Like many of us in the church today, you may have heard the term "self-sustainability" used in a missions context. You may have thought, "that sounds right, but what does it really mean? As we consider the role we play as Christians in bringing the Good News of Jesus to a hurting world, it is important that we understand what the term refers to, and more importantly, why it is important for mission work in the 21st century.
Over the past one hundred years, the ability to move not only people, but also goods and funds, from one continent to another, has improved greatly. Whereas once we sent missionaries to foreign lands with just a Bible in their hands, we now send them with crates of clothing and supplies for the nationals. We also send them with a very large checkbook to be used to help people. We have typically shown our love to those in need by giving them what they needed. Unfortunately, we have created a dependency on US resources which is difficult for many third-world communities to break away from.
To fight against this creation of dependency, mission organizations have increasingly moved toward partnerships with local ministries which promote self-sustainability, the ability to sustain the work without demanding that all or most of the funding come from outside the community (typically from the western world). In general, this surfaces in missions in one of two ways: 1) individual self-sustainability, where individuals and families become able to sustain their livelihood without the financial assistance of others (often through micro-financing opportunities and training); and 2) project sustainability, where the ministry work is able to continue even after the parent organization no longer provides funding.
The Gulu Poultry Project is a perfect example of this second type of sustainability. With this project, ECM is making a distinct effort to move from where we are now, providing 100% of the resources needed to do ministry in Gulu, to where we want to be, providing a small percentage, or even no percentage, of the resources needed. The Poultry Project is a first step in making this move possible! If you think that we're on the right track, please join with us to help raise the funds necessary to start the project! Watch the video and donate here!
