Outreach and Private Business Part 1

The whole area of Christian outreach is one that continues to confuse me. We are the wealthiest nation on earth and even the poorest people here in the US would be considered rich in the rest of the world. We spend billions of dollars as a nation both through governmental programs and non-profit outreach, trying to "help" people in need, yet the problems only seem to grow worse. In addition, when you begin to understand and truly see the breadth of the problems, it seems almost overwhelming. The more these organizations do, the more handouts they give, the more it seems that people become dependent on them, and people who are dependent on other people or the government, never develop a real sense of self worth. They eventually become bitter and resentful, people need to feel and believe they have a hand in solving their own problems. The "welfare" type solutions just don't work. The real way to help others is to give them a hand-up, not a handout. To develop a program where the people you are trying to help are part of creating the solutions, where they are being allowed to develop long term social economic solutions that work within their particular community. In addition, it needs to involve a component that allows them in turn to "reach out" to those who are less fortunate than them. If we could integrate an outreach component to the outreach we are doing it would radically change the way all of us look at need.