher (an Imam) reminded me of this today. He said that he respected us because we take our Christian faith seriously and we employ, and honour very committed Muslim and Christian staff. ("Christians are respected as an Abrahamic faith, and as People of the Book", he said.) In undertaking development work, having faith is “Not important, but VERY important. God created us to live in good conditions. We are not in a good condition, so we cannot separate God from development. God is the origin of development. Without faith I cannot believe in development because God shows the way that faith is at [its] heart.”
