Comments on: Do Our Attempts to Help the Poor Actually Hurt? http://mrshomeschool.com/blog/265/do-our-attempts-to-help-the-poor-actually-hurt/ The Voice for Today's Multiple Revenue Streams Homeschool WAHMs Tue, 08 May 2012 21:32:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: jim http://mrshomeschool.com/blog/265/do-our-attempts-to-help-the-poor-actually-hurt/comment-page-1/#comment-65 jim Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:34:37 +0000 http://mrshomeschool.com/blog/265/do-our-attempts-to-help-the-poor-actually-hurt/#comment-65 what a great concept for a book! I'm going to read this one. The inner-city ministry I'm helping organize with Kevin Ramsby (look for him on youtube) is exactly what you are talking about. Teach men to fish! Don't just hand them a fish. The Internet (and in our case specifically ebay) is a powerful tool that can be used by just about anyone in westernized cultures to pursue business success. For those in third world countries we need to find ways to support their God given entrepreneurial drive (micro loan programs are exactly that). Thanks for the inspiring reminder and great discussion. what a great concept for a book! I’m going to read this one. The inner-city ministry I’m helping organize with Kevin Ramsby (look for him on youtube) is exactly what you are talking about. Teach men to fish! Don’t just hand them a fish. The Internet (and in our case specifically ebay) is a powerful tool that can be used by just about anyone in westernized cultures to pursue business success. For those in third world countries we need to find ways to support their God given entrepreneurial drive (micro loan programs are exactly that). Thanks for the inspiring reminder and great discussion.

]]> By: admin http://mrshomeschool.com/blog/265/do-our-attempts-to-help-the-poor-actually-hurt/comment-page-1/#comment-64 admin Tue, 06 Jul 2010 03:17:37 +0000 http://mrshomeschool.com/blog/265/do-our-attempts-to-help-the-poor-actually-hurt/#comment-64 Carol, Thank you for your insightful comments! I don't see why internet businesses could not be setup as micro-enterprises, but I am no expert! I may have to pick the brain of someone who knows a bit more about this! You did bring up something that has been weighing on us recently and that is the whole idea of short term missions trips. I know that it is VERY hard for most of us to take more than a week or so to do anything, let alone missions, but I've been wondering what kind of lasting impact our family could have on just a 1-2 week trip? Most people don't come to know the Lord through such a short time of interactions with Christians. Not that it can't happen or that someone couldn't have an impact on a community in that amount of time, but it just seems like missions should be more relationship based. It's hard to build a relationship in a week or two. That being said, I've never been on a missions trip before. With longer term missions, the cost of the trip is spread out over a longer amount of time, the impact can be greater because you get to know people...but the "personal" cost of leaving home is high. We recently heard someone tell us that he'd wanted to do mission work for a long time, but it never worked out and I wondered if his fear of leaving the US was keeping him from going. Anyways...I could talk about this all day! Thanks again and I'll be checking out those links you shared! Carol, Thank you for your insightful comments! I don’t see why internet businesses could not be setup as micro-enterprises, but I am no expert! I may have to pick the brain of someone who knows a bit more about this!

You did bring up something that has been weighing on us recently and that is the whole idea of short term missions trips. I know that it is VERY hard for most of us to take more than a week or so to do anything, let alone missions, but I’ve been wondering what kind of lasting impact our family could have on just a 1-2 week trip? Most people don’t come to know the Lord through such a short time of interactions with Christians. Not that it can’t happen or that someone couldn’t have an impact on a community in that amount of time, but it just seems like missions should be more relationship based. It’s hard to build a relationship in a week or two.

That being said, I’ve never been on a missions trip before. With longer term missions, the cost of the trip is spread out over a longer amount of time, the impact can be greater because you get to know people…but the “personal” cost of leaving home is high. We recently heard someone tell us that he’d wanted to do mission work for a long time, but it never worked out and I wondered if his fear of leaving the US was keeping him from going.

Anyways…I could talk about this all day! Thanks again and I’ll be checking out those links you shared!

]]> By: Carol Montgomery http://mrshomeschool.com/blog/265/do-our-attempts-to-help-the-poor-actually-hurt/comment-page-1/#comment-62 Carol Montgomery Mon, 05 Jul 2010 02:45:32 +0000 http://mrshomeschool.com/blog/265/do-our-attempts-to-help-the-poor-actually-hurt/#comment-62 Excellent article, Susan! We really need to consider this topic seriously. Several years ago we learned from a the founder of Gospel to Asia, K.P.Yohannan, that for the cost of one short-term missions trip, a local, native-speaking pastor could minister to his people for one year! See http://www.gfa.org/ So, it's important to hear God's priorities on the matter. Also, a couple of years ago one of our friends began to participate in the Anglican "Five Talents" program of micro-enterprise: http://www.fivetalents.org/ I wonder if there's a way that internet businesses could be set up as "micro-enterprises"--maybe even with an Ebay presence? (We don't do Ebay yet, so I don't know if that's even reasonable.) In any case, teaching someone basic Christian business principles and helping equip them for success is a wonderful gift! Sometimes it only requires a gift of $50 to change an entire village via micro-enterprises. Abundant blessings to those who give--Lk. 6:38 Excellent article, Susan! We really need to consider this topic seriously.

Several years ago we learned from a the founder of Gospel to Asia, K.P.Yohannan, that for the cost of one short-term missions trip, a local, native-speaking pastor could minister to his people for one year! See http://www.gfa.org/ So, it’s important to hear God’s priorities on the matter.

Also, a couple of years ago one of our friends began to participate in the Anglican “Five Talents” program of micro-enterprise: http://www.fivetalents.org/ I wonder if there’s a way that internet businesses could be set up as “micro-enterprises”–maybe even with an Ebay presence? (We don’t do Ebay yet, so I don’t know if that’s even reasonable.) In any case, teaching someone basic Christian business principles and helping equip them for success is a wonderful gift! Sometimes it only requires a gift of $50 to change an entire village via micro-enterprises. Abundant blessings to those who give–Lk. 6:38

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