Advancing sustainable solutions to material poverty through church missions.
The North American Church is losing ground in attendance, influence, credibility and virtually every other category that really matters. In this day and age, many see the church as the hope of the world only as it “proves” itself in practical ways that touch the everyday needs of everyday people. But that’s not a cry for more traditional forms of charity or the missionary model of the past 200 years. Instead, thoughtful people, from Millennials to Boomers, are looking for churches that have moved from simply doing good things to solving real problems in lasting ways. Churches that invest in this kind of mission work become more helpful in lifting people out of poverty and better partners to ministries on the frontlines. They also become more relevant and credible to their community, more fulfilling to both pastor and people, and more appealing to those on the margins looking for a reason to attend a church.
Our mission is to help churches reframe their missions and charitable work around sustainable solutions and create room for business-minded people who can help that happen. Our annual SATtalks and other resources highlight some of the most innovative churches and faith-based ministries around the world working to move missions in this direction. We do this because the Church needs the stories of early pioneers and innovators to inspire and help us see what could be!
Tom Bassford, Founder/President | Significant Matters & SATtalks
A Holistic Approach and Lasting Result by Keith Jaspers | The Rainbow Network
Using a holistic approach focused on education, housing, economic development and health care The Rainbow Network helps rural Nicaraguans break the cycle of poverty. This is a look at the how’s and why’s of their model and lessons learned along the way. Keith Jaspers started Rainbow Network in 1995 with his wife Karen as a way to share the success they had found in life. He served on the Habitat for Humanity Board with former President Jimmy Carter, Millard Fuller and author Tony Campolo among others. Using the lessons he had learned from his time with Habitat and the profits [...]
Churches Together Making a Difference by Eric Rochester | The Sending Project
Eric Rochester is the founder and President of The Sending Project, a Kansas City-based ministry whose mission is to build missional awareness, community, and collaboration, among a diversity of churches. In this SATtalk Eric talks about the possibilities of doing even greater things than Christ Himself according to John 14:12 as the church learns to work together. He shares the correlation between the level of unity in a city-wide church and its ability to impact the city in sustainable and transformative ways.
The High Cost of a Positive Volunteer Experience | Panel Discussion
Panel discussions at SATtalks give us a chance to look into some of the big issues that touch on church missions and sustainability. Sometimes we’re just talking about one of the “elephants in the room.” Sometimes we’re trying to bring some clarity to a particular subject or find the common threads for all of us. The High Cost of a Positive Volunteer Experience is a discussion with voices from the church, ministry partners and donors about the very real tensions that volunteerism creates for partnering ministries. It addresses the need churches have to offer positive volunteer experiences for their people [...]
A Simple Solution by Ray Sanders | Water4
We do more than charity. We do opportunity because we believe local men and women are the key to their own solutions out of poverty. Water4 exists to empower local communities to transform themselves and solve their own crisis. We do this by training and supporting local entrepreneurs to start their own businesses, drill their own water wells, and share the love of Jesus in every community they serve.
Who’s at the Table? by Tom Bassford | Significant Matters
This is a look at the various organizations represented at the 2015 SATtalks and why it's important to not only have church leaders and ministry partners but donors and people who can help with things like metrics. It's a talk about the "it" we are trying to get to and some of the tensions that exist between a positive volunteer experience and real needs.
Reclaiming the Idea of Charity by Michael Matheson Miller | PovertyCure & Acton Institute
When we understand the dignity of the human person endowed with creative capacity and made in the image of God it changes absolutely everything about the way we understand charity, missions, development and the poor. The main question is not how can we solve poverty and what are we going to do to improve our charity. The main question is: what are the foundations that enable people to create prosperity for their own families and for their own communities and then how can we come alongside of them and help?
