Better World Magazine - June 2023 Edition

BETTER WORLD

What’s Wrong With Charity?

Helping Communities Survive Disaster

Andrew Turner: Is Addressing Poverty Really Mission?

Philippians 1:4-5

‘In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.’

Partnering For A Better World

‘Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much’—Helen

After losing both sight and hearing in early childhood, Helen Keller spent years isolated in a dark, silent world before she met teacher Anne Sullivan. Working with Helen’s strengths, Anne found innovative ways to help her overcome the barriers she faced, and Helen went on to become a world-renowned speaker, author, and disability advocate—from darkness to full life through partnership.

At Baptist World Aid, we hold partnership in high regard. So much so that our most recent annual staff gathering, Vision Day, focused on celebrating all that God does through us in partnership —with himself, his people, and those in vulnerable communities. Our development approach is informed by this commitment to partnership—equipping and empowering people to identify their strengths and resolve challenges

for themselves, wherever possible. You can read more about this unique approach on page 6.

Everything we do is anchored in a belief that people thrive in healthy, dignified collaboration. It’s true of our staff, and it’s reflected in the warm relationships we foster with our local Christian Partners, who we celebrate on page 8. Indeed, this same spirit of partnership is evident in our relationship with individual supporters and churches as together, in prayer and action, we strive towards a better world for all. I hope you enjoy our interview with Clovercrest Baptist Church (page 12) which gives a glimpse into one of these partnerships.

God made us to work in partnership with each other and with himself. In Matthew 26, Jesus tells us that we serve and love him best when we love and care for others. You can find out what this looks like in times of disaster, long after the media attention fades, on page 10. And don’t miss our guest contributor, Andrew Turner, Director of Crossover for Australian Baptist Ministries, who explores the question, ‘Is addressing poverty really mission?’ on page 14. It’s a good question with an answer that might surprise some.

Partnership is powerful. Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan showed us that a good partnership can transform a seemingly hopeless situation into so much more than we can imagine. I’m thankful to be partnering with you for the same reason.

Because of Jesus,

BETTER WORLD BRIEFINGS

13,476

PEOPLE IN KENYA so far have received food packages from our Partner to survive the hunger crisis.

BANGLADESH TO MARKET WE GO

Community farmers in Bangladesh have struggled since COVID lockdowns, with limited opportunities to earn enough income and feed their families. Our Partner has provided 2,175 farmers with training in vegetable and goat farming techniques, and connected them to markets where they can sell their produce. This helped increase productivity in 95 per cent of households, which enables families to emerge from poverty.

A LEADER IS BORN

As a 45-year-old mother of six living in Malawi, Chiwa* knows firsthand the benefits that financial autonomy can bring.

But this wasn’t always the case. Living in Malawi, Chiwa left school at an early age, and now runs a farm with her husband while caring for her children. Until recently, Chiwa’s family and community were struggling. Child abuse and child labour were commonplace in her town, and children often didn’t attend school. Chiwa had no financial independence, and this caused stress and conflict in her household.

Chiwa’s life improved when her children joined our local Christian Partner’s Child Club, and she became involved with our Partner’s work. Today, she is vice chairperson of her Village Development Committee and participates in many initiatives, including a community chicken program that provides families with

poultry so they can improve their nutrition and earn a livelihood. This has helped diversify her family’s income, ensuring her children are well fed and able to learn at school.

Chiwa now understands her rights, and the rights of her children. She has increased financial autonomy, and there is peace in her family. ‘More children should access education [so they can] become future leaders,’ she said.

*name changed

UGANDA

NOT YOUR AVERAGE SOAP

High inflation and years of COVID restrictions have left many people in Uganda vulnerable to poverty. In one district, our Partner helped young people build their financial independence by teaching 50 Youth Group members how to produce liquid soap. The groups ran their businesses without any support— one group increased its production from 40 litres of soap to 200 litres!

