Sunday, April 13, 2008

a holistic approach

What we really love about Emmanuel International’s ministry is that it is holistic.
Because Emmanuel’s vision is to transform lives, their approach to the problem of poverty and hunger must be holistic. Together, Emmanuel International and the Evangelicall Baptist Church of Malawi, minister to the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the people.

The people of Malawi are stuck in a vicious cycle of poverty, hunger, and disease, and there is no simple solution. Poverty is a complex problem that has many causes and complicating factors. That's why we will be working alongside other missionaries serving in a variety of capacities from water development to orphan care. In our agriculture project, we will be working on multiple levels to get at the root causes of poverty and hunger. So we will be working directly with some of the poorest families – households that are directly affected by AIDS and are run by a single mother or a grandparent or an older sibling – and helping them to sustain themselves. By working with the church, we’re also working at the community level because the church becomes a community resources centre for these poor farming households – a place where they can get whatever help they need: access to resources like government subsidized fertilizer, quality seeds, weather and drought information, as well as counselling and spiritual guidance. We will also help the church to advocate for the poor with the various levels of government, to make sure there are systems in place to care for the poor and the oppressed. We will help set up farmer clubs in churches to give them a voice in the market and with the government.

So holistic ministry means working on multiple levels to address the problem of poverty – working with families in the field, working with the church to transform communities, and working at the government level to work towards a more just system.

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