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A Christian Perspective on Development

We are seeking to take a particularly Christian approach, recognising a Christian understanding of God's desire for humanity, the nature of reality, and the inter-dependance of the physical, the social and the spiritual. Thus, the church is at the heart of our community development approach, and we are thinking about what unique contribution a Christ-centred approach brings.

The world is not simply material, but has spiritual, moral, relational, and social dimensions. Economic prosperity, devoid of ethical and spiritual values results in the society we have in the west, where people are wealthy, but where depression, suicide, family and community breakdown, social exclusion, spritual aridity, and immorality are rife. There is a better model.

A Christian understanding of development.
A Christian view of development is based on the vision of the kingdom of God, where there is restored relationship with the Creator, right relationships within community, banishment of sin and sickness and suffering and oppression, wholesome family life, individual empowerment, people living in dignity, free and responsible to make good choices.

"Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years...

They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat.

They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them." (Is 65:17-25)

Although this vision will only be fully accomplished at the return of Christ, with the new heaven and earth, Christ has announced that the kingdom of God has begun to arrive now, and that the church is to be a model and agent of the kingdom. Jesus said that people's healings and deliverance were signs that the kingdom of God was happening.

Some aspects of a Christian approach to development
 Some aspects of a Christian approach, which will shape both the goals of development, and the process would include the following:

  • Dignity. We see every person as infinitely valuable, carrying the image of God, with capacity for love, selflessness, creativity, moral choice, celebration - people for whom Christ came to "serve and give his life as a ransom." We must therefore recognise and seek to restore their honour and dignity. "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked Bartimaus. Rather than imposing our good ideas, we allow people to take control of their own lives, and seek to help them find the freedom and grace for which they are looking, and which God has for them.
  • Spirituality. We recognise that the world is not just material but essentially spiritual. The power for transformation, and the goal of development is likewise not just economic, but spiritual. At the root of humanity's problem is a spirtual problem, and only the cross of Christ deals with this.
  • Relationship. At the same time as affirming the inherent value of each individual, people only find true wholeness within communities of interdependence, where they are able to both give and receive. The individualism and loss of community in richer western countries has impoverished the lives of those individuals. God is love, and we only find our true God-given nature when we are both giving to and receiving from others.
  • Integrality. The physical, psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions of life are inter-related, and the kingdom of God impacts them all. When Christ healed Bartimaus of his blindness, he was at the same time transformed socially, economically, and spiritually, being set free from the exclusion, dependency, and shame of his status as a beggar.
  • Empowerment. The kingdom of God empowers us, setting us free from the chains of sin, sickness, oppression and injustice, just as Bartimaeus' healing also set him free from economic slavery, and social exclusion. God does not bring dependence upon others, but an interdependence based on equality. We must avoid building dependence, instead releasing people to the dignity that God has for them. This means breaking chains that hold them back, and empowering them to take hold of God's purposes spiritually, socially, physically, and even economically.
  • Discipleship. Helping people take hold of the grace that is available for them through the cross of Christ, as they learn to live responsibly, steward their resources, serve others, take hold of the power to overcome destructive choices and habits, and celebrate the hope and blessing of the kingdom of God.

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