William Carey International Development Journal

What are some of the ways that you can adapt crowd sourcing in what you do?

When the Church is in the midst of material prosperity, many forget the source and reason for blessings. Ralph Winter’s highlighting of the Abrahamic covenant, that we are “...blessed to be a blessing,” becomes a distant reality. Sadly this is also true for the many wealthy churches not only in the West but also in developing countries.

Why have believers never considered a coordinated disease eradication effort within the range of our responsibility?

Given the prevalence in the New Testament of the assumption that sickness and disease are a work of the devil (Mt 9:32, 12:22, 17:14-18, Lk 13:10-16, Act 10:38), plus the absolute finality implied in the word eradication, the cause of disease eradication seems to resonate quite profoundly with Christ’s purpose of destroying the works of the devil.

Following Christ’s example, believers have devoted tremendous efforts and genuine compassion to treating and caring for the sick. Think of the many hospitals established by believers since the time of Constantine, or the health clinics and medical missionaries spread all over the globe today. Believers are even involved in disease prevention work, as in the case of the many groups who distribute anti-malarial bed nets,1 or denominations that have produced educational materials addressing HIV-AIDS. But there is a relatively new reality in the fight against disease and it is the conviction of the Roberta Winter Institute that believers can play a significant role.

While the devil’s works can be summarized as bringing death—both physical (disease and deformity, social chaos, mental chaos) and spiritual (unbelief, hatred), the Son of God appeared to give life (1 John 4:9). The appearing of the Son of God is seen to result in works and characteristics that are the opposite of those associated with the sin of the devil, thus nullifying or destroying them.

In The Goal of International Development: God’s Will on Earth as it is in Heaven, edited by Beth Snodderly, I was gladdened to see the essay by Chris Teague, “Old Testament Law: Three Views,” in which he summarizes the view of the Old Testament Law as presented by Walter Kaiser, Daniel Fuller and John Piper.