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Church and City Partnerships Restore Dignity through Work
If work is foundational to human dignity and ought to be part of our poverty alleviation efforts, what does it look like in “real life” for churches to practice a commitment to work as part of their ministry life?
Why Talk About Work?
Work is good. It is the most effective way to provide for our material needs, but also provides ways for us to interact with the world around us and contribute to our community. How can we creatively shift our ministries to help people discover their God-given capacity for meaningful work?
Fostering Change
Adapted from Chalmers online training Helping without Hurting in Benevolence Ministry. The ultimate goal of poverty alleviation and development is the restoration of people to all that God has created them to be—priests and rulers who proclaim His glory to the world and call others to worship Him. A nearer-term goal is change. We long…
Collaborating for the Kingdom
Donors, ministries, and materially poor people are often very different and may live thousands of miles apart. It sure doesn’t feel like much of a community, and sadly, it often doesn’t function like one. How can we better practice kingdom community in the space of poverty alleviation?
Stewarding the King’s Gifts to Advance His Kingdom
Every poverty alleviation effort includes three groups of stakeholders: donors, ministry staff and volunteers, and the materially poor people the initiative hopes to serve. How can these three very different groups of people manage their differences and work together for God’s kingdom?
Connecting with Local Resources: Church and Parachurch Partnership
The church is called to address the social, spiritual, and physical needs of the poor—but that call is not only for the church. Parachurch organizations, nonprofits, and even businesses and government agencies can all be part of someone’s journey out of material poverty. How can these organizations work well together?
The Church, the Parachurch, and Poverty Alleviation
One way that the church’s responsibility to care for the poor is carried out in complex modern societies is through a wide range of parachurch ministries. While the parachurch should never undertake tasks that are exclusively given to the church, there is much that these ministries can do very effectively to care for the materially poor.
Why Good Intentions Aren’t Enough
How we diagnose the problem of poverty directly impacts how we will seek to address it. If we treat only the symptoms or if we misdiagnose the underlying problem, we will not improve the situation—and we might actually make the lives of the materially poor worse in the long run.
Why Your Church is Called to Help the Materially Poor
What is the task of the church? We are to embody Jesus Christ by declaring with both our words and our deeds that Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords who is bringing in a kingdom of righteousness, justice, and peace. And the church needs to do this where Jesus did it: among the blind, the lame, the sick and outcast, and the poor.
Webinar Replay: How Churches Can Start a Jobs Ministry
Right now, millions of people on the margins are out of work and hurting. Your church can help—and we can show you how!
Nobody Gave Her a Dollar: Leya’s Story
Editor’s note: As we’ve been sharing about the importance of walking well with churches in the majority world, we’ve made mention several times of Chalmers’ partners in this work. This story is from our partners at HOPE International, who have faithfully expanded church-based savings groups in multiple countries over the past several years. Just before…
Real Churches, Real Change
Through the Chalmers Center’s Restore: Savings curriculum and our network of trainers and partners, thousands of local churches in the Majority World have been equipped to launch savings groups. In church after church, we’ve seen God take the mustard seeds of people’s savings and grow them into a harvest of hope in the midst of deep poverty.
Local Churches, Local Resources, Lasting Change
Microfinance can be a powerful tool for helping people escape extreme poverty. When we shift our thinking, it can be even more powerful. How can we make the most of the opportunities microfinance provides?
Walking Well with Churches in the Majority World
In God’s grand story, churches in the Majority World of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, have a critical role to play. How can we walk together in ways that enhance the dignity of materially poor churches—and the individuals and communities they serve?
Helping Without Hurting in Africa Digital Book Launch
We recently hosted a live webinar to celebrate the launch of our latest resource, Helping Without Hurting in Africa. Watch a recording of the webinar here!
Building Community on Tiny Screens?
“Are you going to adapt the 12-week Faith & Finances class into a virtual format that we can offer our participants?” In light of the coronavirus pandemic, the Chalmers staff have been asked this question a number of times over the past few months. Man, we get it. We’ve all had to scramble to pivot…
A Lament
We lament for the brokenness on display in our country and pray with longing for the all-encompassing shalom that comes only through our Lord Jesus Christ. We offer this prayer and invite you to pray with us.
What Does the Lord’s Supper Have to Do with Poverty Alleviation?
What does this sacrament have to do with caring for the materially poor and helping them to overcome the causes of poverty in their lives? How does a simple worship service impact the reality that suffering people experience here and now?