• FROM THE DIRECTOR: How to Help the Poor Without Hurting Them
   • Relief and Development: The Distinction is More Than Academic
   • Short-Term Missions Can Create a Long-Term Mess
   • Bad Relief Undermines Worship in Kibera
   • Video on Chalmers Center's Impact: The Church Can Do Development
   • Audio Message and Other Key Links

We’ve all been in this situation:  A poorly dressed person approaches our church asking for help with buying groceries. We want to help out, but how? If we give them money, perhaps they will waste it. And if we take the time to go to the grocery store with them, what will prevent them from needing help again in about a week or two? Many of us have a sense that our efforts to help the poor often fail to bring any lasting improvement. But the situation is often worse than we may imagine:  Our efforts to help... Read More >>

We turn on the evening news and see that an earthquake has devastated China, leaving millions without food, adequate clothing, or shelter. Following a commercial break, the news returns and features a story about the growing number of homeless men in our city, who are also without food, adequate clothing, or shelter. At first glance the appropriate responses to each of these crises would seem to be very similar. After all, the people in both situations all need food, clothing, and housing, and providing these things to both groups seems to be the obvious solution. Read More >>

Almost twenty years ago, I went on my first short-term missions trip to Jamaica. I do not remember the people I met there, nor much of what we did besides running a vacation Bible School, painting something, and going to the beach. However, I do remember that this trip was part of what the Lord used in my life to shape my passion for helping the poor in the Two-Thirds world. I now live ... Read More >>

To many people, the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya is a place with no equals. It is filthy, congested, degraded, and unfit for human habitation. Like the proverbial scriptural reference to the birth place of Jesus Christ, many people believe that “nothing good can come out of Kibera.” Therefore, most remedies directed towards Kibera are motivated by the sympathy of outsiders, who often give handouts in an attempt to cushion the residents against their perceived, gigantic problems. Read More >>

This issue of Mandate argues that long-term development is fundamentally about bringing reconciliation of people’s relationships with God, self, others, and creation. It takes a miracle for such reconciliation to happen, but God is in the miracle business. Click on the video link (approximately 9 minutes) to observe some of the exciting ways that God is using His church in east Africa to bring development to the lives of low-income people. Watch the Video >>

  • Audio message from Dr. Brian Fikkert, Executive Director of the Chalmers Center

  • Course and training links:
      — Course descriptions
      — Distance learning course schedule and registration
      — New Course: "Short-Terms Missions Without Long-Term Harm"
      — New Course: "Principles and Practices of Econ. Development Ministry"
          (U.S. and Canada)

 • Back issues of the Mandate e-Newsletter sent in 2007:
      — Issue #1: January/February
      — Issue #2: June/July

 • Support the work of the Chalmers Center:

Pray	- Join our prayer support team
Donate	- Give a financial gift to support our work
Connect	- e-Mail to tell us about a potential donor