CAMBODIA SAFETY FROM HUMAN TRAFFICKING

When our Partner in Cambodia identified 9,835 people at risk of trafficking, unsafe migration, and sexual abuse in two provinces, they provided training to help them decrease their risk, and taught 278 family leaders how to protect their families. Now, 98 per cent of targeted caregivers in one of these provinces don’t leave their child alone at home, compared to 44 per cent when the project started.

‘Involving children has not only given them a platform to express their views and advocate for the protection of their rights; [it has] improved their communication skills.’

—OUR PARTNER IN UGANDA ON THE VALUE OF CHILD-LED PROJECTS

In one Ugandan community, the number of mothers giving birth with a skilled attendant rose from 67% TO 80% OVER THREE YEARS.

5,914

HOUSEHOLDS in Lebanon so far have received essentials from our Partner to stay warm in the harsh winter.

LEBANON EDUCATION IS A RIGHT

Many marginalised children in Lebanon can’t go to school, but our Partner’s education centre means they don’t have to miss out on learning. Of the 315 students who completed the school year in 2022, 94 per cent have now moved on to the next level. And 65 children with special needs are receiving interventions such as speech therapy. ‘I can understand my daughter better, thanks to the communication signs we learned,’ one mother said.

TÜRKIYE AND SYRIA EARTHQUAKE RELIEF

When deadly earthquakes struck Türkiye and Syria on 6 February, our Partner in the region was quick to provide emergency aid to those who lost their homes. Our Partner provided around 7,000 families with emergency food baskets, blankets, winter clothing, and hygiene kits, so people could survive this critical time. UKRAINE

FUEL TO SURVIVE

As war rages on in Ukraine, our Partners and Baptist churches in the region have not stopped assisting those impacted by conflict. One Partner provided 320,131 people with food parcels filled with pasta, tinned meat, energy bars, and other non-perishable items. And the Baptist Union of Ukraine recently distributed 229 generators to Ukrainian churches with no electricity due to damaged power grids.

ETHICAL FASHION

SOME WINS, BUT MORE TO GO

Fashion companies that took part in Baptist World Aid’s Ethical Fashion Report in 2013 and 2022 have lifted their game, outperforming the full cohort of companies assessed last year (including brands that are new to the report) by more than 11 points. This shows the value of ongoing public accountability, advocacy, and efforts from companies to produce clothes more ethically. Much more progress is needed to ensure workers have safe working conditions, living wages, and human rights. To read more on

LOVE THESE STORIES?

the current state of play, visit bwaa.co/ethicalfashion-10yrs

NEPAL RAISING HER VOICE

Hundreds of women in Nepal are gathering each month in SelfHelp Groups to raise their voices and advocate for their rights. In these groups, women have learnt how to write their names, and discovered the importance of personal hygiene and sanitation. They are also strategising how to eradicate gender-based violence and caste-based discrimination in their communities.

◀ Create more good news for communities around the world by giving your family and friends a Better World Gift. bwaa.co/gift-hope.

What’s Wrong With Charity?

The power of partnering with communities

When she was 13 years old, Soneka (pictured above) was married. Only a few years later, this young mother from northern Bangladesh became a widow— and during this time, she found her strength. After her husband’s death, she tended the family’s small plot of land, growing small harvests and travelling long distances to sell them. But it was never enough to meet the family’s needs.

We hear many stories that begin like Soneka’s from our local Christian Partners across 24 countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, and Kenya . Poverty can keep many communities trapped in a cycle of hard work for little reward over generations. For these hardworking, diligent, and determined

men and women, the obstacles to a flourishing life cannot be overcome by grit alone.

Soneka’s breakthrough began when our local Christian Partner launched a pilot program in her village to help farmers grow produce, and access local markets for consistent and fair opportunities to sell their crops. Soneka joined the program and learnt how to make her own organic fertiliser, plant a diversified harvest, and invest in higher quality seeds.

‘This project helped me increase my yields, improve the quality of my crops, and be better informed,’ Soneka said. ‘I’m now more confident and ultimately better equipped to negotiate for better prices.’

‘This project helped me increase my yields, improve the quality of my crops, and be better informed.’

