All kinds of issues fill the pages of our newspapers and figure prominently in the evening news – the war, oil prices, the upcoming election, etc. And yet, some of the more pressing world problems seem to be completely absent. For example, what do we read or hear about malaria? AIDS gets some press – not near enough – but malaria is hardly on the radar for any of us, especially me. While reading The End of Poverty, I came across a sentence that caused me to stop reading and put the book down …
Malaria is utterly treatable, yet, incredibly, it still claims up to three million lives per year, mostly young children, about 90 percent of whom live in Africa (Jeffrey D. Sachs, The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, 196).
Three million lives per year … mostly young children … 90 percent live in Africa … and yet … utterly treatable! That would be like one half of all the children 18 years and younger in Texas dying in one year! As I have turned this sentence over and over in my mind, I have wanted somehow to insert the word church somewhere into the middle of it. Could the church in some way intervene in the lives of three million human beings dying of malaria every year? Isn’t such intervention part of the mission of God to which we are called? And yet, more than empathy or concern, we must know what to do about malaria, how best to act in its prevention, and where to put our efforts. Zeal and rhetoric without knowledge and know how is empty.
Malaria alone is not the problem – it causes poverty and poverty causes malaria. Jeffrey Sachs points out that with five billion clinical cases of malaria per year, the disease causes poverty through absentism, anemia, poor school attendance, and reduction of the labor force (pp. 196-200). And on the other hand, poor households cannot take the simple measures necessary to prevent the disease – netting, sprays, or screens. And so malaria and poverty progress hand-in-hand.
A group of people are getting together October 23-25, 2008 to consider a response to the causes of global poverty. “Bottom-up Approaches to Global Poverty: Appropriate Technology, Social Entrepreneurship and the Church” is sponsored by the Baylor school of engineering, business school, and Truett Seminary. These three perspectives on the world issues contributing to poverty will converge for a unique conversation. I am extremely encouraged that the church, the most grassroot organization in the world, will be in the conversation. The church must be part of the response to malaria and poverty. I encourage you to come and be a part of the conversation. Whether the conference produces definitive answers or not, I feel it will at least call the church to take up these issues and become a full participant in offering hope to mothers who watch their children die.
Three million a year …
It is great to see you doing this and to read about what should be a great confrence.
The question may no longer be “What has Jerusalem to do with Athens, the Church with the Academy?” The new question may be “What has the Church to do with the sky-scraper, the (should be) kenotic Body of Christ to do with consumption and the bottom-line.”
To that end, it may be an extremly intresting confrence.
May we give as we have received.
What if we were to receive as we have given?
I’m excited about your blog, though I will admit I’m not a frequent blog reader. Wish I could say that my group at home in OK was ready to send some people to your conference in Arlington. Sounds great! Sometimes these days I feel like I could use something like that more than I needed it 9 years ago.
So good of you to log on and read. And so good to hear from you. It was fun to be together in HK. You are exactly the kind of person I had in mind when creating this. I hope we can stay connected via this medium.
DB, send your home group a link to the conference and see if they have an interest – http://www.gcpn.org/facilitator_training.html
If we did, we certainly would not look like me. We would probably look more like…well a body attached to Jesus.
I am wrestling with politics and economy in light of the cross as selfless divine giving. It seems only that images gives me hope.
I am glad that even in Houston. I will be able to see what is on your mind.
I am going to look into the Barry Harvey book, per your recommendation. You know where my interests lie! Anxious to see what comes out of Tradito Crucis.