FRIDAY 16th March 1984

WORLD VISION'S KEY OBJECTIVE - PART 2

READING: 1 Corinthians 12:12-13               English - Cindy   Chinese - Vera

12 Our bodies have many parts, but the many parts make up only one body when they are all put together. So it is with the "body" of Christ.

Each of us is a part of the one body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves and some are free. But the Holy Spirit has fitted us all together into one body. We have been baptized into Christ's body by the one Spirit, and have all been given that same Holy Spirit.

COMMENTARY                                                  Elizabeth
 

The key objective of World Vision is;

  • to glorify God;
  • by enabling people to work, pray and give;
  • to increase the number and spread, in every country in the world;
  • of those who know Jesus Christ;
  • and follow him;
  • in his care of children;
  • in his concern for the neighbour;
  • in his preaching of the good news of the Kingdom;
  • and in his selection and training of leaders.

This is the way that Rev Tom Houston describes our purpose. Let us examine one important part of this statement.

ENABLING PEOPLE TO WORK, PRAY AND GIVE.  This is a key phrase. It can be applied in any country that World Vision is working. In Hong Kong we enable people to work as volunteers or as staff; we invite people to pray; we encourage people to give gifts.  But also in field countries, people are working, praying and giving, in slightly different ways.

For example, a rural community in Kenya may not have much money to give for famine relief in Ethiopia, but they do have the resources of their hands.  If a project in their community plans to build a new school-house, the local people may offer to do all the labour for free.  They may make the bricks themselves.  They may provide all the transportation themselves.  They may select one of their group to act as project manager without payment.  In this way, a project which might cost $10,000 only costs $3,000.  Thus, through their own gifts, the community have released $7,000 for ministry in another place.

Sometimes we think that giving only involves money.  But people who give their time, their skills and their labour are also making a real gift.  Because we do not enter such "gifts" into our accounting records, it is easy for us to overlook their value.

So, when volunteers help us to stuff envelopes, paste labels, or man exhibitions, they are also releasing funds for ministry.

NEWS

PRAYER
Heavenly Father, help each one of us, as parts of World Vision, to glorify you by enabling people to work, pray and give, to increase the number and spread, in every country of the world, of those who know Jesus Christ and follow him in his care of children, in his concern for the neighbour, in his preaching of the good news of the Kingdom, and in his selection and training of leaders.
In Jesus' Name we pray. A-men