Mandate eNewsletter, 2007 No. 1

Chalmers Center Update
Dr. Brian Fikkert

About eighteen months ago, I prayed that God would make His will for the Chalmers Center clear. I felt that I was holding on to the Chalmers Center too tightly, and that I really needed to put the Center's future in the hands of the Lord and submit to His will, no matter what that was. So I asked God for wisdom, telling Him that I would be happy if He either dramatically expanded the Center’s work or closed the Center down altogether. I asked God to do either one, but for much of the past 18 months it has seemed like He was doing both!

On the one hand, the impact of the Chalmers Center’s work and the demand for our training has simply mushroomed in ways that we could have never imagined. We will tell you more about these developments in upcoming issues of Mandate. On the other hand, it has become clear that our basic organizational infrastructure was not adequate to support a dynamic and growing Center seeking to equip an ever-expanding number of churches around the world. For much of the past 18 months it has felt like we were coming apart at the seams as we tried to respond to increasing demands without sufficient human and financial resources.

RESTRUCTURING RELATIONSHIPS
In his great mercy, God has helped us through this process. The Chalmers Center has restructured its relationship with Covenant College to enable the Center to raise more of its own funds and to have greater autonomy in its operations. I believe this is creating a more stable and nimble organization that is well-positioned for continued expansion of service to Christ’s church and to the poor around the world. At the same time, I am overjoyed that the Center continues to be part of Covenant College, enabling us to maintain powerful synergies with the Department of Economics and Community Development and with the campus as a whole.

The restructuring task is ongoing. We are in the process of hiring a Training Coordinator and a Senior Director to enable us to respond to the growing demands for our work. With this issue, we are re-launching Mandate in an electronic format, and, Lord willing, our new website will be online early in 2007. We are continuing to work towards establishing a core base of donors to provide the financial resources to enable us to continue to equip churches around the world to minister to the poor.

TRAINING CONTINUES TO EXPAND
During the past eighteen months, as human and financial resources were tight, we trimmed our public relations efforts, which is the reason that this is the first Mandate in a very long time. Nevertheless, we continued to expand our training around the globe. Hence, while we have not been as visible, God has continued to open doors for increased service! This issue of Mandate gives a small sample of how God has been blessing the Center’s work in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and North America. By God’s grace alone, our vision is being accomplished: the poor are seeing the local church as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.

MATCHING GIVING OPPORTUNITIES
As I stated earlier, the Center is trying to establish a solid base of core donors. Might you be one of those people? This is a particularly good time to leverage your giving to the Chalmers Center, as we have been awarded a matching grant by the Robert L. and Kathrina H. Maclellan Foundation. This foundation will match gifts, dollar for dollar, that reference their grant on the check or in the cover letter, up to a maximum of $25,000.

Matched giving opportunities »

MORE IN THE NEXT ISSUE
I am writing this to you from Uganda where I have been with my family since August. While here, I have been researching, networking, and training. God is doing some fantastic things in Africa, and I am so excited about the doors He is opening for Chalmers’ work here. I want to share more about these developments with you, so the next issue of Mandate will focus on Africa. It is good to be in contact with you again.

Editor's Note: Since writing this, Dr. Fikkert has returned to the U.S. and is again working from our home office and teaching as a professor in the Department of Economics and Community Development at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, U.S.

For more information about the Chalmers Center, visit us at www.chalmers.org.