—SONEKA

Projects like this one are broadly called Community Development: an approach that uses what a community already has in their ‘hands’—their skills, strengths, and resources— to address their needs. Community members identify and tackle the challenges holding back their families, businesses, and communities.

In real terms, this means supporting education, agriculture and livelihood training, health and sanitation, rights training that mitigates the risk of exploitation, and disaster awareness and preparedness. And it always involves working with local leaders to ensure that the community, not the assisting organisation, is leading the way.

It’s a far cry from the way countries like Australia once offered humanitarian aid. While well intentioned, it was often harmful in the long term when foreign agencies entered communities as ‘experts,’ undertaking to solve problems as they saw them. The result was disempowered people, and projects that often floundered when the organisation pulled out. Local expertise and intelligence were often ignored, so solutions were less effective and sustainable because they weren’t informed by local insight.

Baptist World Aid is committed to working with not for communities—co-creating solutions that address not just immediate needs, but also the underlying causes of poverty. Community Development ensures long-term change because it’s driven by the community themselves. Our Christian Partners identify, support, and equip local leaders and volunteers to drive projects, so development continues long after our Partners have moved on to assist other communities.

‘We believe local people understand local needs better, and they’re best placed to identify solutions that are often simpler and less expensive than we could imagine,’ said Fiona Smith, Director of International Programs at Baptist World Aid.

Since joining the Community Development project in her community, Soneka has doubled the size of her farming land, and increased her net return by 75 per cent. Over the past two years, she’s used her increasing income to build a new house for her family of seven, construct a toilet, and buy two cows.

Soneka did this. It was not done for her. But she needed a partner. Community development is about partnering with communities—our Christian Partners bring their know-how and expertise, and people like Soneka bring their farming experience, grit and passion for their community. It’s a partnership of equals, where each party shares equally in the image of God.

‘God could elect to transform the world here on earth without us, yet he chooses to invite us to partner with him.’ Fiona Smith said, ‘And I believe God does this because he values being in relationship. When we bring our different gifts, culture, and experiences together like organs in the body, we’re strengthened—and so is the work we do.’

Soneka now looks to the future. Her dream is ‘to educate my three grandchildren.’ And she also wants to ‘help other widows because the world is cruel to us.’

At its core, Community Development is about empowering people to muster their strengths and resources to create longterm change. This approach is a vivid demonstration of the Kingdom of God at work, as it values the dignity and equal worth of every person, and seeks to restore relationships and build thriving communities.

To help continue this work, give today. bwaa.co/give-cd ▶

‘Local people understand local needs better, and they’re best placed to identify solutions that are often simpler and less expensive than we could imagine.’

—FIONA SMITH

LAST YEAR, OUR PARTNERS WORKED WITH 10,924 PEOPLE TO ADOPT IMPROVED AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES.

▲ Syria: Our Partners in East Lebanon are members of the local church. Here they’re helping displaced people from Syria rebuild their makeshift homes after a snowstorm.

◀ Kenya: Our Partner Charles is with Mary, who is a member of her village’s Savings and Loans group. She purchased a goat with her loan to generate an income.

▼ Bangladesh: Our Partner Snigdha is a physiotherapist. She provides therapy for children with special needs, and trains mothers to provide physical therapy for their children.

Postcards From

▼ Solomon Islands: Our Partner Florence is running literacy groups in villages, helping girls and women of all ages learn how to read.

Our Partners

◀ Cambodia: 18-year-old Mei (left) is a volunteer with one of our Partner’s projects. She leads a group of young people to regularly remove rubbish from their village, and dreams of a better future for youth like her.

▼ Nepal: Baptist World Aid staff members loved visiting our Partners in Nepal recently, and seeing firsthand how they’re helping communities create positive change.

▲ Lebanon: Nisrine took part in our Partner’s sewing program, and now enjoys making clothes for her children. Here she is with her trainer (right) and a leader from the church (left) that runs the program.

▼ Nepal: Our Partner Meeta explains how Self-Help Groups are helping people in rural Nepal earn an income, feed their families, and find solutions to poverty.

WHEN THE SPOTLIGHT FADES

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE MEDIA STOPS PAYING ATTENTION TO A DISASTER?

