2. Local Do-Gooder. This person says, “I’m already a soup kitchen volunteer, a member of seven church committees, and a quilting be queen!  Isn’t what I do in my own community enough?”

In answer I say, “Yes it’s enough, and also no.”  There’s no brighter star from Jesus for caring for someone in Ethiopia versus someone in your neighborhood.  The problem is, though, we’re already connected to the rest of the world, whether we like it or not.  We’re part of systems and we hurt the poor in subtle ways through what we buy, how we spend our time and don’t spend our time.

Our world is ridiculously unequal and growing more so every day.  In 1820, incomes in the wealthiest countries of the world were only about four times the incomes in the poorest nations.  Now the average person in countries like the U.S., Japan, and the Netherlands earns over ninety times as much as the average person in Chad, D.R. Congo, or Haiti!

These are times like those in which the prophet Amos spoke when he said:

Few of us would ever knowingly rip a poor kid out of school, take away his breakfast, or take away his daddy’s job.  But we do this indirectly through the systems we participate in.  Do some research on U.S. and European farm subsidies and their global impact, or…. and you’ll see the problem isn’t so much about having to start a new club to collect joy boxes of crayons for African villages, it’s about fixing inequalities at the global level.  To get involved at this level, check out JubileeUSA, the One campaign or the the Each Campaign—easy projects to support from within your busy schedule.

Either we’ll intentionally help the global poor, or we’ll unintentionally hurt them.  Which are you doing?