The Most Important Institution in the World
Here's something that disturbed me.
On Jan 7th (2006) NPR ran a feature about philanthropy and they talked about Bill Gates. In the 80's he was criticized for not giving much money away. What follows is a quote from the NPR broadcast:
So, what disturbed me? That the Gates Foundation might be called the most important organization in the world. That's distresses me because the Church - the Body of Christ International (tm) - has WAY more resources (money, personnell, etc.) than the Gates Foundation - heck, more than most of the world's foundations combined, I'll bet - yet, as an institution, the Church is not even in the RUNNING for most important/influential/heck, even relevent institution of the modern era.
What are we doing wrong? Why doesn't the Jimmy Carter Foundation look to people of faith? Because we haven't been there. We're REALLY good at taking care of our own - but not so good at that whole Matthew 25 thing (whatever you did to the least of these, you did to Me). God's been poking me with a big stick lately and that parable is the point of the stick. You know what happens if you keep poking a dog with a stick? He'll either bark or bite... Well, I guess I'm barking now...
We've lost our compassion, we've lost our drive. The cliche was that the church was the one institution that existed for the NON-members - but I don't think that's true today...
On Jan 7th (2006) NPR ran a feature about philanthropy and they talked about Bill Gates. In the 80's he was criticized for not giving much money away. What follows is a quote from the NPR broadcast:
He said he didn’t want to just shed a few million every year for tax breaks, but he wanted to build a fortune so that when he began to donate his money would have real impact. His detractors were contemptuous. Now of course, Mr. Gates is celebrated for his philanthropy. The Gates Foundation has the largest endowment of any in the world and vaccinates more children in poor countries than the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION. It sponsors the largest minority scholarship program ever and also wires thousands of schools into the WWW. The Jimmy Carter Foundation which received 25 MILLION DOLLARS to combat guinea worm[?] disease called the Gates Foundation the most important organization in the world.
So, what disturbed me? That the Gates Foundation might be called the most important organization in the world. That's distresses me because the Church - the Body of Christ International (tm) - has WAY more resources (money, personnell, etc.) than the Gates Foundation - heck, more than most of the world's foundations combined, I'll bet - yet, as an institution, the Church is not even in the RUNNING for most important/influential/heck, even relevent institution of the modern era.
What are we doing wrong? Why doesn't the Jimmy Carter Foundation look to people of faith? Because we haven't been there. We're REALLY good at taking care of our own - but not so good at that whole Matthew 25 thing (whatever you did to the least of these, you did to Me). God's been poking me with a big stick lately and that parable is the point of the stick. You know what happens if you keep poking a dog with a stick? He'll either bark or bite... Well, I guess I'm barking now...
We've lost our compassion, we've lost our drive. The cliche was that the church was the one institution that existed for the NON-members - but I don't think that's true today...
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