"Relief and the Church -- Yesterday and Today" -- by The Micah Challenge

Today's post is from the Micah Challenge, a global Christian campaign to achieve the MDGs. Part of their mission is a weekly prayer emailing like the one you see below. You can receive it in your email box every week send a blank email to regine.nagel@micahchallenge.org with the words 'subscribe prayer' in the subject line.

Reflection

On May 2 this year, cyclone Nargis hit Burma. The officially estimated death toll is at 84,500 people, another 53,800 people are missing. The UN estimates that 2.4 million people are affected by the disaster.

What happens in affected communities after a disaster has hit and the media interest subsided?

This week’s reflection is a moving account of how a Burmese organization was able to support the rebuilding, replanting and restoring of one community.

‘…work on the Nargis aftermath reminds us of an anthill - thousands of local people are swarming to repair damage in many small and some not-so-small places and ways. The story of this disaster response and of its successes thus far includes actors from both inside and outside the country. But the heroes continue to be the local people who, time and time again, rally to overcome the insurmountable.’

In 2. Corinthians 9 we read of the first relief project of the early church which teaches basic principles of giving and receiving.

‘Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God.

This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone.

Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they'll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need. Thank God for this gift, his gift. No language can praise it enough!’ (2.Cor. 9:12-15 – The Message)

Prayer

Let us pray:

*Cyclone Nargis was more than 5 months ago now, but please keep Burma, its people and the difficult political situation in your thoughts and prayers.

*We thank God for many opportunities that have arisen after the ‘Pastoral letter to US Christians’ to raise awareness about global poverty in the USA.

Lawrence Temfwe, Micah Challenge Facilitator in Zambia writes:

‘Bishop Mususu, the leader of Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia, and myself are currently in the USA to attend meetings around the UN meeting and visit several churches and colleges to share about our work we are doing under Micah Challenge in Zambia: building a coalition among churches that they can reach out with an integral message to their communities. We are here at the invitation of One Campaign and Micah Challenge USA who requested us to add our voice to their campaign of engaging churches that they deepen their understanding of the root causes of poverty. We value your prayers:

*That in all we do we stay focused in calling people to obedience to Christ;

*For the rest of the trip that God be honored;

*For the meetings that people will be receptive.


Unfortunately, the outcomes at the UN High-level on the MDGs last week were not good enough. Many announcements were just re-statements of previous commitments and are not enough to meet the MDGs.

Please pray that commitments that were made will be kept and opportunities for further commitments will arise.

For a more detailed analysis of commitments made, please see Tearfund UK’s summary here.

*Reflecting on the statistic below: maternal death means husbands lose their wives, children their mother, parents their daughter in a time when new life should be celebrated.

Please pray for more trained health personnel and improved access to antennal and emergency obstetric care.
Meditate on the Statistics

As you spend time in prayer and reflection, you may like to take a moment to silently understand with your heart the focus statistic we include each week (see below). Our hope is that you will find this series of statistics a useful resource in preparing presentations.

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Target 6: Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the number of women who die giving birth

‘Each year, more than half a million women die from pregnancy-related causes and an estimated 10 million experience injuries, infections, disease or disability that can cause lifelong suffering.

Most of these deaths and disabilities are avoidable. Where deliveries are overseen by skilled health personnel with access to emergency obstetric care, and where women receive adequate nutrition and basic health-care services, the risk of maternal death is less.’

Source: Report: Progress for Children: A Report Card on Maternal Mortality (No. 7), UNICEF Sept 08

"Development and Relief" -- by Dr. John Hammock

You—as a church, a diocese or an individual-- decide you want to have a relationship with a church or a church group overseas. Do you focus on relief programs or on longer term development? Do you focus on helping to meet immediate needs, such as food and shelter, or do you work for longer term solutions to poverty?

Development is a process of becoming, a permanent process of change that attempts to meet basic needs and enhance the security and well-being of people. Within this process people, churches, communities and societies run risks that can torpedo this process. These risks can become emergencies sparked by specific events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, conflict wars and/or public policies (such as severe economic or resource exploitation) that over time aggravate vulnerabilities and ignite discontent. All people, communities and societies are more or less vulnerable to these risks. Some people, churches and communities manage their risks through public, church or family insurance schemes that protect their assets and their lives. Others are much more vulnerable to one type of risk or another.

The long-term development process is a kaleidoscope of political, social, cultural and economic factors that impact the lives of individuals, communities and societies. At each level development is taking place; at each level there is concern about how to manage risk to enhance not only saving lives but also insuring the long-term stability of development efforts.

Dealing with risk management and with the reduction of vulnerabilities for members of communities is a key aspect of the development enterprise. Effective development insures that people’s risk is minimized by potential hazards (natural and man-made) that may torpedo the advances made by development. Good development attempts to minimize and mitigate possible hazards, not add to them. Development efforts must be cognizant of how they affect vulnerabilities and how they may have (even unwittingly) negative unintended consequences.

Relief efforts must also not be undertaken as a one-time, short-term measure in response to an isolated event. Events are not isolated. Knowing the context will help to insure that emergency events are viewed within the full development context of the people, communities and societies. Every emergency intervention will have a long-term impact. How it is done can help foster development or help destroy it. A small project can often be the beginning of a broader process of change. The process of how relief is done, therefore, is crucial. Relief, the reduction of vulnerabilities and the management of risk are an integrated part of the life of any person, community and society.

The duality and separation that exists in many frameworks of relief and development must be broken down. The continuum concept between relief and development is not helpful, for it fails to understand the very interconnectedness of both processes. Effective work needs a framework that allows for innovative, integrated approaches to mitigation, prevention, emergency response and development.

It is not enough to want to do good, to have good intentions. It is not enough to focus on one or more of the Millennium Development Goals. It is important to understand how the work undertaken fits within the broader change taking place both in the local group and society. To be effective it helps to have agreement on the concepts of relief and development. It is also important to discuss and agree on a broad framework of development.

Dr. John Hammock is an associate professor of Public Policy at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy & The Fletcher School, Tufts University. Currently on leave until September, 2008 and working Sabina Alkire as a senior research associate at the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative. John was the Executive Director at Oxfam America from 1984-1995 and Executive Director at ACCION International from 1973-1980. John is the president of the EGR board.