How can we build the capacity of the local church? That is the key question of many of the initiatives in which REACT assists. The frustration of many non-western leaders is that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like relief and development groups, in order to communicate greater effectiveness, often set up their own structures in places of need. Sadly, this often can circumvent the church and cause them to appear to be less relevant. Even though these groups can hire non-westerners as their representatives, the impact of their involvement can be counter effective to the overall goal of seeing long-term cultural transformation.
"We need to see the end of the NGO-ization of the church," said one African leader recently at a meeting I was facilitating in east Africa. He argued that in order to maintain stronger control and to communicate back to their donors what they are doing, some western organizations actually contribute to dependency.
Perhaps that is why problems of hunger, AIDS, refugees, etc., have been addressed, but they are still there and still a major challenge. In many places (especially in Africa) the church is quite ubiquitous. How can what we do build the capabilities of the local church to be the delivery system of the answers to the problems being faced? If we could do that, perhaps the church's witness and effectiveness would be hugely enhanced.
