Transformation

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Breakthroughs in Missional Thinking…

November 14, 2011 in Missional Thinking, Missions, Transformation | No comments

SwordWould you ever consider letting someone do surgery on you with a sword?  Of course not!  Surgery is a very delicate procedure which requires precise, knowledgeable, pre-meditated cuts with the specialized blade of a scalpel.  Not the wide-sweeping, indiscriminate chops of a sword.  I submit to you that in order to be truly helpful in an at-risk or distressed community, the same kind of delicate, precise, knowledgeable care must be taken in your missional approach.  What might feel good to us, and seem to be the right thing to do in our own culture or ministry philosophy, could have disastrous results when exported into another community context.

A friend of Breakthrough Partners told us this story about an aid and relief effort by four different churches in Minneapolis.  With compassionate hearts and a desire to help bring an end to the suffering in Haiti after the devastating earthquake of 2010, they mounted a campaign to ask everyone who bought peanut butter to buy two.  One jar for their own family and one they could donate to fill a shipping container to send to Haiti.  Everyone loves peanut butter, right?  There was just one unforeseen problem.  One of the only viable and widely grown crops for Haitian farmers in the aftermath of the destruction was peanuts.  By having thousands of jars of free peanut butter flood the Haitian distribution centers, the local market was swamped and the price of peanuts plummeted.  Unfortunately, these well-meaning churches began destroying a crucial piece to Haiti’s economic recovery without even knowing it!  

How are our well-intentioned efforts affecting those we wish to help?  How are we killing others with indiscriminate kindness?   How can we learn what is really needed in a given context?  As we know, a surgeon has diagnosed the risks and benefits of the medical procedure before he makes a single cut with the scalpel blade.  How can our approach be delicate, precise and knowledgeable in ways that will help and not hurt them?  Are we using a scalpel or a sword in our missional approach?  

Please feel free to respond to these weekly Breakthroughs in Missional Thinking, we need your voice in this ongoing dialogue about how the Christian Church engages in Missions in this rapidly changing world and culture.

Blessings,

Mark Mielbrecht
Director of Global Leadership Development

A Night Shelter Bus

August 17, 2010 in Children, South Africa, Transformation | 1 comment

NightShelterBusWe’ve shared with you before about Charles George of Delft, Cape Town, South Africa, and his remarkable work there with vulnerable children and orphans (for more information about him, click here.) Today we received an article from him called “The Story of a Night Shelter Bus” about a discarded double-decker bus, a community who saw an incredible need, and the ingenious way that Charles has brought partners together to bring God’s love and shelter to abused children.

Please read the story here and think about ways that you might build trust with others and partner to help solve the big problems of your community through the creative love of Jesus.

 Gary Edmonds

Mothers Matter

May 6, 2010 in Children, Financial Responsibility, Transformation | No comments

Mothers making and selling necklaces.

Mothers making and selling necklaces.

They raise children, tend to household chores, heal wounds, provide stability for families, educate the next generation, listen to dreams, pray for the sick, work to provide daily sustenance, laugh with the joyful, love tirelessly… I am grateful for my mother. She gave and sacrificed much for the sake of our family.

The mothers that I meet in Africa matter, too. Their lives are difficult. Yet they give and sacrifice just like our mothers do. 

From my most recent trip to Cote d’Ivoire to train people for community transformation, I met Bertine. She is a dynamic mother caring for her children and grandchildren in one of the poverty infested neighborhoods of Abidjan. Two years ago she caught a vision for transformation to come to her community.  She prayed about what she could do to make life better for all. After some searching, she learned how to start a neighborhood savings and credit association. Her conviction was that if the people pulled together to save of their meager income, they could create an investment fund.  With the pooled resources, they would be able to work to make their community better. Today, 2,000 people participate in a community credit association run by Bertine and her team of 10 others. Jobs are being created. Children are being immunized. The schools now are filled with students. Unity and trust is being fostered among the citizens. Churches are becoming self-supporting. Crime is declining. Bertine matters.

This month thank mothers for the enormous role they play to make life better. And if you are able, contribute to an organization that strengthens mothers to impact impoverished communities in ways that will never be reported in our newspapers. Mothers matter!

 Gary Edmonds

God Is Good!

December 8, 2009 in Building Leaders, Ivory Coast, Transformation | No comments

As they love to say in Africa “God is good!”

