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Poverty

By Rev. Rafael Navarro ⋅ July 2, 2006 ⋅

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For the poor, poverty is NOT an option. In the midst of great need and poverty, I can only echo David’s prayer in Psalm 118:25: “Save now, I pray, O Lord… Send now prosperity.”

If poverty is a curse from sin, then national prosperity and progress should very much be a concern for Christian missionaries and leaders in the task of discipling a nation. After 20 years of working with the poor in the Philippines and observing poverty throughout Asia and Africa, I organized the Foundation for Transformational Development in 1998 to help churches to empower the poor to help themselves and others through Christ.

The poor are poor because they cannot produce a surplus from their efforts. They have handicaps unique to them, which we may find difficulty in comprehending:

• They do not have any financial discipline, and hence are not capable of handling large sums of money. Giving them capital for small business will not solve their problem because they lack the skill and the discipline to manage the fund: they end up consuming the capital for their basic needs.

• Their worldview is riddled with superstitions and barriers, leaving them incapable of controlling their lives. This leads them to splurge borrowed money on celebrations, without any thought on future needs, much less on how to repay loans.

• There exist corrupt and abusive people in power whose actions isolate the poor from needed basic services and other resources.

• The poor have sins. They partake in corruption and perversion and idolatry and witchcraft. These bring down the curses and calamities that impoverish them.

• The poor are poor because they have lost the ability to dream and hope for a better future. Much of their attention is focused on yesterday: the debts they have to pay, the failures that imprison them, the calamities they are trying to recover from.

In a country like the Philippines where terrorism and corruption abound, we long for the promise of God revealed to Isaiah:

Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, And the fruitful field is counted as a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, And righteousness remain in the fruitful field. The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, In secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places…” (Isaiah 32:15-18, NKJV)

The implication of this vision has serious consequences in the manner we try to help the poor. Peace and prosperity are merely the effect of justice and righteousness, justice being the external enforcement of a moral code, and righteousness being the internal nature to do what is right. Hence, it would be a serious waste of resources for the West to pour aid to the poorer nations unless there is a parallel effort to curb corruption, enforce justice and evangelize the citizenry. And the trigger to all these is the outpouring of the Spirit.

This has inspired our vision:

Communities visited by Spiritual revival…

where justice and righteousness

will result in prosperity and peace,

until God’s people will live in security and in their own houses.

The Bible is replete with instructions, not only on how to get right with God and get to heaven, but on what to do while here on earth. It shows how a nomadic tribe that was enslaved for 400 years got to be a prosperous nation state. It shows how an individual can attain self-sufficiency and be able to help others.

Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace. Jer 29:5-7 (NKJV)

From this we got our strategy to transform communities:

Empowering the poor and the needy to: build houses, produce food, increase and not decrease, pray, work for the peace of the city (for in its peace you too will have peace)… through Christ!

This strategy has serious implications for our ministry:

Implication 1: Transformational Technologies. Technology is very much needed to build houses and produce food. The Foundation has made a strategic decision to invest in and develop appropriate technologies to empower the poor to be able to produce a surplus and build homes. We have over thirty technologies in herbal medicine, hygiene, food production, irrigation, electric generation, and housing. We continue to research and develop appropriate technologies that can be used and sustained by the poor.

Implication 2: Transformational Values. We need to transform the poor from being consumers to producers. This entails transforming their self-perception and values. For example, the first thing a poor man does when he has money is buy a cell phone or expensive imported sneakers, and then goes home to the same dilapidated house that has no plumbing. We use a series of Bible studies to impart the Bible-based social, stewardship, financial and moral values.

Implication 3: Transformational Organization. The poor need to be organized to network and access basic services and capital resources. They also need to be organized to protect their basic human rights. They need to be trained to overcome the corruption that isolates them from progress and prosperity. They need to realize their numbers are actually powerful, politically as well as spiritually. That is why God said for them to increase, and not decrease. So, we train them on basic management, partnership and organization.

Implication 4: Transformational Faith. Replacing their fatalistic faith with a Christ-centered overcoming faith. Much of what they think is faith is actually a fatalistic acceptance of their lot in life. It is a defeatist attitude that prevents them from venturing into something new. They need to hear and believe in the pure Gospel of Christ so that they will develop an overcoming and life-changing faith.

Implication 5: Transformational Education. Realizing educating the young generation is a strategic priority, we have developed a Transformational Education program where we train high school scholars one extra day a week on English, computers, applied sciences and food production/entrepreneurial skills.

Implication 6: Transformational Partnership. The Foundation believes that the task for alleviating poverty is too large for any one government, or foundation or church. That is why it believes in partnership and networking with individuals, organizations, governments and churches to empower the poor.

Implication 7: Conflict Transformation. The ministry of mediation finds real application and numerous opportunities in the Philippines. We train pastors in conflict mediation and peacemaking. We have been involved in many situations where we were able to be peacemakers. We term our projects in conflict areas as “bridges of peace.”

In the Philippines, we estimate around 4 million children go to bed hungry, and at least 700,000 are at risk. In our small way, we help churches feed malnourished children, give relief goods to evacuees from conflict areas, build houses for the poor and organize cooperatives for livelihood and health.

For more details, contact us at rgn7@tri-isys.com….

by Rev. Rafael “Chito” Navarro, executive director and founder of the Foundation for Transformational Development.