Think Global, Do Justice

Recorded live from the CCDA Conference in Portland, Oregon, we are joined by three educators equipping students globally to think biblically and pursue justice. On the show today we have Dr. Karen Fancher and Dr. Greg Burch from the Multnomah Campus of William Jessup University alongside Ernesto Duke who is the President at Eternity Bible College. They join Brandon Stiver for a conversation around the trajectory of Christian higher education, balancing ethics and philosophy with skill set development and what it looks like to prioritize spiritual formation as we develop theory and practice.

Resources and Links from the show

Click here to learn more and enroll in the Protective Behaviours Course

Camino Quest Online

Global Development and Justice Master's Program (Jessup University)

Eternity Bible College Online

Blessed Are The Peacemakers with Dr. Karen Fancher

Conversation Notes

• 3:40 - The things that have been most remarkable about being at CCDA
• 9:20 - The complexity of teaching history where victors tell the stories
• 13:40 - Updates from OneAccord and the Lausanne Congress
• 17:20 - The model of making a biblically focused education available and affordable internationally
• 24:40 - The trajectory of higher education for global studies
• 30:00 - Balancing the development of skill sets with understanding the philosophy, ethic and theology underneath what we do
• 37:10 - The priority of slowing down and connecting with God before "doing" the work
• 40:40 - Pilgrimage as a spiritual practice to experience God

There is no lack of complex challenges when delivering health care in the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS crisis. On the show today, we have Echo VanderWal who is the Co-Founder and Executive Director at The Luke Commission in Eswatini. Echo joins Brandon Stiver and Phil Darke for a conversation about calling, the pain and loss created by the AIDS Crisis, the irreplaceable impact of PEPFAR and what it looks like to provide holistic care in rural communities. With over 20 years in the country, Echo points us to what excellence looks like as follow Christ's example of humble service.

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Resources and Links from the show

The Global HIV/AIDS Conversation

The Luke Commission Online

Conversation Notes

• 4:00 - What do Jesus, Conor McGregor and Osama Bin Laden all have in common?
• 5:35 - The importance of having the support of your family when being called to serve God overseas
• 6:55 - Following Christ's example of service in loving our global neighbors
• 7:50 - The reality of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa during the early 2000s inc consideration of the cost of transport, lack of medicine and poor treatment
• 11:35 - Pursuing professional investment in the national team that is delivering life-saving support in their own country
• 17:00 - The reality of inner pain and the orphaned spirit when family is lost
• 21:30 - Seeking care at scale within rural areas of Eswatini
• 23:35 - Eswatini has the rate of HIV/AIDS in the world - a resounding 26% and why we don't want that number to go down
• 25:45 - The importance of international partners that provide anti-retrovirals
• 26:45 - How PEPFAR has positively impacted Eswatini, the work of the Luke Commission and what it looks like on the ground.
• 29:10 - The dire reality of potential extinction when HIV/AIDS first expanded in Eswatini
• 31:35 - The erosion of bipartisan support in US politics and how it is now undermining the delivery of life-saving HIV/AIDS support for millions of people
• 35:00 - The risks that face people if PEPFAR pulls out
• 38:30 - The importance of comprehensive healthcare and tracking trends to help an array of health issues that arise across a population
• 47:00 - Don't wait to take the first step when it comes to engaging or even moving overseas to pursue God's heart for justice in the nations

All is futility! Even in Christian nonprofits? We're changing it up a little for episode 265 as Brandon does a solo dive into the book of Ecclesiastes to gather wisdom from Solomon that can inform what we do and more importantly how we do the work of global justice. In an age of Big Impact, this is a word for the nonprofit leader that cares about the ethic of our approach and the opportunity for a compounding influence in a world where it seems that nothing ever changes.

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Resources and Links from the show

Scriptures shared:

• Ecclesiastes 1: 1-4; 8-11
• Ecclesiastes 5: 8-10; 18
• Ecclesiastes 9: 7-10

Andy Crouch Tweet 1; Tweet 2

Conversation Notes

• "All is futility!" - Solomon
• The work of oppressors and corrupt politicians ends in futility, but what about our work that counters their work?
• Brandon shares some of his own global nonprofit futility
• The grace of recognizing how the world works even in it's vanity
• "Eat, drink and experience good"
• Andy Crouch throws shade and "impact" and Brandon says "Amen"
• Does our work matter?
• Getting our priority (singular) in order

Theme music Kirk Osamayo. Free Music Archive, CC BY License

The number of forcibly displaced people in the world are at an all-time high. On every populated continent, we are seeing conflicts and climates that lead to people fleeing their homes. Our guest today is Myal Greene, who is the CEO of World Relief and he says that the global displacement crisis is the most significant issue that we face in the world today. We look at the last eighty years of how God has used World Relief to meet needs of people from war-torn areas and look at some of the most gripping conflicts today (Ukraine, Sudan and others). Myal has worked with World Relief for nearly two decades both within the US and in Africa. He walks us through what Christians should be aware of when it comes to displacement and how we can be instruments of welcome and support to global neighbors next door and abroad.

