8-8-22<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am risking censure to say that I am not an automatic fan of NGOs and a type of charity work that has become prevalent in our society. In fact I have a major problem with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I must explain: first, I am not against charity per se<\/em>, the impulse that God planted in our souls, Jesus taught us to act upon, and the Holy Spirit encourages. There are myriad commands, and many examples, of common people and sainted people in the Bible extending love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saint Augustine\u2019s interpretation of \u201cthe poor ye always shall have with you\u201d is not accepting the plight of unfortunate folks, but a reminder that others will always need our attention and compassion and action. And love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can find those folks in our very neighborhoods. And usually within our circles of friends, even our families. If we feel led to reach out to the lame, the halt, the blind; the needy, the sick, the endangered in other countries, there are amazing mission groups and charities that we can locate with little trouble. We can be Samaritans walking paths and encountering the abused and abandoned. Of course, vulnerable people are our neighbors in faraway lands too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have grown uncomfortable with corporations and governments, however, who decide on charitable works \u2013 perhaps quite commendable ones \u2013 without asking us. Sometimes there might be causes we decline to support; often they are handled by agencies without accountability; frequently we \u201cdonors\u201d know little where the funds and efforts end up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enormous sums of government money are sent to victims of hurricanes and diseases, yes; but also as \u201caid\u201d and \u201ccharity\u201d to unknown destinations in unspecified places, with foggy accountability. \u201cOh, it\u2019s for a good cause…\u201d And how many TV commercials and product labels tell us that \u201ca portion of every purchase…\u201d will be sent who-knows-where; or \u201cevery sale will support..\u201d such-and-such.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My objections are those of Augustine, and of Jesus. These myriad and coercive actions by government and the corporate world are as much about their marketing and public relations as about genuine charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Basically, day by day, year by year, they rob<\/em> us of fostering our own charitable impulses. When governments take our money without permission and send it here or there, that is not the act of a caring public but, at best, a lazy public. When corporations earmark a portion of money we pay them, again without asking\u2026 it masks a sweet-sounding surcharge for their own tax breaks and image-campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In both cases people should be allowed to make their own donations as they see fit, and who soon will rediscover the beautiful impulses to give\u2026 to act\u2026 and to love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The real definition of \u201ccharity,\u201d after all, is love. <\/em>In I Corinthians 13, Paul wrote: \u201cNow abides <\/sup>faith, <\/sup>hope, and charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.\u201d In the original translations, the word was \u201clove.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The NGOs (non-government organizations) I question are not the completely independent agencies, or even those who do work on the ground independently (increasingly, governments have bureaucratic and ideological strings attached\u2026) \u2013 but there are many individuals and groups who are in all ways independent. They answer to their donors, to their consciences, to the recipients, and to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One such is Garden of Innocents<\/a> which has many local chapters across America. Its volunteers provide dignified burials and memorials \u2013 sometimes \u201cnaming\u201d ceremonies \u2013 for abandoned babies and children. \u201cDumpster babies\u201d is the distasteful term but is the truth in many cases. The volunteers arrange with local cemeteries to apportion a dedicated area of a cemetery; the volunteers make the custom little wooden caskets themselves; and burials with markers honor those most helpless among us.
Another, of many I know, is Grand Staff Ministries<\/a>, whose hearts are turned to eSwatini in Africa, the former Swaziland. It is a country of a million people with the highest incidence of AIDS in the world, perhaps half of the population with the disease. About 200,000 children have been stripped of their parents \u2013 fending for themselves, often with no adult to feed them or send them to school. Becky Spencer and her husband Tracy visit the land from their home in Kansas, supporting schools, ministering to health needs, and\u2026 providing love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n