If You Really Want to HelpSýnishorn

What is your why?

I hope that these last few days have challenged you, even if just a little, to understand what it means to really help the poor. I hope I’ve given you some tools to examine the ministries you work with or the ways you personally interact with the poor.

But I want to stop for a moment and return to the topic I’ve talked about multiple times now — shifting mindsets. And I want to turn the lens back onto you – onto us. Why do you want to help the poor? Why should we help others? What is the point?

The Bible is full of commands to help the poor and marginalized. We know God cares about every part of His creation — from the smallest flower to you and me. And He asks us to care for His creation, His people.

I try to resist the tendency to over-spiritualize things, but it's impossible to separate the role my faith has played in the formation of 410 Bridge and how we operate as an organization. Andy Stanley said, “Following Jesus makes my life better and makes me better at life,” and that is true for me, and for the maize farmer in Kenya or the widowed mother in Uganda. And I believe it's true for you, too.

Following Jesus changed my life. When my business fell apart in 2003, I entered one of my life's most difficult seasons. I was a Christian then, but a friend reminded me that “there was a big difference between declaring Jesus Lord and allowing Him to lord over your life.” When I was at my lowest, I chose to give control of my life over to Christ. I surrendered. And while my circumstances didn’t immediately change, I woke the next morning with a sense of peace; the peace that transcends all understanding. That peace and that posture of surrender allowed me to hear God’s call when, shortly after, I saw those pictures of a broken-down school in Butalale.

At 410 Bridge, we believe that surrendering to God changes your life. That’s why we make it a point to partner with the Church – churches here and local churches there. Yes, we want to provide education, clean water, economic opportunity, and solutions that help people physically. After all, people are not souls without bodies. But we believe that those are short-term, temporal changes if we do not help them also shift their perspective to a Christian, biblical worldview.

A biblical Christian worldview provides the truth about the entirety of how the world works, a lens to evaluate every subject matter. That, in my view, is the secret sauce to solving the material poverty problem and sustaining that solution long after we leave a community. The two must go hand in hand. As you approach your own ministry or evaluate those you wish to partner with, ask yourself – what are they doing to shift people’s mindsets from one of poverty to one that is focused on God as the source of all life?

Then, turn that same question back on yourself. When it comes to your life, to your work, to your care for the poor, have you surrendered fully to Jesus? What is your why?

“If you really want to help, start addressing the people’s mindset.”

“If you really want to help, stop just doing projects.”

— Micah Mwati, Economic Development Coordinator.