When missiles first hit Ukraine in the early hours of 24 February, it wasn’t long until screens around the world started buzzing, monopolised by images of an escalating war.

Donations poured in as people rushed to help communities shattered by air raids and artillery barrages. But the spotlight didn’t last. The media moved on to the next story, and recently, as the war passed the oneyear mark, donations have dwindled.

‘Today the war in Ukraine is not a frontpage topic,’ said Allan Bussard, director of Baptist World Aid’s Christian Partner in the region. ‘The end is nowhere in sight, and the spontaneous outpouring of help is over.’

‘But millions of people in Ukraine are still without access to necessities like water, food, healthcare, sanitation, gas, and electricity.’

When media coverage fades after a flood, earthquake, or the initial shock of war, it’s easy to forget about the devastated communities left picking up the pieces. That’s why Kelsea Clingeleffer, Baptist World Aid’s International Programs Coordinator, believes providing support isn’t a one-off response. ‘Disaster management is an entire spectrum—from helping people prepare, to providing emergency relief and supporting recovery,’ she said.

And it’s a collaborative effort between impacted communities, governments, churches, organisations, and donors. ‘Being part of the

body of Christ means we work together to help our neighbours, whether they’re facing a major disaster or a minor one that doesn’t even make the news,’ Kelsea added.

This work starts well before a disaster occurs. Living on a fault line or flood plain isn’t the only factor that makes someone vulnerable to disaster. A community’s social and economic situation can also determine its chances of survival.

‘Our Partner’s disaster preparation work is closely tied with helping communities tackle problems like poverty, child malnutrition, and lack of women’s rights,’ Kelsea said. ‘If parents are earning an income and families have enough to eat, when disaster comes, they’ll be in a better position to recover.’

When deadly earthquakes hit Türkiye and Syria on 6 February this year, our Partner in the region immediately helped Syrian churches provide aid. To continue their efforts, Baptist World Aid supporters, over 11,000 kilometres away, helped provide around 7,000 families in Syria with food baskets, warm clothing, and hygiene kits—and that was just a fraction of the assistance provided by God’s people around the world, working together as one body.

This work doesn’t cease, even when the media’s spotlight fades. After a disaster, recovery is a process that can take years—especially when a disaster impacts an area already in a state of crisis, such as an earthquake in a conflict zone.

Once people can meet their basic needs, emergency relief transitions into building a new normal: replacing tents with homes, reopening schools, restoring financial security, healing from trauma. Assistance is provided in consultation with community members, who determine what support is helpful to them.

Addressing specific disaster risks is also vital, even though this kind of work doesn’t often grab the media’s attention. According to the National Institute of Building Sciences, every dollar invested in disaster mitigation can save six dollars in recovery costs.

Last year, our Partners helped 97 communities develop disaster risk reduction plans, with measures ranging from stabilising flood-prone riverbanks, to creating evacuation procedures. In Kenya, for example, our Partner has long been helping farmers switch to droughtresistant varieties of green grams that require around 20 per cent less water than usual crops to thrive. As the region faces severe drought, those farmers are still able to harvest.

But what about when a disaster strikes? Every second counts, but providing immediate aid is no small task if you’re crossing oceans, entering conflict zones, or don’t yet know what people need.

Our local Christian Partners are often best placed to offer emergency relief. With networks in impacted communities, they can quickly reach people and ascertain their needs.

This is the situation many displaced people from Ukraine are currently in. More than 8.1 million refugees from Ukraine have been recorded across Europe since the war began, many of them living in Slovakia and Poland

As the war continues, their needs have shifted from emergency relief to long-term support— and our Partners, along with Baptist Unions in Eastern Europe, are providing help. Parents are finding employment, and children are attending school. People are accessing counselling services, legal assistance, medical services, and financial support as they look for work in a new country.

It’s a story of resilience that continues, long after the spotlight fades.

LAST

Partner with us to help save lives before, during and after disaster strikes.

bwaa.co/give-daf ▶

‘Disaster management is an entire spectrum—from helping people prepare, to providing emergency relief and supporting recovery.’