CEDIDay3This week the local Breakthrough Partners Team, the organizers of the seminar on Christian Economic Development have been overwhelmed with the response.  There was an expectation of 150 participants from different regions of Ivory Coast and 11 other African nations.  However, there have been 207 men and women in attendance.

During the past two days we have visited some of the most sacrificial and gifted works of young Africans served by the Breakthrough Partners Ivory Coast Team that we have seen in the world.  Let me tell you of Dominique, a vibrant young Christian woman, who has established a savings and credit association for some 1,300 people.  This past year she worked with the pastor of the local church to see it have a roof for the church building and provide care for widows and orphans.  The result is that the church is growing dramatically, widows and orphans are brought out of a vulnerable and destitute state and the region is observing the creativity and love of Christ.

Thank you for walking with us to build leaders for rebuilding communities,

Yours truly, from Bingerville, Ivory Coast,

 Gary Edmonds

 [You may our work in the Ivory Coast through Breakthrough Partners by clicking here.]

Ivory Coast Trip

November 25, 2009 in Building Leaders, Financial Responsibility, Ivory Coast, Transformation | No comments

EdmondsNapiers2Please pray for us as we depart Friday, November 27 to the Ivory Coast.  In the 10 days that we are there, we will train people in Christian Economic Development and the dignity of womanhood.

Our objective is to move some 15,000 men, women and children out of vulnerable and destitute poverty to stability and self-sufficiency.  We will impart knowledge, skills, attitudes and relational connections to help them achieve this goal.  With God, this will happen in the year to come as the darkness is pushed back in the communities of these lovely people. 

 Thanks for standing with us as we build leaders to rebuild communities. 

Yours truly,

 Gary & Tricia Edmonds
Kevin and Renee Napiér

Godly Local Leaders

October 20, 2009 in Building Leaders, Reconciliation, Rwanda, Transformation | 4 comments

Christophe Mbonyingabo of CARSA

Christophe Mbonyingabo of CARSA

During the past two weeks, we hosted Christophe Mbonyingabo, Founder and Executive Director of CARSA of Rwanda. He is a courageous and Spirit-anointed leader set apart for rebuilding Rwanda out of genocide. Click here to check out the website of CARSA which is an affiliate partner of Breakthrough Partners. Christophe and his team are instrumental in the incredible healing and transformation of lives that have been traumatized by the wounds of genocide.

Again I was reminded that the rebuilding of broken communities and nations is built on the backs and from the convictions of Godly Local Leadership. Outsiders will never be able to lead a process of transformation. It takes those with moral and spiritual credibility who are relationally connected to the populous. It takes those who are in the culture of the local setting, but not of it. It takes those who are prepared to suffer and serve for the glory of God, even unto death.

This is where Christian mission, donor and development work so often goes astray. Those who come from the outside with money, messages and materials naively believe that they can bring about profound and lasting change. It simply does not work that way. And so often we let those with money, technological equipment, and educational degrees determine the priorities and strategies for the local mission. Then we wonder why there is no sustainable change.

The key for change to nations like Rwanda is to identify those who are morally credible, Holy Spirit anointed and filled with the vision of the Kingdom of God coming on earth like in heaven. Listen to them, follow them and support them. For culture change and rebuilding of nations is a job for insiders!

Gary Edmonds

[You may support Christophe and CARSA through Breakthrough Partners by clicking here.]

Leaders Who Change the Course of History

June 11, 2009 in Building Leaders, Financial Responsibility, Transformation | No comments

The Prosperity Thinking That Changes Impoverished Nations

rwanda-nov-2008-081Traveling in Africa, I see the strong hold that a culture of fatalism has on the people. “We are poor. This is our lot in life. We can do nothing to change our fate. Therefore, we hold our hand out and ask you to redistribute your resources so that we may live.” Of course this thinking keeps the people stuck in abject poverty and dependency.

 

Often I speak and teach about prosperity from a biblical perspective. God wants us to be prosperous and contribute to the prosperity of the nation. Even in times of recession and in the context of extreme poverty Jeremiah 29:4-9 says, “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city…”  But what is prosperity? Let me share with you the new mindset that is beginning to transform the poverty culture of African communities.

