08Jun 2011 by Nigel Ring

Development from a Christian perspective – Pt 3 – Characteristics of development agencies

Development, Equipping, Poor, Relief and Development
News First, the International eNews of Newfrontiers has just been published. Do you receive it? It is a newsletter which ‘visits’ four nations each month to bring updates of what is going on in and through Newfrontiers churches. To view it or receive this regularly click here. Now, lets return to the series on Christian Development. Having briefly seen the benefits which the gospel brings to Christian development I would like to look at some of the characteristics of the secular NGO or aid agency and of the church. Obviously I have to make some sweeping statements in such a short treatment of the topic and there are many exceptions to the examples I quote, but here goes! Some of the distinctive characteristics are typically: The Agency Expertise Resources Size…
Read More
30May 2011 by Nigel Ring

Kenya update – and some good news

Kenya, News, Poor, Relief and Development
Water in Samburu The rains have failed in April so the crisis continues. Yet there has come some recent hope of sustainable solutions for the future. Read this sms message just received from Edward Buria: ‘We are so overwhelmed by discovering water in our Wamba centre and we are now sinking a 3 million (£30,000) bore hole that will supply water to thousands ... also other good news is the Lengusaka sand dam project. We have done a lot of progress on that and hope to have all these projects commissioned before end of year'. The Wamba Centre Wamba is a key town in Samburu 4 hours north of Meru and in recent years Edward Buria and the Newfrontiers churches have established a major centre there to provide a base…
Read More
23May 2011 by Nigel Ring

Development Studies from a Christian perspective – pt 2 – Becoming contributors to Mission

Christian ministry, Development, Equipping, Poor
Having explored some of the definitions of ‘Development' and ‘the Poor' in the last blog we will now look at some of the differences between the world's and church-based models. First, I would like to look at a variant of Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of need. Maslow's pyramid of need Maslow was a psychologist who developed a theory of how our actions are determined by our physical and emotional states. In his pyramid he has five levels of need: 1. The physiological needs - food, water etc 2. The safety and security needs - protection including housing 3. The love and belonging needs - the need for belonging in a community 4. The esteem needs - personal recognition by the community 5. Self actualisation - to be what you are meant…
Read More
17May 2011 by Nigel Ring

Development Studies – Christian cf Secular pt 1

Development, Equipping, Poor
Recently I gathered the students from my church, Church of Christ the King in Brighton, UK, who were taking degrees or modules in Development Studies from the local universities. I had become aware that these courses, being secular in nature, tend to discourage our students by having little place for the spiritual dimension of mankind. And yet, if true transformation is going to take place - which must be one of the major goals of any development programme - it is important to address the ‘inner man' not just the outward circumstances. Understandably, secular courses do not make room for such a consideration. What is Development? We began the evening by asking the question ‘What is Development?' On a flip-chart I was able to write contributions from them such as…
Read More
09May 2011 by Nigel Ring

Ministry Health Check pt 6 – The ‘NGO’ statements

Christian ministry, Equipping, Evaluation, Good Practice
Last time we looked at the statements that have a spiritual impact. In this final part of the series I list those statements that we would expect to apply to any work of this nature, whether Christian or secular, NGO or Aid Agency. These are coloured green in the PowerPoint presentation. 9. Who? It is clear who the ministry is for, why we are doing it and what is the best approach It is known what other ministries provide a good model and where there are the gaps in provision It is known what service clients want 10. When? The ministry has clearly defined objectives and activities with a structured schedule and budget There are short, medium and long term plans with a built in flexibility so as to be…
Read More
02May 2011 by Nigel Ring

Ministry Health Check pt 5 – The ‘spiritual’ statements

Christian ministry, Equipping, Evaluation, Good Practice
What are the other statements? Having shared some examples of statements let me now provide the full list in this and the next posting. Written here they seem somewhat overwhelming but please do not be put off! For clarification on any of these please refer to the series which I posted Sept - Dec 2009 where I described the 20 basic Key Indicators. These statements have been created around those Indicators. The statements are grouped under common headings, as shared in part 1 of this series. This grouping is reflected in the PowerPoint slides which are coloured according to the group. The complete presentation may be downloaded here. The orange ones are 1. Spiritual Oversight The ministry is apostolically endorsed The elders of the local church oversee and support the…
Read More