—KELSEA CLINGELEFFER

YEAR DISASTERS IMPACTED OVER 185 MILLION PEOPLE.

Meaningful Mission

How one church discovered less is much more

What does it mean to be a church with an ‘earthy approach’ to Christianity?

According to Mike Stevens, Lead Pastor at Clovercrest Baptist, it looks a little like this.

‘We’ve always been a community minded church,’ said Mike. ‘A local former mayor calls us the seven-days-a-week church because there’s always something happening here.’

On any given day in Adelaide’s north-eastern suburbs, Clovercrest—better known as Clovie—is full of life. As well as the usual church services and mid-week activities, Clovie facilitates several hands-on, communitybased programs including an op shop, a café and playground, and a thriving food ministry to 8,000 Adelaideans. They’re deeply committed to loving their neighbours.

But what is less visible from the outside is Clovie’s commitment to supporting their far-off neighbours through missional organisations, including Baptist World Aid.

‘Mission and humanitarian aid are part of the heartbeat of our church,’ Mike said. Clovie seeks to live out the Great Commission, as well as honoring Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:44-45: ‘They also will answer, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?” He will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”’

With such a compelling vision, is there a danger of doing too much? According to Mike, there is. ‘We used to adopt missions

‘Mission and humanitarian aid are part of the heartbeat of our church.’

—MIKE STEVENS

as our people brought them to the church’s attention,’ he said. ‘But with many outwardlooking people, we were financially supporting lots of organisations without really partnering with any of them. We wanted to do better.’

About seven years ago, Clovie revolutionised their approach to mission. Now they choose a few organisations and commit to a very intentional partnership. While they still encourage their people to support missions God puts on their hearts, the church as a whole concentrates on just a few.

‘To us, it’s about more than money,’ said Mike. ‘We want to get to know the people, understand their world, pray for them, financially support them, and if possible, visit them.’

Through Baptist World Aid, Clovie has developed a strong partnership with the people of Kapilvastu, Nepal. It’s an area facing significant challenges and widespread poverty.

This partnership began in 2019 when Mike accompanied Baptist World Aid staff on a trip to Kenya. It was there that he saw a powerful methodology of Community Development in action. When he returned home, Clovie’s team considered whether they could play a role supporting communities that were emerging from poverty.

Baptist World Aid’s church partnership program emerged as a great opportunity for Clovie to form a meaningful partnership with the people of Kapilvastu, Nepal. With a goal of seeing the end of poverty in the region by 2030, Clovie has previously funded an education trainer, and this year will invest in improving agricultural practices in the region. These initiatives are already making a difference, with some farmers tripling their crops within a couple of seasons, and 20 per cent more girls staying in school because of their family’s economic improvements.

Funds are collected through Baptist World Aid’s Child Sponsorship program and Clovie’s ‘Heart for the House’—their yearly call for people to go beyond their regular contributions to church, and give generously.

And the blessings aren’t just one way. ‘It’s a blessing to participate in the mission of God, and have the opportunity to be part of change,’ said Mike. ‘This partnership helps us keep walking it out. It keeps our eyes lifted to what God is doing and keeps us outward focused’.

FIVE WAYS CHURCHES CAN HELP END POVERTY

1 Pray. Ask God to continue his powerful work through the body of Christ to end poverty so that all people can enjoy fullness of life.

2 Show hospitality. Think of ways your church space and resources can be used to provide meals for people experiencing homelessness in your neighbourhood throughout the week.

3 Partner locally. Consider practical ways your church can partner with people living in poverty across Australia. Arrange a group to volunteer for a local food ministry or provide regular assistance with daily tasks to vulnerable people in your area.

4 Shop ethically. Join us in speaking out to brands, your social circles, and our government to influence change for the 60 million garment workers around the world who may be working in unjust, exploitative conditions.

5 Fundraise your way. Fundraising is a powerful way for your church to partner with its local community and support people in need. Consider hosting a car wash, trivia night or clothes swap event, or organise a Fun Run to help end poverty.