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Resources and Links from the show

Good News About Injustice by Gary A. Haugen

Welcoming the Stranger by Matthew Soerens and Jenny Yang

Walking with the Poor by Bryant Myers

Rich Christians Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ronald Sider

Refuge by Alexander Betts and Paul Collier

Refugee Stats from the UNHCR

The Evangelical Immigration Table

World Relief Online

Conversation Notes

• 9:40 - In the west, we don't have a full conception of the level wealth and privilege that we have
• 12:20 - Remembering the last eighty years of what God has done through World Relief
• 15:25 - Finding ways to work with the church and give sacrificially to help the hurting
• 16:45 - A story about the need for both eternal salvation and the restoration of the present
• 24:40 - The impact of the 2021 Haitian earthquake and the fall of Kabul as Myal stepped into his role of CEO at World Relief
• 31:35 - The current displacement crisis is the greatest issue of our time
• 34:15 - "A smaller set of nations in the world are experiencing far greater suffering while the rest of the world is making continued and sustained progress in poverty alleviation"
• 36:55 - Contrasting the Ukraine case study with most other areas of poverty and ensuing conflict
• 38:45 - "Vulnerability is the likeliness that you will experience suffering as a result of shock"
• 40:50 - World Relief sets their focus on the global displacement crisis
• 43:00 - The church can be God's instrument of welcome to those that have been forcibly displaced
• 46:12 - The importance of understanding underlying issues when discussing the arrival of refugees in a host country
• 52:40 - Working with the church under a biblical vision of community engagement
• 56:00 - Being inspired by God's Word as a starting point for a life of justice

Theme music Kirk Osamayo. Free Music Archive, CC BY License

The Great Commission and making disciples is for all Christians, but do we really live that way? We've had a classic understanding of what missionaries ought to be doing, but is that exclusionary? In episode 263, we have Luke Perkins from Crossworld to help us sort it out. Luke served as a missionary professor in Haiti for several years and today is the President at Crossworld where they emphasize that all professions have a role in the work of the Great Commission and the imperative of making disciples throughout the globe.

Podcast Sponsor

No matter your role in caring for vulnerable children and families, you'll find wisdom, grace, encouragement and community for the road ahead at CAFO2024 in Nashville. It's the go-to spot for those working in Christian orphan care and global child welfare.

Learn More and Register for CAFO 2024

Resources and Links from the show

Crossworld Website

African Friends and Money Matters by David Maranz

Conversation Notes

• 5:25 - What would good helping even look like
• 8:10 - Starting from the beauty and goodness of God in pursuing mission
• 10:00 - Emphasizing all professions beyond the classic missions archetypes
• 17:11 - Defining what disciple-making is all about
• 18:20 - Understanding business as mission with the quadruple bottom line
• 29:35 - Distinguishing between disciple-making and church planting
• 32:20 - The North American church is not designed to make disciples
• 36:00 - The essence and the rhythms of making disciples
• 38:00 - Key questions to ask yourself for disciple making
• 41:00 - Discussing the current state of Haiti

Theme music Kirk Osamayo. Free Music Archive, CC BY License

We're heading to Kenya for episode 262 as we connect with Steve Kariithi who is the Kenya Program Director at Hope's Promise. Steve talks with Brandon Stiver about what it looks like to do kinship based family care in Kenyan communities. We cover the effects of changing child welfare policy on families and juxtapose that with actions of the government that adversely affect families living in informal settlements. If you've ever wondered what it looks like to work in a slum, this is a good conversation to jump into.

Podcast Sponsor

No matter your role in caring for vulnerable children and families, you'll find wisdom, grace, encouragement and community for the road ahead at CAFO2024 in Nashville. It's the go-to spot for those working in Christian orphan care and global child welfare.

Learn More and Register for CAFO 2024

Resources and Links from the show

What can we do about injustice? : Blog by Colleen Briggs

The Star Kenya : Families in pain as houses demolished in Mathare

YouTube : Residents of Mathare Lament

YouTube : Over 6,000 households forcefully evicted along Mathare River

Conversation Notes

• Understanding what life is like for families living in slum areas and what causes slums to form on the margins of urban areas
• Bridging impact expectations of western donors when working in severely impoverished areas
• Meaningful interventions that support children to grow up in families
• The effects of 2022 legislation in Kenya that promoted child care reform and changes for organizations serving children
• The Kenyan government is destroying homes and displacing families in the Mathare informal settlement of Nairobi

Theme music Kirk Osamayo. Free Music Archive, CC BY License

For our July news and recommendation episode, we're joined by orphan care leader Kristen Lowry of Shelter Yetu to dive into a range of topics including the recent anti-virus update that sent the Blue Screen of Death around the world, the unintended results of making education free in Zambia, the legal trials of the Nobel Laureate father of micro-finance and dive into a book on being a whistleblower amidst corruption. There's a lot going on in the world, it's not only the American election we should care about, so jump into these other stories with us!

Podcast Sponsor

No matter your role in caring for vulnerable children and families, you'll find wisdom, grace, encouragement and community for the road ahead at CAFO2024 in Nashville. It's the go-to spot for those working in Christian orphan care and global child welfare.

