Our charitable giving is often led by the news, Catherine Masterman observes. But what if our generosity is called towards things that aren’t in the news?
In the last couple of months, Oxfam have been using the slogan “This is the real ‘F-word'” to provoke public awareness and response to the food crisis – near famine – facing East Africa. (See video below) But it’s not the use of the ‘F word’ that’s so shocking – it’s the fact that such a shock tactic is necessary. To have such a low media profile, given its scale, its severity, and its probable causation by the climate crisis to which East Africa has contributed almost nothing is frankly an outrage.
There are two messages to be gleaned from this. One very urgent one is that this crisis matters, and I fervently hope that through the efforts of Oxfam and other agencies, including those with significant support from churches in the UK, there will be a much greater media profile and a substantive response. To find out more, see the East Africa Hunger Crisis Appeal.
Tearfund’s communications mentioned a scale of 20 million people who have no reliable access to enough food to keep them from starvation. I have seen refugee camps of 100,000 people and the scale of that blew my mind. 20 million is almost unfathomable.
The second message is that the media profile of an issue offers no effective benchmark by which Christians can manage their giving. Tearfund’s strapline is ‘following Jesus where the need is greatest’ not, ‘following the media bandwagon’.
The church has always been a strong advocate of patient, regular, sacrificial giving, and long term investment in relationships and partnerships involving giving resources. It has a rich and ongoing heritage of projects and community partnerships that have been sustained for years by the commitment and dedication of individuals. It is this approach, rather than joining the train of all those responding to what’s in the headlines, that could be a powerful witness of what it means to give differently. It can be seen not only on the church noticeboard, or in the post strewn about the house, but also in how we engage in community fundraising events, or advocate in schools or employers on how they think about charitable giving.
We know, that the needs of our aching world far outstrip any resources unleashed by a moment in the media spotlight, even if they were to be spread equally between places of need. A crisis hitting the headlines should not be our cue to engage. With all the attention focused on one part of Europe over the last year, how many voices have been stating quietly but firmly that the rains were due to fail in East Africa for the fifth and now sixth season running. We need to listen to where our global neighbours have weaker voices that struggle to be heard.
Our eyes should not be dazzled by the spotlight, but fixed on an ever-deeper exploration of what it means for us, as a fundamental part of our faith, to love our local and global neighbour not only in how we live but also, as part of that, how we give.
- More from Catherine Masterman at the Grain of Sand blog.
Joy in Enough 