There’s more than one way to preach the Gospel.
While five-fold ministers and missionary groups go to the nations, one ecumenical Christian ministry dedicated to the cause of eliminating poverty housing is finding success with a different approach.
Much like Jesus met the physical and spiritual needs of the lost, Habitat for Humanity is showing people the love of God by rehabbing, repairing and building new homes. Habitat just announced that it has surpassed its 400,000th house milestone, reaching more than 2 million people around the world since the ministry launched in 1976.
“Over the last 34 years, Habitat for Humanity has steadily increased it scale and scope to help more families in need of decent, affordable housing,†says Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. “In 2005 we celebrated our 200,000th house. Now, five years later, we have more than doubled that number thanks to the generous support of our volunteers and sponsors. It is a significant milestone and very encouraging, but we realize there is still much more work to be done.â€
In fiscal year 2010, Habitat for Humanity served a record 74,960 families around the world through a combination of new construction, rehabilitation and repairs. Habitat also helped an additional 6,355 families establish legal rights to a house or land, and provided more than 46,964 individuals with technical assistance ranging from legal help to construction advice or training.
Throughout our history we have seen time and again that an affordable, safe and decent home is the gateway to better health, greater family stability and improved educational opportunities in every country where we work,” says Reckford. “We are seeing great results from focusing not only on building individual houses, but also on repairing and rehabbing homes and creating partnerships that emphasize total community development.”
What other examples have you seen of ‘preaching’ the Gospel by meeting practical needs? Let me know in the comment box below.