◀ WANT TO DISCUSS A CHURCH PARTNERSHIP WITH US? WE’D LOVE TO CHAT. VISIT BWAA.CO/CHURCH

Is Addressing Poverty Really Mission?

Is partnering with people living in poverty and equipping them to address the injustices in their communities really mission, or is mission solely measured in numbers of ‘souls saved’?

Would the real mission please stand up? It’s all too easy to think that one’s own particular form of ministry is the real one. That our part of the body of Christ is the main part, whereas others are trivial, laughable, or even detrimental. But when we think like that, we’re not really being like Christ at all, let alone his ‘main’ representatives.

Australian Christianity has some great ‘mouth ministries’ focused on sharing the message of God’s kingdom, and some wonderful ‘hand ministries’ focused on relief and development work. Both should be considered equally

spiritual—the Holy Spirit animates the whole body. But similarly, neither can claim that it alone is doing God’s mission without the other (see 1 Corinthians 12-13).

Baptists aren’t into the hand punching the mouth and the mouth biting the hand—we’ve better things to do together. Mouth ministries have many reasons to be grateful for hand ministries. What do they do for the gospel? They enact it; they embody it; they vindicate it. All the practical ways that Christians humble themselves and work for the benefit of others ‘make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive’ (Titus 2:1-15). It’s

not Baptist World Aid’s first motivation, but when an Australian Baptist opens their mouth to talk about Jesus, they get a better hearing because of Baptist World Aid.

Likewise, hand ministries have many reasons to be grateful for mouth ministries. True ‘saving of souls’ is never detached from poverty alleviation, tangible emancipation, and community development. A soul’s salvation is not a mere ticket to heaven or (God forbid) a get-out-of-social-responsibility-free card.

On the contrary, a soul saved is a radical rescue from selfishness, empty materialism, and other enslaving ideologies and powers. A person who hears and receives the invitation into God’s kingdom enters a process of sanctification and a call to ministry, to (as Australians bluntly put it) ‘become part of the solution instead of part of the problem’. It’s a process, I know. But the message of Jesus as true Lord and true Saviour is essential in the full emancipation of individuals, families, and communities.

YOU GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT

“Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.” He replied, “You give them something to eat.”—Luke 9:12-13

At the sight of the hungry crowds, the disciples’ first instinct is to ask Jesus to make ‘the problem’ go away. Send them off and make them someone else’s need to meet.

So, let’s press on with working together. Plenty of us are significantly involved in both mouth and hand ministries. We’ve found that actions speak louder than words and words speak clearer than actions. The great news of full redemption comes across loud and clear only as the whole body works together in the whole mission of God.

Andrew Turner is Director of Crossover for Australian Baptist Ministries—a (mouth) ministry focused on helping Australian Baptists share Jesus.

But Jesus sees the hunger in its very present need and says to the disciples—and to us—‘you give them something.’ Incredulous, the disciples need some event-planning assistance to get their heads around this, so Jesus directs them to arrange the people into groups. And then he asks them to share what they brought. He takes what they have in their hands and multiplies it—by a lot!

While this is a story about Jesus’ miraculous multiplication, it is also about a willingness to share. For us today, being people who offer what we have is a radical move in a world where we’re encouraged to self-protect first.

◀ SCAN HERE TO READ MORE OF ‘SO THEY CAN EAT’, A DEVOTIONAL ON GOD’S RESPONSE TO HUNGER, OR VISIT BWAA.CO/READ-DEVOTIONAL

“True ‘saving of souls’ is never detached from poverty alleviation, tangible emancipation, and community development.”

—ANDREW TURNER

12 YEARS

GLOBAL CHILD MARRIAGE WOULD BE

IF EVERY GIRL HAD OF EDUCATION REDUCED BY 64%.

Our Christian Partners help girls stay at school so whole communities can flourish. As a Better World Ambassador, you can be part of this work—and more.

When you give monthly as a BETTER WORLD AMBASSADOR , you help create change in places where injustice and poverty hit people the hardest. For more information, visit bwaa.co/bwambassador ▶