Learn More and Register for CAFO 2024

Resources and Links from the show

BBC : How a single IT update caused global havoc

BBC : Zambia made education free, now classrooms are crammed

The Guardian : Under threat of jail, microfinance pioneer vows to keep lending to poorest Bangladeshis

It's Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistleblower by Michaela Wrong

Theme music Kirk Osamayo. Free Music Archive, CC BY License

Joining the podcast for episode 260 are global child welfare leaders Christopher Muwanguzi from child's I Foundation, Elli Oswald from Faith to Action Initiative and Jared Scheppmann from Ekisa Ministries. Our guests speak with Brandon Stiver and Phil Darke about the status of moving people's mindsets in the west to focus on the need for children to be in families, as opposed to orphanages. We zero in specifically on the country of Uganda and juxtapose the good work being done by organizations like child's I and Ekisa with the common practice of needlessly placing kids in residential care. With the backdrop of larger cultural narratives and specific stories about orphanhood that are promoted in media.

Podcast Sponsor

No matter your role in caring for vulnerable children and families, you'll find wisdom, grace, encouragement and community for the road ahead at CAFO2024 in Nashville. It's the go-to spot for those working in Christian orphan care and global child welfare.

Learn More and Register for CAFO 2024

Resources and Links from the show

The World : American Missionary Accused of Abuse At His Organization, AidChild (First Article)

Barna and Faith to Action : Study on Christian Giving to Orphanages

Faith to Action : Family Care in the News

Conversation Notes

• The deliberate work of Faith to Action and partner organizations to change the western media narrative around orphan care
• The environment within the UK in regards to Global South orphanages
• The country of Uganda has been up and down in supporting care reform, is it currently progressing or regressing
• The setbacks in promoting better care in the Global South when stories like Ghetto Kidz comes out on Britain's Got Talent
• Comparing the perceived realities for children in orphanages versus the actual realities for such children
• The reality of abuse and corruption within orphanages covered in the media in Uganda
• The role of local governments to meet the needs of the community – capacity and enforcement
• Continuing gaps in coverage even in media that promotes care reform

Theme music Kirk Osamayo. Free Music Archive, CC BY License

There is no escaping the reality that much of what we're familiar with in global missions and development has some roots in colonialism. There is no better person to help us disentangle God's work from worldly power structures than Dr. Ruth Padilla DeBorst. Dr. Padilla DeBorst is the Richard C. Oudersluys Associate Professor of World Christianity at Western Seminary. She describes how integral mission addresses gaps in many traditional approaches to missions and what it looks like to live out a contextualized gospel in Latin America.

Podcast Sponsor

The Accord Network is a place to connect with like-minded organizations in pursuit of being the hands and feet of Christ around the world. Registration for the OneAccord Conference is now open for changemakers seeking a time of inspiration, collaboration, and transformation within the field of international relief and development.

Register for OneAccord 2024 Today

Resources and Links from the show

Dr. Ruth Padilla DeBorst's Work Online

Good News From Latin America Book

Conversation Notes

• An introduction to integral mission and what deficiencies it was addressing in world missions
• Disentangling God's work in Latin America from European colonization
• How neocolonialism continues to affect Christian missions and development work
• Ethical practices in global partnerships for missions and development organizations
• Contrasting Jesus' proclamation of the Gospel against the backdrop of Roman imperial rule
• Exiting our echo chambers to hear from Christian leaders in other global contexts

Theme music Kirk Osamayo. Free Music Archive, CC BY License

Today on the show we are weaving in and out of various topics, largely surrounding Africa and that touch areas of malnutrition (continent-wide) and trafficking (Congo) and even some really beautiful solutions for helping babies (Uganda). We have Dr. Lauren Pinkston of Kindred Exchange on the show with us to make sense of the news and provide critical insight. We dive into questions like if the resource curse is real, the long-term effects of colonialism and the challenges of addressing corrupt supply chains.

Podcast Sponsor

The Accord Network is a place to connect with like-minded organizations in pursuit of being the hands and feet of Christ around the world. Registration for the OneAccord Conference is now open for changemakers seeking a time of inspiration, collaboration, and transformation within the field of international relief and development.

Visit The Accord Network Online

Resources and Links from the show

Fox News : UN report says 27% of children under 5 live in severe food poverty, many in Africa

AP News : A growing community of breast milk donors in Uganda gives mothers hope

CBS News : African nation threatens Apple with legal action over alleged "blood minerals" in its gadgets

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson

Upwardly Dependent Podcast

Faith to Action Webinar feat. Dr. Lauren Pinkston : Caring for Orphans

Conversation Notes

• 2:20 - An update on the Upwardly Dependent podcast
• 6:45 - The high propensity of kids in Africa and around the world that are experiencing food poverty
• 18:45 - The establishment of a breastmilk cooperative organization in Uganda and how it is saving the lives of children
• 33:25 - The supply chain of blood metals in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Apple's role within it
• 40:00 - Supply chains that shift to go through countries that don't have the same ethics that come from a Christian worldview
• 47:25 - Phil's recommendation of Jonathan Haidt's new book, The Anxious Generation

Theme music Kirk Osamayo. Free Music Archive, CC BY License