Opportunity

Laura Ingalls, the heroine of the Little House on the Prairie series, quoted an adage of her parents in desperate times: "There's no great loss without some small gain."

The economic havoc wreaked by stunning job losses and market upheaval is a great loss indeed. We have only begun to glimpse the impact of this downturn on the lives of children, not only in the U.S. but also and especially around the globe. Demand for public and private services is spiraling up while resources evaporate. Yet there is also small gain.

As budgets contract and needs rise, there is a chance that churches will conclude they have nothing left over to offer their communities, and simply bar the doors to prevent looters. But maybe, just maybe, the truth will hit us upside the head that the most valuable gift we have to offer is not what's in our bank accounts.

"But Peter said, 'I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.'" (Acts 3:6)

The economic downturn presents an opportunity for churches to shift—-by necessity, if not by principle—-from commodity-based ministry to relational ministry, from giving things to giving ourselves, and sharing Christ who gave Himself to dwell within us. The cost of developing healthy children and youth is time, energy, community, vision and faith. Many of us are not used to thinking of ourselves as rich in this currency.

Churches may have shrinking budgets yet be overflowing with assets, especially the kind that are best invested in children and youth. "What I have, I give you!" This is a secret that many of our brothers and sisters in poorer nations have mastered, and that we now have the opportunity to discover. Our season of struggle offers us a small gain that we can offer to God to multiply in the community.

 

Adapted from the "Hope for Children In Poverty" blog at http://www.hopeforchildreninpoverty.blogspot.com/

 

January is "National Poverty in America Awareness Month," and as part of that larger movement, a coalition of local churches, non-profit organizations and social service providers are sponsoring "Hood County Poverty Sunday" on Sunday, January 11, 2009. To commemorate Poverty Awareness Month, each day during the month of January, Life on The Way will present a devotional thought relating to the issue of poverty and the Bible.