 

To be brief:

  • Prosperity is working to earn enough to take care of your families’ daily needs of food, clothing and shelter.
  • Prosperity is each one working to provide goods and services for the well-being of the society.
  • Prosperity is working and paying taxes so that the government functions to bring stability and order to the nation.
  • Prosperity is working so that you may give generously to assist others in need and provide for the leadership of the church.

 

Are you prosperous? Let’s work to help all humankind to be prosperous.

 

Gary Edmonds

Got Wisdom?

April 14, 2009 in Building Leaders, Transformation | 1 comment

african-boy-w-bibleOne of the great needs in our world is Wisdom. What should I do today that will be good for tomorrow? How do I navigate the unknown without experience? 

 

When Jesus was only twelve years old, Luke 2:52 affirms that he was developing in wisdom. He knew how to live in the present for long term benefit. He had a perspective on life that transcended his experience. His discernment of what was good for today was not guided by feelings, hunger for instant gratification or the latest trend. If only the same were true of our kids or, indeed, ourselves.  

How do we get wisdom? How do hungry Rwandans recovering from genocide live wisely to benefit their nation? How do unemployed Americans live with a Kingdom of God perspective? Let me offer three thoughts.

  • Fear God! Remember that there is an ultimate judge of the whole of your life. Learn and apply the principles and values of the Kingdom of God that will stand the test of time. Pragmatic decisions that simply align us to modern trends and short term gains will be exposed and found wanting. In wisdom, apply a Biblical worldview.

  • Seek the well-being of all! Test what you are doing by asking, “Is it good for all?” Unwise decisions are made by those thinking only of themselves or their organizational greatness. Much unwise mission activity is produced as we seek our own success rather than everyone’s benefit. We see that when one church or mission grows disproportionately larger than others in a community, the result is disastrous. The large organization consumes the community’s resources, like a cancerous cell, leading to its death. God created the world and its creatures and called them “good.” Let goodness be your desired outcome. In wisdom, realize that you may need to govern your own growth so that all may develop.

  • Think multiple generations! “And the things that you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” (2 Timothy 2:2) The apostle Paul was thinking out four generations. Changing the course of history requires that future generations take the baton and build on the leg of the race that we have run. Play your role well. In wisdom, build the next generation. Transfer a vision that will go beyond your own contributions. 

 

Gary Edmonds

Do You See the New Thing?

February 6, 2009 in Building Leaders, Transformation | No comments

I sense that God is focusing Breakthrough Partners on the youth and young adults of Africa. More than 70% of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa is under the age of 30. They are showing an unprecedented openness to be the agents of change. After more than 38 years of interaction in Africa, I am experiencing young people who actually believe that change is possible with God and that they can be used in this change.

God is doing a new thing, let’s not miss it. Isaiah 43:19 says, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”

Norm Edwards, the chairman of our board, just told me this story: “I heard of a professor in Burundi who asked his students if they thought that with God’s help they could change the course of Africa. He said no one raised a hand. Then at the end of the course, he asked again. This time, every student raised a hand. I believe progress is being made.” So do we!

Gary Edmonds

Courageous Leadership

November 15, 2008 in Building Leaders, Rwanda, Transformation | No comments

My heart was overjoyed as I read an email from Jacob, one of our partners in Rwanda, written from a conference hall in Goma, Congo. With artillery fire in the background, he taught a Vision Conference to 50 pastors who “were so excited about the training they received about how to wholistically develop their community. Even though each day was filled with tension due to the advancing threat, the men and women attending wouldn’t leave until the last minute and hungrily received all the materials we shared with them.” God protected the attendees in the midst of rebel attacks and blessed them. As one elderly pastor said, “We can’t liberate our people from dependency and poverty without learning these materials.”

Breakthrough Partners works with courageous and godly leaders who are facing hardships that most of us cannot comprehend. Gas prices have soared to $8 per gallon in Rwanda. Food prices have skyrocketed and availability is scarce. People who ate one meal per day now eat one meal every three days. The result – churches are swamped with cries for help.

We are walking daily with leaders like Jacob to give them encouragement, skills, resources and tools to rebuild lives and devastated communities in the most challenging of circumstances. These leaders need to be strengthened to actually break the poverty cycle, genocide ideology, moral corruption and animistic beliefs. They need wisdom to bring sustain-able biblical solutions to change their nations. This is the work of Breakthrough Partners.

Gary Edmonds

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