Mission: Healthy, Sustainable Communities
In the First Post, I shared some thoughts on the goal of establishing healthy communities of faith. I also shared an article from Relevant Magazine about wealth in the world. To go further with these thoughts, a series of questions must be asked. Certain definitions must be established. This is true of many ventures in life. It is especially true in our Christian mission of sharing the Gospel with the world. Without a clear definition of terms, our mission will miss its mark!
Mission: Questions to Ask
For this post, I only want to ask some questions. The answers will come later in the series. So here, in no particular order, are some questions we must answer:
- What causes poverty?
- Is wealth somehow evil? (Remember that camel & the eye of a needle thing…)
- Is poverty a problem or the symptom of another problem?
Mission: Good Definitions
One of my favorite movies is I Robot, with Will Smith. In that movie, Will Smith’s character is led on a trail of discovery by a computer generated hologram of a scientist who was killed. Smith’s job, as a detective, is to solve the murder. When Smith asks the wrong question, the hologram character says it cannot respond. However, when Smith asks the right question, the hologram says:
That dectective, is the right question!
Asking the right questions leads to the right conclusion. It is the same with definitions. The definitions are related to the questions. So here, in no certain order, are some definitions this series will help to establish so we can ask good questions:
- What is health? (healthy communities of faith)
- What is wealth?
- What is poverty?
So before I just head off down this trail of definitions and questions, why don’t you engage with me and ponder your own answers and definitions. Who knows, your questions and definitions may be better than what I have to share!