Holistic Witness

Churches are so important in community life - this is something that is particularly true in many African cultures. They touch a huge part of the population every week with their activities and services. Public health experts have, for years, known that if you really want to make a change - get the religious community involved!

I've been working with a church that has a vision of being a "holistic witness." They wanted to address the very real and present danger of malaria - which has killed many within their community - as a way to show people the love of God.

Because of a financial donation I was able to buy 500 mosquito nets and train church volunteers on malaria prevention and proper use of the nets. The pastor gave the volunteers a short devotional to use while distributing the nets; tying the action of malaria prevention with God's love and His desire for us to be healthy.

The only requirement for a home to receive a net was that there needed to be a child under the age of 5 in the home and/or a pregnant woman (these are the two populations the most at risk for death by malaria). People were not required to accept Christ, come to the church, or even hear the devotional if they didn't want to. But the goal was to let people know that they were loved by God.

Last week I returned to the church community to see how the project went. The energy and excitement of the volunteers was obvious as they talked about going door to door, teaching on malaria, handing out nets, and telling people about God's love.

As we walked around the community, visiting a few homes that had received nets, it was obvious that the project on been a success - for both the church and the community. Everywhere we went the volunteers were known, greeted people by name and could tell a story about that particular family. They were obviously well received and appreciated as people came up to greet them. Many individuals talked about how much they appreciated the church being involved in their daily, regular lives.

The pastor reported that, despite the church having no "church'y" criteria to receive a net, that every Sunday approximately 40 new people have been coming to church, because of the program. He also said that there were several families that had been very antagonistic with towards the church. But those families happened to have small children in them, so the church gave them nets and told them God loved them. It transformed their relationships and the disputes have stopped. The families still don't go to church - but they suddenly see it as a positive presence in their lives.

Change......Transformation.......one person at a time......one relationship at a time. Inward change can and should produces outward results......and sometimes outward change produces inward results. A holistic witnesss - it's what we're all about!!